Return of the Obra Dinn

This game is unlike anything I've ever played. Ostensibly just a walking simulator with some deduction on top, you follow the story of the ship The Obra Dinn, whose passengers all mysteriously vanished. The story is fantastic, and told non-linearly through a series of flashbacks. The game helpfully provides a timeline for the events and it's much easier to follow than some other non-linear stories. The story is fantastic, but the deduction is what kept me coming back. You are tasked with finding out the fates of each passenger. Armed only with a magic pocketwatch and a book, you'll investigate the ship, slowly chipping away at the identities of each of it's passengers and crew. You feel like a detective, more than any other game I've played, as you deduce each person's fate and identity though dialog, the context of each scene, and tracking them through each chapter and scene. You can guess and hope you're right, but in my opinion, the experience is vastly better if you wait until you feel certain. This game is slow and methodical, and there is no gameplay apart from walking around and observing things. I found it incredibly engaging, but it's very much not a game for everyone. If deduction and puzzles and note-taking appeal to you though, this game is a masterpiece.

First, if you like puzzles/mysteries (and maybe even if you just like ships), you should just play this game without reading any more. It will be worth it. If you still need convincing, here are some additional spoiler-free thoughts: The thing I appreciate the most about this game is its novelty. The graphics, the mechanics, the color, the sound - it was all unlike any game I've played before, which is a real treasure. The game strikes the difficulty balance beautifully, providing satisfaction and intrigue without frustration. Looking at the screenshots beforehand, the art style made me think the experience of playing the game might be similarly plain, but once you see the art within the game itself, it will become clear that there is actually a great deal more complexity there. This is true of the game as a whole as well - the dev(s?) clearly have a great grasp of how to show the most with the least (and how much of which type of story element will be most engaging). This game is an excellent demonstration of creative attention directed deliberately. It very much knows what it is, and it is very good at it.

Return of the Obra Dinn is the best detective game to date. It has a great story and narrative, an intriguing art-style and minimalistic but very rewarding gameplay. Nothing is unnecessary. Don't worry if all the different characters, plots and scenes are a bit too much to handle. You will sort it all out eventually, even I did, though it took me quite some time. Once you get into the flow of solving one fate after another through deduction, elimination and sometimes a bit of clever guessing, no other game is as rewarding as Obra Dinn.

I must say… I was left just a little bit… disappointed by Obra Dinn in the end. I loved it in the beginning. The first impression was great – I was immediately in love with the graphical style which was really unique and beautiful in it’s simplicity. It seemed to really fit the “historical” setting of the game, because it almost looked like a moving pencil drawing made by someone of that era, perhaps the ship’s artist himself. And it’s simpleness didn’t detract from the player’s ability to notice details. The music was pretty atmospheric too – I didn’t love it as completely as I did the Arstotzka Theme, but then again – what can compete with the GREATEST COUNTRY? It was fitting and emphasied the various scenes pretty well And I really liked the deduction mechanic – validating the fates in sets of 3 left you enough of a wiggle room that you COULD make some educated guesses if you were stuck, or even completely cheese it as long as you were certain of at least some of the variables. And the thing is… I was really invested for most of it, even though I wasn’t really good. But in the end (the 100% fates correct ending) it didn’t really work that well for me. I was like “oh well, that is a story, for sure”. There was nothing in it and it’s conclusion that made me go “oh wow, that’s so great/deep/sad/interesting/whatever”. I was just like “oh ok, so that’s how it went”. It’s not that I didn’t like it – I did. I even loved most of it. But I loved the journey, not the conclusion. The conclusion felt… somewhat lackluster to me. I expected more and I don’t think I really got it. If you want to know how I did going into the game blind (and struggling more than a bit at the end there), you can see it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xG9IDqvQdmU&list=PLp4TpsJ7HUWUQS_x7n9qOJWOSM6sQQQWW

Return of the Obra Dinn is an investigative mystery game, much like games such as Her Story or The Last Express, where you play as an insurance investigator trying to found out what happened to this ship after it drifts into port many years after going missing at sea. Gameplay-wise it's quite simple; there's a lot fo exploration and with you is a journal that saves each event as you discover them. When you've gone through every "event/memory" the fun/hard part begins; you have to assign names of 60 people to the right person and also define their fate. Sounds harder than you might think! The story is in intriguing and since it's told non-chronologically you have to puzzle the pieces together yourself of what happened to various ship crew members and passengers. While there's not much you see of the characters or their personalities, they're still distinct in both appearance and voice; with various ethnical backgrounds and professions. This makes sure that you do recognize people in the varioius events/memories as you dig deeper into the game. Overall, this is a masterpiece and I'd love to see more games similiar to it but also more games from the developer himself. This is recommended to everyone who loves a good mystery, especially if you love solving them!