Posted on: October 2, 2016

stefan.gustavson

Games: 68 Reviews: 2

Short but sweet, and very well made

I would strongly recommend this game. By modern standards, Obduction is a fairly short game with about 12 to 20 hours of playtime, depending on how much you get stumped by the logic and math puzzles. Also, the replayability is not great. Once you finish the game, a full replay will take you only a few hours and offer mostly the same experience. This was the case for earlier Cyan games as well, and any other puzzle game for that matter. Once you figure out the puzzles, most of the challenge is simply gone. However, I found the 15-16 hours of my first playthrough to be an absolutely top notch experience, providing all the awe and amazement I remember from earlier Cyan titles. The puzzles are enjoyable, but not terribly difficult and, in my opinion, never frustrating. Obduction was not as difficult as I remember Myst and its descendants, but that might just be a side effect of me having a lot more gaming experience than what I had back then. In any case, I didn't need any hints for this game, but it was still difficult enough to be a nice challenge. Towards the end of the game, the loading times can become frustrating as you need to swap between levels quite a lot. If you don't install the game to an SSD, you might need quite a bit of patience during the last few hours. It's generally worth the wait, though. The attention to detail and the incredible amount of work that went into the level design is impressive, and it shows best if you have a beefy GPU. Even though this is a slow-paced puzzle game where all the focus is on exploration and taking in the great views, it's made in a first person 3D engine, and the graphics rendering requires quite a lot of horsepower. With all the sliders at maximum, it's a breathtakingly beautiful game, but it's not bad looking even if you bring the sliders down a notch or two.

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Posted on: August 7, 2021

IggyDaDino

Verified owner

Games: 708 Reviews: 4

Maybe CYAN's magnum opus

I never thought I'd get the same feelings I had playing MYST and the rest of the MYST series. That feeling of being lost, 'stuck'...what game makes you feel 'stuck' and 'lost' anymore. Well, this game managed to do it! Simply put, if you love MYST, you will love this game and I'd jump right in and not read more. What makes these kinds of games special to me? Well thought out puzzles, riddles, etc. There is nothing more fun than being lost in a world and having no idea what to do. This kind of gaming experience simply does not exist in other genres and few game makers know how to do these kinds of games just right. It's not just merely a walking simulator. A lot of 'puzzle' games in the 2010s era have incredibly simple puzzles and you're just walking through the story. Not here. It's an escape from your own world into a breath-taking fantasy. I can play a game like this for hours and just be engrossed in it, left to roam the landscape in search of solving whatever puzzle I am stuck on. The puzzles are completely fair and well-made. I play a lot of puzzle games and want something challenging. It is clear immerse thought, testing, and design went into everything you need to do in the game. But I will note, I determine fair in the sense that if you make logical decisions and use good problem solving skills, you should be able to solve the puzzle. There is hint support in-game but I did not use any hints from anywhere. I'd really caution you to avoid hints; it ruins games like this too easily. Ask friends for small nudges after you've been stuck for days. I think most people could handle this game though. If you're the kind of person who opens hint books 5 minutes into a game, you probably won't enjoy this; you likely didn't enjoy MYST either. Overall I am beyond impressed with what they made here and I am glad I had the opportunity to play it finally! Games are simply just not made like this often and I would recommend picking this up!

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Posted on: November 28, 2021

sobuy

Verified owner

Games: 286 Reviews: 35

Beautiful adventure game

I haven't finished the game but I'm loving it so far. The game in a nutshell: you roam around in a strange alien world, gathering clues and solving puzzles by interacting with the environment and various machines and crazy alien contraptions. Why are you here doing this? What is "here"? And where is everyone else? No idea! Experimentation and exploration and piecing the story together are what the game is about. The game is totally chill. There's no tutorial and you really don't need one because the controls are ultra basic, there's no inventory management and there's zero pressure to do anything, so you can just poke around at your own pace. It is also absolutely gorgeous. Often I just have to stop and admire the scenery because it's just fantastic. The audio is also beautiful. It's quite an awe-inspiring experience if you allow yourself to be immersed. The puzzles so far have been fine, but kind on the easy side. They are more laborious than difficult (require a lot of setup or travel). So far, there hasn't been any dumb "find the pixel" or "guess what the developers were thinking" puzzle, which is nice. The game does have two flaws which don't ruin it, but make it a bit frustrating: 1. You have to walk/run/drive A LOT. Like, several minutes to go from A to B sometimes. There really should be some kind of "fast travel" mechanic; 2. There are some puzzles which involve you teleporting around a bunch of times to solve a puzzle. Every time you do that, the game has to load for like 10 seconds (on my modest hardware). This is super annoying. I shudder to think what that feels like with less powerful hardware. Without those 2 flaws, it would be an easy 5 stars. This way, I have to ding one star because those issues just cause needless frustration (not enough to quit, but enough to be slightly miffed). But in the grand scheme of things, the flaws are minor. This is a fine adventure game and it is breathtakingly beautiful. I recommend it.

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Posted on: June 18, 2019

vilx

Verified owner

Games: 243 Reviews: 2

Loved it, but it is an acquired taste

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!

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Posted on: November 19, 2019

tim.felgentreff

Games: 156 Reviews: 2

The best Myst yet

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 :-)

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