Tacoma Review Roundup

After a delay last year, Tacoma is finally coming out this week. It's the follow-up to the critically acclaimed Gone Home from developer Fullbright, and while it's not technically connected to the 2013 indie darling, Tacoma does feature similarly slow, narrative-driven gameplay. The game puts you in an abandoned space station searching for answers and is centered around individual human stories.

Now, with Tacoma's August 2 release date nearly upon us, reviews have started to go live for the Xbox One/PC game. In GameSpot's verdict, critic Kallie Plagge said she became "deeply attached to the Tacoma crew," and that Tacoma's greatest accomplishment was "getting you to care about people who aren't even there." Read more in our full Tacoma review.

For a wider view of critics' opinions, meanwhile, take a look at our review roundup below, or check out GameSpot sister site Metacritic.

• Game: Tacoma
• Developer: Fullbright
• Platform: Xbox One, PC
• Release: August 2
• Price: US $20 / £15 / AU $22.45 (Xbox One), US $18 / £13.49 (PC)

GameSpot -- 7/10

"I'm still thinking about [Tacoma], inferring what wasn't spelled out for me and wondering about the complex politics of its near-future world. Mostly, though, I'm deeply attached to the Tacoma crew, who I only got to know through projections and the things they left behind. Out of everything, that's Tacoma's greatest accomplishment: getting you to care about people who aren't even there." -- Kallie Plagge [Full review]

IGN -- 8.5/10

"Tacoma successfully overcomes the challenge of featuring eight characters and making them all interesting in a relatively short game. Using the out-of-sequence AR recordings to learn about the exciting events on Tacoma is a unique way to see every side of a conversation, and it's one I hope to see catch on. I would have appreciated more time and events that'd have given me a reason to explore more of the beautiful station, but the time I did have in this fascinating hypothetical future was great." -- Miranda Sanchez [Full review]

Polygon -- 7/10

"I continue to think of Tacoma as a story first, but it's more than that, clearly: It's an interactive experience, and that plays for and against it. The story is built out of the playback mechanic, which gives birth to the subtler suggestions of what's really going on with this station. But the playback system means there's a lot of talking to listen to, and a lot of wireframes to stare at. For a game about an abandoned space station, Tacoma gave me plenty of company. But the moments where I had to reckon with being alone in space were the ones that stuck with me." -- Allegra Frank [Full review]

The Guardian -- 4/5

"Over the course of about three hours, your investigative journey through Tacoma has you rooting for these characters by the time their story concludes. A space station powered by an advanced AI might not be a particularly original setting, but the team at Fullbright has taken these familiar pieces and used them to tell a different and engaging tale. It's what you'd expect from the people who made Gone Home, but that’s no bad thing." -- Jordan Erica Webber [Full review]

Game Informer -- 8.25/10

"With Tacoma's unique take on branching narratives and a strong cast, it manages to tell an intriguing tale about mortality and relationships in the face of catastrophe. Tacoma builds on the foundations of Gone Home, but has its own unique tricks to tell an immersive story in a compelling way." -- Elise Favis [Full review]