A riveting detective game from the mind of Lucas Pope with clever mechanics and a beautiful "1-bit" art style reminiscent of early Macintosh software.
Players assume the role of an unnamed investigator tasked by the East Indian Company with determining the fate of the Obra Dinn, which recently returned without its crew and passengers, in order to submit an insurance claim. That's right—this an insurance inspection simulator at heart.
Armed with a logbook (which includes the ship's manifest and drawings of the crew) you have to deduce each individual's identity, how they met their demise (or, for a lucky few, where they escaped to), and who or what was responsible for killing them. It doesn't seem like much to go on, but crucially you're given a pocket watch-like device, the Memento Mortem, which allows you to experience a corpse's fate through a brief bit of audio followed by an explorable scene in an area of the ship, frozen at the moment of death.
Initially, it's quite easy to identify folks based on first or last names shouted during cutscenes, distinctive attire or tools, and foreign languages spoken, but the challenge ramps up over time. Soon I found myself carefully exploring the still life dioramas produced by the Memento Mortem for clues (e.g., the direction of blood spraying from a bullet wound). Often players will need to follow the action across scenes, as grisly murders play out from corpse to corpse. That said, it never became so difficult that I wasn't making progress and I didn't have to rely on any hints or guides.
The game only validates identities and fates in groups of three, a clever mechanic that discourages pure guesswork, but can be leveraged by a savvy player. For example, I found myself "banking" two near-certain answers, then making educated guesses on a third before hitting the mark, instantly validating all three. I also took ample notes, since any information that isn't validated is wrong, which let's you learn something (and make progress) even when you guess incorrectly. It's a really satisfying gameplay loop that made me feel like Sherlock Holmes without the tedious evidence gathering and witness interrogating an Ace Attorney game might have.
The experience was soured slightly when, upon completing the game, I discovered two achievements (one a fail-state, the other a gag) that required a second play-through. I despise gag achievements and, for a game with zero replay value, a fail-state achievement was not appealing; thankfully, a helpful Steam guide provided a save file that could be easily loaded to acquire both.
Overall, I really enjoyed my 10 hours with The Return of the Obra Dinn; I also wish more creators would embrace the monochromatic "1-bit" aesthetic, which fits moody puzzle adventures especially well.
Players assume the role of an unnamed investigator tasked by the East Indian Company with determining the fate of the Obra Dinn, which recently returned without its crew and passengers, in order to submit an insurance claim. That's right—this an insurance inspection simulator at heart.
Armed with a logbook (which includes the ship's manifest and drawings of the crew) you have to deduce each individual's identity, how they met their demise (or, for a lucky few, where they escaped to), and who or what was responsible for killing them. It doesn't seem like much to go on, but crucially you're given a pocket watch-like device, the Memento Mortem, which allows you to experience a corpse's fate through a brief bit of audio followed by an explorable scene in an area of the ship, frozen at the moment of death.
Initially, it's quite easy to identify folks based on first or last names shouted during cutscenes, distinctive attire or tools, and foreign languages spoken, but the challenge ramps up over time. Soon I found myself carefully exploring the still life dioramas produced by the Memento Mortem for clues (e.g., the direction of blood spraying from a bullet wound). Often players will need to follow the action across scenes, as grisly murders play out from corpse to corpse. That said, it never became so difficult that I wasn't making progress and I didn't have to rely on any hints or guides.
The game only validates identities and fates in groups of three, a clever mechanic that discourages pure guesswork, but can be leveraged by a savvy player. For example, I found myself "banking" two near-certain answers, then making educated guesses on a third before hitting the mark, instantly validating all three. I also took ample notes, since any information that isn't validated is wrong, which let's you learn something (and make progress) even when you guess incorrectly. It's a really satisfying gameplay loop that made me feel like Sherlock Holmes without the tedious evidence gathering and witness interrogating an Ace Attorney game might have.
The experience was soured slightly when, upon completing the game, I discovered two achievements (one a fail-state, the other a gag) that required a second play-through. I despise gag achievements and, for a game with zero replay value, a fail-state achievement was not appealing; thankfully, a helpful Steam guide provided a save file that could be easily loaded to acquire both.
Overall, I really enjoyed my 10 hours with The Return of the Obra Dinn; I also wish more creators would embrace the monochromatic "1-bit" aesthetic, which fits moody puzzle adventures especially well.