Indie review: Return of the Obra Dinn

A ship without a crew arrives after having disappeared several years ago. The name of the ship is the Obra Dinn and as insurance investigator is our job to discover what tragedy befall on it and it’s crew.

Return of the Obra Dinn is a puzzle and first person investigation game created by Lucas Pope that i strongly recommend to anyone who likes experimental or unique indie games. I really like this game and i’m recommending it at the start because there will be some minor spoilers and hints further down as i write about the game and i believe it’s best to experience it with as little knowledge as possible.

As the investigators of an insurance company we are task on discovering what happen to the crew of the Obra Dinn. For this we have three painting with the faces of every crew member, the passengers registry with all their names and occupation on the ship and finally a watch with which we can see the final still frame of a person's life.

The mechanic of looking and hearing the last moment of a person's life is were we get the clues to identify the crew and how they died. This is easier said than done as not everyone shouts their name when they are dying and some people die off the ship so we must discovere what happen to them through others memories.

The game is hard, identifying the sixty members of the crew requires a lot of deduction and sometimes process of elimination. Tatoos, accents, vestiment, where they are commonly seen in the ship and even who they are friends with, everything is a clue to identify a person no matter how subtle it might be.

Thankfully the game balances this out with two mechanics that prevent the completions through pure trial and error but allow some educated guessing. Firstly the game corrects the crew in groups of three, if three peoples names and fates are correct the game will tell you. This allows some much needed guessing work as there are some hints that are really subtle and sometimes you are left with two or four choices.

The second mechanic is that the game keeps bluried the faces of those you haven’t found enough clues to identify them. This is great as it prevents wasting time on a puzzle with missing pieces but on the other hand i don’t trust it. In two instances i knew the names before the portraits unblurred.

Overall the investigative gameplay is challenging but balanced and can make one feel smart for having done three correct deductions in a row. It’s also educational, i had to learn many nautical terms like topman, bosun or midshipman that the game provides with a very useful glossary.

Gameplay alone would make me say this is an excellent game but there are others things that bring up the game even more.

The music creates the perfect nautical ambience although it can be a bit repetitive and sometimes is too loud and makes it difficult to hear clues. I like it nonetheless and i have found myself humming it while thinking.

The presentation clearly shows the burden of a sole development but it’s styled to a point that not seeing animation becomes part of it’s charm. Not to mention the black and white coloration that gives the game a retro feeling of both 80’s computer games and 18 century drawings.

Lastly the story made me feel sad for the crew and for what happened to them. A story that makes me feel for their characters to me is great but what brought this emotions was not what i was told but what i wasn’t told. A still frame doesn't tell us much about the people in it but a lot about their emotions at that moment and those resonated with me. A death became more tragica, a valiant sacrifice became more heroic and a murder became more condenable.

My favorites were without a doubt the three midshipman and the carpenter and his mate. Not only are all their deaths great sacrifices but we could also see them in earlier memories just doing their job or joking together. Once again i know next to nothing about this characters but in those few still frames i saw them fighting or working made them very memorable to me.

The return of the Obra Dinn is a game to be experienced not play and is one of the best indie games i have seen.

Get the game on steam:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/653530/Return_of_the_Obra_Dinn/