Return of the Obra Dinn

Return of the Obra Dinn breaks the mold of the gaming medium as an enthralling first-person mystery adventure with overtones of Edgar Allan Poe. This is an extraordinary conjunction of cerebral puzzle, supernatural nautical tale, and ornate art direction.

Return of the Obra Dinn stands as something wholly unique. An investigative puzzle game with clear goals but completely open ended paths to completing them, it’s a challenging exercise in piecing together a mystery without being spoon fed what to pay attention to. It’s got some small quality of life issues here and there, but the “moment of death” clue-hunting mechanic at its core is an absolute t...

Return of the Obra Dinn lives up to the hype, and then some. It’s a beautifully crafted and intricately constructed detective mystery unlike anything you’ve played before with a harrowing narrative at its centre. Unravelling its secrets takes time and requires patience, but you’ll be glad you allowed the story to play out at its own pace. What we have here is a thoroughly unique experience that wi...

Discover the fate of a stricken merchant ship in this clever maritime mystery.

Easily the best detective game of the modern era, with challenging and rewarding gameplay combined with some of the most evocative visuals of the year.

Every now and again you pick up a game and instantly hate yourself; angry that it took you so long to have played it. This was the exact result when I played Return of the Obra Dinn. While garnering GotY nominations; I noticed. Earning those GotY awards; I was interested. But when finally deciding to jump aboard the abandoned ghost ship, Obra Dinn, I knew instantly that I had made a mistake in wai...

In Return of the Obra Dinn, you play an insurance inspector investigating an abandoned merchant ship to determine what happened to the crew. Armed with only a notebook and a handy device called a Memento Mori (which is capable of turning back time to the moment of someone’s death), your job is to run through the fates of the 60 people who once called the ship home. While this premise seems ripe fo...

So there you have it—we're late to the party, but Return of the Obra Dinn is one of the best games of 2018. There are a good number of people who may not digest game criticism the same way we journalist folks may, so to be fair to us, Lucas Pope's game is one that may fall through the cracks and be off the radar. Despite late game gripes, this mystery game is one that everyone with a computer need...