One of the best feelings in the world is playing a game that truly deserves the kind of praise it's garnered.

Return of the Obra Dinn is one of the most perfectly detailed and intricately planned games maybe ever made. The nature of it's extremely unique gameplay requires that every detail of the story be near perfectly woven together with every aspect tying into the next. Miraculously, it almost pulls this off without a hitch.

Deducing a majority of the crew and the nature of their untimely deaths comes extremely naturally, through only your own cunning. It completely trusts you to notice patterns in their relationships and activity, and use the frankly beautiful dioramas to piece it together.

Which brings me to the topic of it's unique art style, which uses the limitations of low-poly models and a one-man animation team and embraces it's lo-fi nature and draws the game entirely in two colors. Too close up it can sometimes be a bit grating on the eyes, but watching the sails flap in the wind or being greeted by the gruesome sight of an execution stuck in time can be completely engrossing.

That engrossing feeling not at all hampered by the truly excellent sound design. The voice acting, the horrifying shrieks of men being shredded by monsters, the piercing sound of a gunshot making quick work of a fistfight, or even the waves softly hitting the vessel as you walk across the blood-shed boards of the Obra Dinn. Every bit of it is to marvel at.

It could be said that there is too much guesswork involved nearer to the end of the game, but it's frankly not enough to hamper the experience. It could be said that it's premise reduces replay value drastically, but the first playthrough alone is worth it.

I truly admire this game, and I hope it's gotten the kind of success it deserves.

I hope Lucas Pope is proud of this game, because it's a beautiful tribute. And god damn, those transitions are like porn to me