Our Personal Space
Review

Our Personal Space (2015) is a text adventure where, rather than surviving an alien attack or harsh environment, it's your marriage that you are fighting for. You play a newly married doctor on a space colony who must decide how she spends her time, responds to her husband and other members of the community, and how she contributes to the colony. These choices affect her stress, her marriage, and the success of the colony.

You play by directing conversations and decisions. This extends beyond her attitude and approach to other characters but also major decisions such as having a baby. There are about 100,000 words of dialogue in the game although a single play-through will only experience a portion of this. You can choose between 4 jobs and 7 hobbies. There are 3 endings depending on how you approach the game.

It's an unusual and home-spun game, but with considerable charm. As you play the themes of motivation, family and frontier life blend to create what has been described as "Little House on the Prairie mingled with Star Trek." Beyond the individuals you encounter are larger themes of cooperation, democracy, love, reproduction and community.

A follow-up game, Space to Grow, is being made, that extends the narrative from pregnancy and birth to parenthood.

Our examiner, Andy Robertson, first checked Our Personal Space 3 years ago. It was re-examined by Jo Robertson and updated 4 months ago.