An indie game that came with high expectations, Return of the Obra Dinn, the verdict is official now. Created by Lucas Pope, the creator of Papers Please, this new game has nailed a somewhat hard concept by letting the player be their own detective.
As the story goes, the Obra Dinn set sail in the fall of 1802 to deliver 200 tons of trade goods. Somewhere along the way six months later, the ship never made its arrival. In 1807 the Obra Dinn sailed into port with tattered sails and no crew. After being written off as a lost at sea, the East India Company’s London office sends out an investigator to find out what happened. From here the rest is up to the player. Players must find and record all crew that had been on the ship. That’s not all, however, every name and death must be recorded too until everything is in place. Investigating every clue is necessary. Memories will be contained and played out to keep everything in order.
Visually Return of the Obra Dinn is very unique in a monochrome style. From first sight, the game is in black and white and gives the game a true vintage feel. This both helps and hinders some players. With the visual aesthetic, sometimes things can be tough to see but this doesn’t keep the game from being anything less than it is. Combine this with good steady music and the scene really start to grab a hold of you. Mechanically, the game is easy to navigate. This is where the developers really left the gameplay up to each individual person. Instead of having a large inventory of clues or mechanics that cross-reference people for you, all of the work is up to the player. If you want to compare two clues together, then you have to do it yourself. Everything must be done on your own which creates a true full feeling of being a detective on your own. This is the same for the puzzles too.
The only downside to the game, depending on your personality and preferred gameplay style, is the repetition. Need to know if the person you are naming is correct? Then you have to really think hard and compare ethnicity, death, voice style and more, just many times. Visually the patterns could be overwhelming to some. Luckily there are some other settings that could help with this. These really are the only big issues that come to mind really.
Overall, there is so much to say about this game. The music, visuals, and gameplay are all unique. The plot is very strong for a mystery game but overall nothing is insanely difficult. Skipping the walkthrough on this is a good idea because even the most confused people can still put the clues together. The voice actors did a fantastic job and the independence that the developers give the players really makes the game worth playing.
9/10
Available on: PC
