Event[0]: I Can’t Let You Do That.

It’s only recently that chatbots have evolved to a state where they could be called truly conversational. In years prior they could really only respond to a line of text in isolation, unable to derive any kind of contextual meaning from the messages it recieved previously. This made them see stilted and awkward, often resulting in them receiting your words back to you in the form of a question. So when I saw Event[0], which bases the entire game premise around a chatbot, I was intrigued as the idea of having to massage a rudimentary AI into doing my bidding harked back to the fun I had messing with chatbots as a teenager. Whilst it’s far from the conversational AI that powers say the latest Google Assistant or Siri it is an interesting take on conversations as a game mechanic, something I’m interested to see explored more in future.

Event[0] takes place in an alternate version of 2012 where mankind has made siginificant strides in space exploration. You were part of a team called Europa-11, sent to explore the moon from which the craft takes its name. However you were met with a catasrophe and found yourself adrift in space in an escape pod. Just as you were giving up hope that you’d be rescued a transmission from an unknown craft came through. It seems a relic of the past, a luxury space resort, has managed to stay active despite no contact from the outside world for years. The ships AI seems keen to help you get back home but first you need to gain its trust.

Event[0] brings with it that trademark Unity look with passable graphics done in a retro-futuristic style. Since this is marketed as a story first game it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that graphics weren’t the prime focus and indeed they’re a more than adequate backdrop for the game’s narrative. The environments do have a level of detail in them that’s above average for games of similar pedigree which is saying something for a first time indie developer.

Event[0]’s core mechanic is your interaction with the ship’s AI, called Kaizen. You’ll interact with it through the various terminals scattered about the ship, clacking away at the keyboard as you try to convince the AI to do what you need it to do. There are some other, more traditional puzzle mechanics mixed in however for the most part you’ll be trying to figure out the AI’s motivations, the story of what happened to the ship and, most importantly, how you can get yourself back to Earth. Over time you’ll learn how to do things for yourself without the AI’s help, something that you may need to do if you want to accomplish your ultimate goal.

Mechanically Event[0] is a little awkward when you first start off, the requirement for the full use of the keyboard when you’re talking to the AI precluding the use of the traditional WASD movement layout. This can lead to some frustrating moments as you try to move about only to hear the clack of the keyboard. There are many ways that this awkward control scheme could have been avoided, like making a prompt appear when you want to use the keyboard, but it seems this is a design decision made by the developers. You’ll get used to it eventually but it does make the opening moments of the game a little more frustrating than I would have otherwise liked.

The conversation system of the AI is a blend of a traditional chatbot with some rote sequences that are triggered by keywords, actions or in some cases inaction. The rote parts are easy to pinpoint as the AI will just keep blathering on regardless of what input you give it. In normal chatbot mode it’s somewhat conversational, able to pick up on some contextual elements, but it often gets caught up on keywords or syntax that trigger some of its pre-programmed routines. The developers billed the AI as having “moods” and that it would respond differently based on whatever mood it was in at the time. I definitely noticed that, it seeming to want to exploit my naviety about my situation at times whilst at others feeling guilty for doing so. Overall it felt like it was a middle of the road chatbot AI, not quite approaching the contextual sense of something like Siri but definitely a cut above most chatbots I’ve fiddled with.

The story starts off with a Firewatch-esque backstory text selection exercise which seemingly didn’t make much of difference to my experience. I have to admit that the conversational nature of Kaizen did make it more interesting to discover parts of the story, forcing me to attempt many different ways to elicit information from the AI. It was painfully obvious when I came to a block however as the AI would simply ignore most of my requests for further information. It would have been interesting to see what could happen if I could have essentially completed the game from the very first terminal, and maybe that’s actually possible, but as far as I could tell there were a certain set of actions you needed to do to make any meaningful progress. Overall the story was interesting although I think it had aspirations for a greater emotional reaction than it was able to elicit in me. Your mileage may vary and, with Event[0] currently on sale, it might be worth the asking price to find out.

Event[0] is an interesting experiment in exploring new ways for players to interact with games. It may not be the prettiest or most well designed game to come across my desk however the experience it provides is truly unique. The concept of a conversational AI being the main mechanic is something I definitely want to see explored further and Event[0] is a great demonstration of what the mechanic is capable of. It’s a decidedly middle of the road experience overall however; good but not great, one for the fans of experimental games or those who are narrative first gamers.

Rating: 7.0/10

Event[0] is available on PC right now for $19.99. Total play time was 2 hours with 50% of the achievements unlocked.