Obduction ®

I really enjoyed it. Definitely worth the price. I was one of the backers on Kickstarter and there were two things I was really hoping for: the Myst adventure feeling and incredible graphics. They came through on the game play, but not so much on the graphics. It is a fun world to walk around in. The puzzles were a little on the easy side I'd say, but entertaining. The walking around would get a little tedious sometimes. There was were a bunch of puzzles that required going back and forth between worlds and the loading was a little slow and I found that a little annoying, but that was a pretty small part. Overall, the puzzles felt like the puzzles from Myst with that same level of wonder and glee when you figure one out. The one thing that disappointed me, though, was that I was really hoping to be just stunned by the beauty of it and I wasn't. It is quite beautiful. I found myself just stopping many times to look around which I'm rarely prone to do in a video game. Still, I wanted that same feeling that I had the first time I played Myst where I just couldn't believe how detailed and realistic the graphics were. Graphics have improved a ton since then, and this game is no slouch, but it's on the same order of The Witness and I was hoping for another order of magnitude jump. Regardless, if you like adventure games, you should definitely play this one.

Seems like the other reviews fall in one of two categories. Long-time fans of Myst adore this game, while newcomers find it frustrating. I'm in the first camp, and I'll try to explain it to the second. So, first, if you liked Myst, go play this. It's more of the same, beautifully executed. Nuff' said. If you don't know what it's about however... This is a game based on exploration and puzzle solving. The keyword is IMMERSION. To enjoy this game and avoid frustration, you must imagine that you are THERE. The game has TONS of tiny details that are completely useless plot-wise, but create a perfect environment and atmosphere. Savor it. Look at the sights. Check out the teddy bear on the sofa and the picture on the wall. Imagine what it was like for the people who lived here. Try to picture what happened here, what was said and done. Don't think of the game as pixels on the screen and interaction points that must be clicked in the right order. Think of it as an alternative reality that YOU are a part of. And it will become an experience to enjoy, rather than an exercise in frustration. And this brings us to the second point. Puzzles. Cyan is the only company that I've seen pull this off, but the puzzles actually blend in perfectly with the game world. They MAKE SENSE in that world. It's not just looking for a round peg to fit in a round hole, there's no unrealistic "game logic". Rather, these puzzles were made by rational people for rational reasons in a rational (in-game) world. And when you look at them that way, they become a LOT easier to solve. I'll repeat - the puzzles are MUCH easier when you are IMMERSED in the game. I've not seen it in any other game. That said, you'll still need patience. This isn't a game you can rush through. Take it slow and deliberate. Take breaks. Come back later with a clear head. Check out places you've already been at, you might have missed something. There's no pressure of time in this game, relax and enjoy it!

I found Obduction great. I liked Myst 1-3, but this one is even better. Where I got stuck to the point of having to look up the way forward at least once in the Myst games, this game's puzzles all made sense to me. The story was more engaging (to me) than any of the Myst stories and I found myself wondering about and looking around the world and what happened more than about the puzzles quite often - which I like! I play these games to enjoy a story with the puzzles as a means of achieving progress, so this was very nice. The game has a screenshot function which initially makes you think you don't have to take notes. Far from it: the teleports, roations, and relative positions of vairous things really require you take notes. The labyrinth puzzle was mentioned negatively in some reviews; I found it easy enough after drawing the map and cutting out the pieces that can move :-)

3 1/2. A really beautiful construct and interesting to play. Until you hit the ridiculous concrete maze thingie. From that point on, everything you've accomplished (I connected only two trees at that point) in the game is just a waste. The maze may be solvable - I did switch out a piece and find a path from tower thing where you look down at the maze to the device directly across (which seemed to open something else unattainable) - but wresting with the idiotic switching back and forth became appallingly tedious and far too time consuming compared to the rest of the game. And as the game seems to have some linear play plan that I missed, there was nothing else I could do once I reached the maze until I completed whatever was supposed to be the objective of the maze. The maze killed the fun. Happy to say I got this on sale here on GOG. If I'd paid full price, I'd want my money back.

If you enjoyed Myst or its sequels, you'll most likely enjoy Obduction. It brings back that same sense of open exploration and wonder, of piecing together what's happening from observation and notes, and manipulating and reactivating beautifully complex pieces of machinery to open up new areas. Despite having no direct links to the world of Myst, it shares a lot of the same themes, such as the aforementioned machinery, different ages that are linked together, well-designed puzzles, and gorgeous environments. The puzzles are perfect- not so hard that you need a guide, but not so easy that you won't get stuck at least once or twice. It really does feel like playing a Myst game in the best possible way. There are some differences- instead of the unique architectural style of the Myst games, the environments have a more post-apocalyptic, sci-fi look, consisting of alien technology or jury-rigged machines built from clever combinations of scrap. Though you're still wandering a mostly-empty world, it finally feels like this is more for reasons of plot than because of limitations in the game engine, and you'll even encounter some characters in person a handful of times. The entire tone is also warmer and more human than the cold, ancient feel of the D'ni ruins and ages of Myst. The only flaws I noticed were a few obvious references to Cyan and Myst (one or two would have been okay, but there seem to be an awful lot considering how few objects from Earth are present) which broke immersion a little... and definitely worst of all, the long loading times. These are tolerable most of the time, but when you get to a puzzle that requires rapidly switching between worlds a couple dozen times, it quickly becomes very frustrating and makes you wonder what they could possibly have been thinking to design it this way. Even so, I greatly enjoyed Obduction and I feel like the good points more than made up for the bad. It brought a fresh look to a beloved genre of old.