Return of the Obra Dinn

I don't often buy a game as soon as it comes out, but was too excited about this one to wait! It's just as good (and creepy) as promised. No hand-holding here. You really do need to use proper observation and logical deduction to work out what happened aboard the Obra Dinn, and I expect things will only get trickier as the game progresses. The violent and sometimes horrible deaths mean it definitely isn't for everyone, but if the trailer appeals to you, you'll probably enjoy the game. The first-person view can be pretty rough on those of us who are prone to motion sickness, but you can slow down the "look" movement in the options, which helps. I'm face-blind and was nervous that I might be forced to identify all the characters by sight. If anyone else is worried about this, it seems to be OK. The logbook includes a large picture of everyone aboard, and you can zoom in on each individual in each death scene to match them against this picture, so they can be identified by location rather than facial features. In the logbook itself, each character is given a pop-up containing all known or deduced information about them.

This is a gorgeously detailed detective story of sailors, monsters and curses, created by Lucas Pope, whose previous work was the brilliant "Papers, Please". Set in the early 19th Century, and rendered in monochrome graphics designed to evoke the feel of (specifically) early Apple computers, the game wrings gorgous art out of self-imposed limitation. Each pixel seems filled with ominous meaning. You play an insurance assessor tasked with determining the fate of the 60 crew members missing from the ghost ship Obra Dinn, and you are armed with a magical stopwatch capable of replaying the moment of a person's death. Each memory is a glorious 3D frozen tableau, every element clearly caught in the middle of dynamic motion, each actor's face full of emotion, suggesting a story that spins out in a dozen directions that beg to be followed. You work from nothing more than a list that shows the names of crewmembers paired with their nationality and role on the ship, plus a series of hand-drawn artist impressions of the ship that capture the faces of the crew. It's up to you to match faces with names, and then determine the fate of each individual along with who (if anyone) is responsible. In accomplishing this, sometimes you're lucky enough to hear people named by other crewmembers, but more often you're working from accents, affiliations, uniforms, hammock positioning, distinguishing tattoos, or eventually just a process of elimination. There's no hand-holding - the game is a giant crossword for you to solve in whatever order suits you, picking at the problems that intrigue you and deferring thorny ones for later. Even at the end, while the broad strokes of the Obra Dinn's tragedy become clear, the sea keeps for itself some of the darker secrets. The whole thing is short enough to finish in a single afternoon, but the experience will stay with you long afterwards. Five stars.

The game took me 8 hours to complete 100% (I think, I don't know if GOG counts the time when paused). It was very entertaining, not a kind of game you find often, and some things didn't go as I expected at all. A couple of bodies where difficult to find (the one in the window of a cabin, and the one in the barrel). Several identities I found by trial and error (specially within the same rank), but I don't know if I just missed clues. All in all, money well spent.

If you're a fan of logic puzzles or murder mysteries, this is a must-buy. I enjoyed the hell out of it. The core of the game is great; name the sailor, name their method of death, and who killed them. I've got a few issues/nitpicks, though, mostly with the tension between the narrative and the game design: One, the graphical conceit doesn't really work. I get why it's there, the game is very much in line with the barely-disguised logic textbooks that used to be all PC games were, and it trims down on distractions, but it doesn't quite jibe with the more modern mechanics. I wish it were an option instead of a default. Two, the structure is a bit pushy, with a countdown on exploring the environment followed with you being locked in place to move on to the next corpse in many chapters. This makes game design sense but considering the game is built on careful observation (and taking your time), and since you don't get the very useful audio/subtitles openings played back for you after the first time, it can feel like you're being shoved through the story. Finally, the "fates answered in threes" conceit makes brute-forcing every third fate, and thus breaking the narrative, way too easy. It's clear we're supposed to follow the narrative, as the game tells us when we can conclude the fates of certain people by putting them into "focus," but as early as the opening chapter, that falls apart. In short, great game, a lot of fun, but the narrative and the game design are sometimes at odds in ways one or the other needed to be tweaked to be resolved.

Everything from atmosphere, character design, puzzle design, voice acting and background music to Graphic style, controls, pacing of the game and sense of achievement is crafted to perfection. No follow-up episodes or DLC everything is delivered as intended in the amazing puzzle. I found myself flipping through maps and crew rosters while walking a ship at sea discovering amazing mysteries in a non chronological pace. The pieces of the puzzle gives you just enough hint to keep going while keeping you interested in solving this mystery, As the narrative unfolds you get to know the implicated people and understand the motives and affairs that took place during this interesting voyage. As said it is a complete package where the sequence is up to the details you perceive the overarching narrative is a very controlled experience. There is no moving people in this game. You do not meet 1 other person that is not completely still. Think about it. Its anti physical action/strobelights in your face and more a creeping experience that unfolds into grand scale. Thank you Lucas Pope - this was an amazing experience. Learned a lot about old ships, crews etc. along the way. Pretty cool too :)