Return of the Obra Dinn

If you like murder mysteries or atmospheric puzzle games, buy Return of the Obra Dinn, and thank me later.

This is going to be a fairly long review because I’ve got a lot to say about this game. But, for those short of time or attention span, here’s the short version:

If you like murder mysteries, atmospheric puzzle games - or even just have an affinity for early 19th century nautical fantasy fiction - run, don’t walk, to the Microsoft store, buy Return of the Obra Dinn, and thank me later. This is a masterfully crafted title and is a prime example of video games as art. It is one of the most captivating releases I’ve played in years. If that hasn’t convinced you, read on.

Return of the Obra Dinn begins with a brief introduction of the titular vessel and its story, before putting the player in the shoes of the game's protagonist - known only by his title of Chief Inspector of the East India Company’s insurance department - as he arrives to investigate the abandoned ship.

The gameplay centers around a pocketwatch and a book, which will be the only necessary tools for solving the mystery. The book provides blank pages where the player will write out their best estimations of events by way of marking the fates of all sixty souls aboard the Obra Dinn. You are provided with a full list of the passengers and crew, along with an artists depiction. The goal is to match every name to a face and to a cause of death. The pocketwatch is used to locate each corpse, and it gives the player a brief glimpse into the circumstances surrounding their demise.

The core gameplay loop is fairly simple. After a short audio clip - more on these later - the player is shown a freeze-frame of the area surrounding each crew member in their final moments. Walk around and note who is present and where, and who is getting killed by what. By combining this silent snapshot and the few seconds of audio that preceded, the player can slowly begin to ascertain who is who. The process begins with the corpses still remaining on the ship before the discovery of ghostly representations of the rest.

If this all sounds rather morbid, well, it is. Return of the Obra Dinn is fundamentally a story told through dozens of murders, mutilations, and misadventures. It isn’t what I’d call a horror game (aside from maybe one or two of what could be considered jumpscares) but it is a gruesome one, and likely deserves its 17+age rating. However, the graphic nature of the violence is somewhat negated by the game's distinctive 1 bit art style.

The ship itself is depicted in a basic wireframe style right out of an early ‘80s graphic adventure, while the characters themselves are a decade or so into the future, with enough detail to make them stand apart from each other. It is a strange mishmash, but it works. Color is limited to black and white, or a variety of other two tone pallets modeled after vintage monitors.

This option is one of my favorite little things about RotOD. The default setting is an old Macintosh, but I started out playing on the IBM 5151 setting instead because of its Fallout 3 green hue. However, I soon switched to the sepia tones of the Zenith ZVM 1240 as the colors contrast the least sharply and were easier on my eyes.
I recommend taking a moment at the start of your playthrough to flip through the half dozen options to see which best suits you.

As visually interesting as this game is, it is actually the sound that stands out in my mind as one of it’s strongest aspects. Carefully listening to those brief audio clips that I mentioned earlier is key, so the quality of the voice acting and effects was of paramount importance. Thankfully, RotOD excels in both regards. The scant lines of dialogue are delivered by a very talented cast, and the accompanying sounds both set the scene while occasionally offering additional scraps of information. The soundtrack is perfect, albeit a bit repetitive by the tail end of a leisurely first playthrough. The main theme is both stirring, yet appropriately tense ...and I hope you like it because you’ll be hearing it a lot.

Aside from a slight lack of musical variety and my aforementioned issues with some of the monitor options, my only other criticism is the lack of a “hard mode”. Once you have correctly solved three fates, the game eagerly informs you of your accomplishment and locks those answers in, preventing you from changing them. It’s a little too hand-holdy for my taste, and wouldn’t have bothered me so much if it was every five correct fates instead of three, or if it could be turned off entirely. However, these minor grievances scarcely detract from the overall package.

I waited 8 months for RotOD to go on sale and in retrospect, the mere $6 savings wasn’t worth the wait. The asking price of $20USD is more than fair, and I would have happily paid it if I knew then what I know now. Replay value isn’t high, but the initial playthrough alone is worth every cent.

Achievement hunters have a fairly easy completion on their hands, as you can tell from the low overall ratio. Solving every fate will earn you the lions share, and the remaining secret achievements can be earned in a quick second playthrough. There is a very good walkthrough here on TA, but I strongly recommend you avoid it until you have completed your first playthrough. The will efficiently get you all the achievements in as little time as possible, but it will also ruin the fun of the game. The in-game tutorial and thorough exploration of the ship should be enough to get you through the game the first time, even if you don’t solve every fate correctly.

After the commercial and critical success of Papers Please, creator Lucas Pope had the financial freedom to spend five long years working on Return of the Obra Dinn, and that creative liberty and patience shines through in every frame. For a relatively small scale and simple game, the production values are second to none. As a one man (aside from the stellar voice acting) passion project, it is truly impressive.