In the year 2037, players control Alex Oshima, an astronaut who’s recently regained consciousness in the wake of a horrible tragedy to befall the Hardiman space station. Divided into various subsets, you’ll make your way across various modules, attempting to bring the station back to working order. Escape will eventually be your goal when it’s all said and done but Adr1ft isn’t your typical thriller.

Your first instinct won’t be to run as fast as possible. When you start training, you’ll immediately learn how to ascend, descend, activate thrusters, roll to the left and right, and ultimately stabilize your frame in zero gravity. Regardless of what you do, every movement – aside from looking around with the mouse – will deplete your O2 meter. The game itself starts you off with a depleting O2 meter in addition to your regular actions. Quickly navigating to safer zones and collecting O2 vials to keep your gauge up is the key to survival.

However, in a clever twist, Adr1ft wants you float along in your surroundings to save oxygen. Here’s an example: Rather than thrusting to a door, you can choose to silently glide towards it. Of course, it’s not as simple as simply going with the flow. Various obstacles and wreckage dot your path. Bumping into them and your surrounding environment will cause your EVA suit to take damage. Repair stations allow you to bring the suit back to working order but this is Adr1ft‘s not so subtle way of informing you to watch where you’re going.

It’s an interesting concept when paired with your movement options, even if it does result in some rather awkward positioning problems. Can’t grab that O2 vial as you’re slowly losing consciousness? Well, it’s probably because you didn’t orient yourself to the right or left properly. Given that the tutorial doesn’t really explain this, there were instances where one simply mashes F before positioning properly and grabbing the O2 vial. It’s annoying and doesn’t get any easier as the game goes by. Thankfully, the initially hard to handle controls become a little more manageable. You’re not necessarily meant to be in control but it’s possible to have some as opposed to none.

Let this be noted though that if any game’s visuals could make you forget about its underlying technical issues, then Adr1ft is it. Unreal Engine 4 never ceases to impress by default but Adr1ft‘s wrecked space station is just too beautiful to ignore, even if you have to recover some back-up drive or some other item. Discovering the hydroponics sector for the first time, along with the big beautiful cherry blossom tree? Creating awe-inspiring graphical moments is tough in this day and age but Adr1ft makes it look so easy. Even when you’re wandering through debris in space or navigating those clean-cut white interiors, the game just looks beautiful without overwhelming you with its technical prowess.

The story-telling approach in “walking simulators” (heavy emphasis on the air quotes) isn’t exactly one that will gel with all players. Adr1ft features some likable characters through its audio logs and manages to build sympathy for its protagonist Alex through e-mails with the crew. Special note must be made of the writing and voice acting – it feels just right. Nothing overtly cinematic but perfectly dramatic in keeping with the situation of a freaking space station being wrecked.

Again though, the overall pacing and plot, while interesting, isn’t enough to distract you from floating here to there and awkwardly collecting audio logs. In a way, the movement actually does a lot to make the actual progression a challenge – you can’t just blindly rush through areas because it’ll end in your death. But when you have to be so measured in your approach and monitor that O2 meter at all times, it does discourage the exploration aspect just a tad. If nothing else, it will encourage you to play slower and notice your surroundings more often.

Adr1ft as a whole, to this reviewer, at least is unique. Not in a “walking simulator” sense that won’t appeal to select groups of players. Or in terms of its understated and amazingly well-done presentation that seriously makes you stop and want to admire it all. This isn’t your typical video game and it can be annoying when some of the issues that games suffer like freezes or awkward controls crop up. And despite the mystery surrounding the story, it didn’t feel as initially compelling as I would have liked.

Nevertheless, with a four hour (or so) runtime, Adr1ft is something that every gamer should experience. It’s an interesting first person adventure that doesn’t beat you over the head with fetch quests or indecipherable puzzles. It’s not your typical horror title full of jump scares or moments of rushed survival. Adr1ft‘s tension is decidedly low-key, lurking in the background at all times and challenging you to be patient and observant. Whether this sounds like a fun video game to you or not, there’s no denying that’s an experience that everyone should partake in at least once. However, like Sandra Bullock, don’t be surprised if you don’t immediately return after crashing back to Earth.

This game was reviewed on the PC.

Adam Orth’s upcoming game, Adr1ft, looks absolutely awesome. It looks like a game version of Gravity, or the just released Ridley Scott movie, The Martian (absolutely great, by the way, you need to go watch it if you have not already). No matter what you personally think of Adam Orth – and owing to his Twitter meltdown in defense of the then unannounced Xbox One’s always online policies, you probably have some pretty strong thoughts there – you have to admit the game looks great.

If you need more convincing, check out the new trailer for the game, which looks great, and shows us what the game will be like. It seems to be a pretty authentic recreation of what it may be like to be stranded in space.

