This a game for people MUCH smarter than me.

It's insanely smart, and insanely creative.

One of the most unique and powerful puzzle games of the decade. If you're into hardcore puzzle games, play this game.

Genre: Puzzle, narrative mystery, unlike anything else | Released: October 2018 | Platform: Windows, Mac, Linux, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch | Developer: Lucas Pope | Publisher: 3909 LLC | Language: English | Length: 8-12 hours | Difficulty: Moderate to Hard | Do I Need To Play Anything First: Nope | Accessibility Options: None | Monetization: Singe Purchase | Microtransaction: None | Gambling Elements: None | Content Warning: Violence, Death, Gore, disturbing imagery and themes | Parenting Guide: I’d say 16 and up | How Did You Play It: On my Xbox | Did you need a guide: Do not use a guide, you are running the entire purpose of the game. However, I did not clarification on some of the labels as to whether something was considered a beast or not. | Mods: None

Is It Good: Fantastic. It is essentially perfect, I have no notes.

Back of the Box: The only insurance investigator game you’ll ever like.

This is brilliant. Play it.

You play as an insurance investigator trying to discover what happened to the crew of the Obra Dinn, a 19th century ship that had been thought lost for years. You have one magical ability: with a mysterious pocket watch you can move back into time to observe the moment of death for anyone who was on board. Your job it to identify and record every crew members fate.

This is not an easy game, but with determination and observation you can figure out the fate of every crew member. Some may find this frustrating, but I really, REALLY liked this. This is an exceptionally well designed game, remarkably restrained, and polished to a mirror shine. I can not imagine how difficult creating a puzzle box like this would be.

10/10

Return of the Obra Dinn is just phenomenal and I can't believe that I'm saying this because I dropped this game twice last year, but then I don't know what happened but I ended up picking it back up again from the beginning and ended up getting (probably) the most immersive gaming experience I've ever had.

I feel that this is one of those games that truly defines what separates video games from other visual mediums thanks to, what I consider to be the best use of the video game medium ever. This game is basically a murder mystery where you go to a ship lost at sea to investigate what happened there, and if this sounds boring to you, just give the game 5 minutes to change your mind. The more you investigate, the more you learn about the tragedy. The story itself is a fantastic one, mainly because of its out of order presentation. One moment its just a simple murder mystery, and the other moment it's.... well I suggest you see for yourself.

But despite all of my praises, this game definitely isn't for everyone as it very much asks for all of your attention, and there's also a possibility that you'll lose track of all the information that you've collected at some point if you don't pay attention. The game demands you to keep the story you've uncovered thus far on your mind at all times. The game itself isn't all that long, and can be finished in less than 5 sittings(like me), but the fact remains that this isn't one of those games you should push yourself into finishing. Lastly, for all the "gameplay outweighs story" people, the story is the gameplay for Obra Dinn, so.....

READ THIS
1) Try not use a walkthrough. You're missing the whole point of the game if you're using one, and you're better off dropping the game if you're doing that. If you're completely lost, checkout one of those on google. Don't watch the youtube walkthroughs at all, you'll end up ruining your experience.
2) I think this is something that anyone who's trying to get into this should know: the game, despite being confusing as fuck is very linear. It subtly does do a lot of handholding. So yeah, for those like me who were scratching their heads all the time in the first 1-2 hours, I hope this was relieving to hear.

All that being said, Return of the Obra Dinn is an experience I'll definitely never forget. The absolutely gorgeous art style, the soundtrack, the story, everything about this game is perfect. Definitely the best game I've played all year(so far).

If you were transformed into a dice and thrown into a dungeon, and had one shot to escape, would you seize it or just let it slip? Personally, I’m sure I would bungle it stupendously just like Mom’s spaghetti. The good news for the clumsy among us, though, is that Dicey Dungeons, being a roguelike game, provides us with as many chances to escape as our hearts desire.

Every escape attempt begins on Floor 1. Your goal is to reach Floor 6 and defeat the dungeon boss. On each floor you’ll encounter enemies, as well as chests, shops, and other points of interest. Each floor’s layout is completely visible as soon as you reach it, which means that delving through these dungeons is more about planning than exploring. You have some control over which order you confront enemies, and often you can even skip past them and head straight down to the next floor. Avoid too many battles, however, and you’ll find yourself ill-equipped and underleveled to survive the later floors.

