Lesson of purpose and purity of game design. All the technical and game principles are subject to great narrative and an experience you will not forget. [Issue#291]
Unapologetically old-school, the captivating tragedies of the Obra Dinn are in a class of their own. Visually striking and extraordinarily immersive, a must-play for any mystery fan worth their salt.
This game is one of best one i have ever played. It is all based on you and everything is so satisfying, you find out the misteries of the obra dinn all by yourself and there is nothing like the feeling of when you finally get 3 right, I'd say that the only game that is better tha nit in this aspect is Outer Wilds. The art style is incredibly well done. Plase give this game a shot it will be worth it
The Return of the Obra Dinn is a stunning work of craftsmanship. Pope, who handled every aspect of its production himself, has created a work that celebrates scrutinizing details.
Return of the Obra Dinn is simply gorgeous, from the idea to the execution. Finally a gem in which your deductive skills, your logic and your patience are really important: this game doesn't help the player. With an amazing graphic art and a strong gameplay, another great game from Lucas Pope.
There is no thrilling story, colorful characters or allure of the high seas. Instead, Return of the Obra Dinn is a bold, massive puzzle, an exquisite workout for your 'gray cells'. Unfortunately, the innovative gameplay mechanic gradually loses its appeal and excitement towards the finale, and I had to muster my willpower in order to beat the game in one go.
If you like the game Cluedo but want to try your hand at determining the fates of sixty crew and passengers on a 19th century East India Company vessel, Return of the Obra Dinn might be the game for you. If you have a morbid curiosity on the creative ways people can die or you enjoyed playing What Remains of Edith Finch this game should also appeal.
Whether you enjoy the story or not really depends if you're content with less characterisation but are at home with the nautical setting. Frankly, I found the characters in Papers, Please and the Soviet-era politics more compelling but Return of the Obra Dinn was still enjoyable if only to experience a trip down memory lane thanks to its early Macintosh monochrome graphics.
if there's a good game here, it's buried under a ton of minutia and time-wasting transitions. when you get to a death scene you're forced to just sit and look at it for 30 seconds before the game lets you do anything else. and when the game points you do a new death scene, you first have to walk there, and then click on it, and then you're teleported back to the previous one, then have to walk there a 2nd time, only this time behind a slow-moving gas cloud thing. Repeat 60 times. these things serve no purpose other than to waste the player's time. you spend more time following ghost clouds around to places you've already been than actually "playing" anything in this game.
Unique art style, interesting premise, and a clever main mechanic; but I didn't have a good time with the experience at all. Especially disappointing given my love of Pope's previous work, as well as detective games and sudoku.
I completed the game after about 8 hours, but forced myself through to the end. My primary issue with the game is that the majority of the time, playing through it felt like busy-work - on multiple occasions I'd deduced what was needed to find someone's identity/death, and from then on it was a matter of piecing it all together by traveling through various memories. This doesn't happen quickly, nor seamlessly. I feel like I wasted about 2 or 3 of my 8 hours purely in traversal in pursuing this busy-work, and found it extremely frustrating.
On a personal note, had I known it was a lovecraftian story going in I definitely wouldn't have played it at all, as that is not something I ever enjoy; but I can't fault the game for that, and arguably it was my fault for not having researched enough beforehand to know.
Regardless, I recognize why some people may love Obra Dinn; but I was extremely disappointed by the game.