Return of the Obra Dinn
Nov. 30th, 2022 12:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
luckykaaMy most recent gaming obsession is Return of the Obra Dinn. A murder mystery investigation set on a 19th century ship, from Lucas Pope; who also wrote "Papers Please".
Everything about this game is awesome. The graphics are rendered in a style aimed to look like old Apple Mac monochrome games. Personally I think that gives it something of a woodcut print look, which fits the setting very well.
The plot is that a ship - the Obra Dinn - has been found and brought back to harbour. All the crew and passengers are dead or otherwise missing. It's up to you to identify what happened. You are armed with a pocket watch that allows you to return to the death of a particular character. The death scene is a static scene, which the player can move around and explore, with a brief audio exchange.
Well, that should be easy, right? Well, no. We usually see how they died, but we don't have a clue who they are. We have a ships manifest, and a couple of sketches of evens aboard the ship, showing everyone (except the artist; who is represented by his initials) so we know who the cast is, but there's very little complete information. A character's name is called. We can assume that is one of the people in the scene, but which one? Some are simple. One character is referred to as a Dane, and there's one Danish crew member.
Sometimes we don't even see the cause of death. A character dies of a stab wound. They were stabbed several scenes earlier. We need to track him down there. Another scene has a firing squad. Need to work out who fired the fatal shot.
Once three identities are established, and their causes of death, the game lets you know. It this point it becomes clear that you might have made a mistake.
Usually deduction games feel they're on rails somewhat, with the game having to guide the player through the deductions to make. Obra Dinn is allows the player freedom to explore, and relies on incomplete information. Definitely a winner.
Everything about this game is awesome. The graphics are rendered in a style aimed to look like old Apple Mac monochrome games. Personally I think that gives it something of a woodcut print look, which fits the setting very well.
The plot is that a ship - the Obra Dinn - has been found and brought back to harbour. All the crew and passengers are dead or otherwise missing. It's up to you to identify what happened. You are armed with a pocket watch that allows you to return to the death of a particular character. The death scene is a static scene, which the player can move around and explore, with a brief audio exchange.
Well, that should be easy, right? Well, no. We usually see how they died, but we don't have a clue who they are. We have a ships manifest, and a couple of sketches of evens aboard the ship, showing everyone (except the artist; who is represented by his initials) so we know who the cast is, but there's very little complete information. A character's name is called. We can assume that is one of the people in the scene, but which one? Some are simple. One character is referred to as a Dane, and there's one Danish crew member.
Sometimes we don't even see the cause of death. A character dies of a stab wound. They were stabbed several scenes earlier. We need to track him down there. Another scene has a firing squad. Need to work out who fired the fatal shot.
Once three identities are established, and their causes of death, the game lets you know. It this point it becomes clear that you might have made a mistake.
Usually deduction games feel they're on rails somewhat, with the game having to guide the player through the deductions to make. Obra Dinn is allows the player freedom to explore, and relies on incomplete information. Definitely a winner.