Combat is carried out in turn-based fashion. Each turn you roll dice and use them to activate your character’s equipment. A basic weapon might let you do 6 damage when you play a 6 on it. Other items do a fixed amount of damage, independent of the die roll, or cause status effects, heal, and provide shielding from damage. Some weapons can only be activated with an even or odd die; others require a die above or below a certain number, and a few even require multiple dice. Before long you’ll also find gear that lets you manipulate the dice themselves, increasing or decreasing their values, for example, or splitting one die into two. But because you only have limited equipment slots, you must consider carefully which items you wish to take into battle. Generally it’s best to carry a mix of offensive attacks and support items that help you make the most of all your dice on every turn.

To beat the game, you must brave the dungeons with all of its characters, of which no two play alike. The first available character is the Warrior, who focuses on raw damage. His special power allows him to re-roll a few dice every turn, effectively shifting RNG in his favor. The second character is the Thief, who specializes in making use of low die rolls and countdown items – gear that usually need to be fed multiple dice, often across multiple turns, before unleashing their effects.

Next is the Robot, who plays blackjack with his dice rolls. You can roll as many as you want, but if you exceed his CPU counter, all your unused dice disappear. Then there is the inventor, who after every battle dismantles a piece of equipment to make a gadget for the next battle. Lastly we have the witch, who instead of gathering equipment maintains a book of six spells, each associated with a side of the die. Preparing and casting spells are separate processes that both require dice, so to make the most of her abilities, you have to carefully choose which of the six slots you want to save them in.

Accompanying you on all of your dicey escapades are an enormously catchy soundtrack and visuals that are as adorable as they are cohesive. The cute monster designs will have you wishing you could capture the little buggers and raise them like Pokémon. Who could resist including baby squid in their roster of pocket monsters? Maybe one day …

If I have a qualm with Dicey Dungeons, it’s that reaching the final battle against Lady Luck is a bit of a grind. Each character has 6 episodes to play through. While each episode does introduce fun new rules, after completing all the Episode 4 elimination rounds, which are generally considered the most difficult of the bunch, I felt like I was just going through the motions to wrap up Episodes 5 and 6. Fortunately, the final dungeon, which introduces a clever mechanic that I won’t spoil here, makes the grind all worth it, and Lady Luck herself pulls all the stops. The encounter with her feels just as epic as the final battles in the best JRPGs.

Frankly, I’m surprised that Dicey Dungeons was released on PCs and consoles before mobile, because the design is perfect for touchscreens. Dragging dice onto equipment feels smooth and natural, and, at 20 minutes or less, each trip through the dungeon is the perfect length for a commute. The game also saves after every battle, so you can set it down and pick up where you left off anytime. Dicey Dungeons puts up a stiff challenge while still feeling cozy – so cozy that it won’t be long before I undoubtedly dive into the bonus episodes.

This game shares a lot in common with my favourite roguelite, Slay the Spire, and yet I found it pretty consistently frustrating.

Runs in this game are short, which is a blessing and a curse. I wanted some episodes to end the moment I started them, yet for others I'd finally gotten around to crafting an interesting set of tools that never had a chance to shine. The final boss is never powerful enough to square up against some of the game's most broken tools, so they lose their lustre pretty quickly. My biggest issue is the randomness, which was so prevalent that it felt like I often had no control on how I'd progress. Certain episodes in particular were aggressively un-fun to complete due to how they constantly changed how you played and while I feel as if this will be a selling point to some, I just found it infuriating. The game is solid, I definitely "enjoyed" it, but I was also relieved to see the end of it.

A better puzzle game than a roguelike. Often found myself wishing each episode was deterministic, maybe with an optional randomized mode set separately. The mechanics and systems here are really fun but it gets dragged down by forced replays due to poor luck. Could it be argued this is intentional due to the game's story? Maybe but I don't think it excuses it either way. Some other "tactical" type roguelikes like Slay The Spire always feel beatable in practically every scenario due to the variety of options and opportunities to squeeze everything out of what you're given. That was absolutely not the case here. Despite the mechanical depth it felt like options were usually limited, which is why I compare it more to a puzzle game in terms of its strengths.

The dev did a thread on the development of the reunion episodes that I found quite engaging. It's clear that a lot of thought and care went into this. It's still very fun and has a ton of creativity packed into it! It's a shame that the core concept is at odds with the execution.