Which is all well and good, but I still need clarification on one thing- why the hell is it called Adr1ft? Why not just Adrift?

Adr1ft, the beautiful, eerie, and atmospheric looking indie game set in space that was announced at The Game Awards last December, has just received a new video showcasing nine minutes of gameplay. And, well, the game looks absolutely gorgeous. While questions about the gameplay, and just how long it can sustain a title, persist, there is no doubting that what we have seen looks atmospheric, eerie, engrossing, and sufficiently different from everything else on the market- which, given the glut of space games, and indie games, and indie space games, is no mean feat.

Adr1ft is, interestingly, being developed by a team that includes Adam Orth, the man whom you might remember as being behind the Twitter fiasco around Xbox One’s (then unannounced) always online and DRM policies. Looks like after some time out of the limelight, he has decided to move on with his life, and deliver a rather stunning and striking new game.

Stay tuned to GamingBolt for more coverage.

We got our first look at Adam Orth’s upcoming first person space exploration title Adr1ft which was developed in Unreal Engine 4. Though it’s a short gameplay trailer, it does give us a fairly good idea of what to expect – namely, the first person elements and the slight survival aspects. Check it out above.

Adr1ft is the first project from Orth following his departure from Microsoft after a series of controversial tweets in 2013 prior to the Xbox One’s launch. He seems to have bounced back significantly from the same though as Adr1ft looks beautiful and unique. We’re looking forward to learning more about the game and finding out just what Adr1ft is all about.

Slated to release in Summer 2015, Adr1ft will be releasing for the Xbox One, PS4 and PC. What are your thoughts on the game? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below and stay tuned for more updates from The Game Awards 2014.

505 Games has announced that it will be partnering with Three One Zero to release ADR1FT, first person experience focusing on an astronaut looking to survive an event that wrecked the space station. This means gathering resources and prepping an emergency vehicle for escape. The most interesting aspect is that Three One Zero is founded by Omar Aziz and Adam Orth, the latter who formerly worked at Microsoft before a controversial tweet caused him to resign.

Ian Howe, president, 505 Games “The Three One Zero team epitomizes the tremendous passion and creativity of independent game development. I’ve wanted to publish ADR1FT from the moment. I first saw it at DICE; we’re looking forward to working with Three One Zero to deliver a bold new gaming.”

Orth stated that, “I’m very happy to be partnering with 505 Games for ADR1FT. From the very beginning, Ian Howe and his team have passionately understood the game Omar and I are trying to make. They have empowered us with the freedom to explore and create something special with ADR1FT, both traditionally and with VR technology.

“It’s clear from games like Payday 2, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons and some of their upcoming titles that 505 is not afraid to take chances and give gamers something fresh and new. That’s important to us. That’s what we’re all about. We’re excited to be part of that.”

What are your thoughts on the announcement and Orth’s return as a developer? Let us know in the comments.

“My gut is telling me that an always online future is probably coming. It’s coming fast, and possibly to the majority of the devices you enjoy. SimCity, with all of its troubles on launch, seems to be selling briskly.

“Diablo 3, the poster child of a messy launch, is estimated to be at 12 million units. I would bet money that without the always online elements of Diablo 3 that it would have sold half of that.”

“Sooner or later our government, or Google, or any number of providers are going to get their shit together and we’ll have universally fast internet for the majority of the first world. I’d be willing to say that any early adopter for any new piece of technology is probably going to have some sort of solid internet connection.

If you’re on a forum raging about Adam’s comments there’s a whole new generation of kids who are growing up always online who won’t really give a shit.”

“My wife and I were discussing these issues this afternoon and she mentioned the example of ‘Hey what if I’m a gamer who wants to go to a cabin in the woods for a week and I don’t have online access there?’

“That’s the edge case…the week-long vacation to the cabin is only 30 hours of not playing a game or a device that’s built for much more. Technology doesn’t advance by worrying about the edge case.”

Do you agree with Cliffy B on this particular argument or not? Let us know in the comments.

Adam Orth, the executive that recently commented on the Xbox 720, no longer works at Microsoft. It’s not clear whether he resigned or was fired, however, according to GameInformer‘s report, it states that he resigned.

It could mean that he did it not to have a negative thing in his resume as being fired from a big company can negatively affect you.

Orth was the main reason for a lot of negative PR for Microsoft recently when he gave his personal opinions on always-online using bad analogies, and also joked about certain cities.

This is probably harsh and he may have feared that he would be fired eventually, but it’s really hard to say at this stage so we have to go by what the site is reporting.

Aaron Greenberg recently tweeted that he didn’t know who he was and Xbox fans didn’t know who he was.

Tell us what you think in the comments section below.