REVIEW: Return of the Obra Dinn (Spoiler free)

26 Comments

1. So… to be clear, this game is called "Return of the Obra Dinn" not "THE Return of the Obra Dinn," which is what I say multiple times during this video. Just got the name of the game I'm reviewing wrong. No biggie.

2. ITS THE DARK SOULS OF DETECTIVE GAMES

3. Really enjoyed your video and I want to try the game out because of it, but you should't have shown that tentacle…. I mean I was kinda expecting it, this being a ghost ship mystery and all, but little ambiguity still beats outright confirmation.

4. Nice review! Will have to try it.
   There's no "x" in et cetera though.
   Sorry, it triggers me.

5. Great review!

6. I love the game, recommended

7. This is what I always wanted a game of thrones game to be like.

8. There was me thinking everyone on yoochoob wore baseball hats and headphones, suffered from verbal diarrhoea, and laughed constantly at their own 'jokes'. Bravo! Bellissimo! Oh, and a nice game trying a bit too hard to be different and all black and whitey, but goes to show people who read books will always create absorbing experiences. Young landlubbers who find this game appealing because it's even more like a book might even try reading Jamaica Inn (warning, no moving pictures, muzak or folk calling you buttcrust bum-bandit while turning pages) and then some more books. Or any other daphne du maurier books for that matter.

9. First, thank you for the good review.

   Second, I 100% agree with your assessments. I just finished this game in 16h23m.
   As a non-native English speaker I have not used accents a single time. I
   have no idea what the difference between American, Wales, English,
   Scottish or Irish is. At least the Russian, Polish and Chinese were easy
   to identify because of the non-Latin characters.
   I think I solved
   about 20 fates with a high degree of certainty, and about 40 with
   guessing. As you mentioned, with the brothers and with the Russians and
   Indians and Chinese. This is not good gameplay.

   What you didn't mention were 2 things I found very annoying:
   1. The walking speed is abysmally slow.
   2. You cannot jump to a scene immediately. Combined with the tediously
   slooooooooooow walking speed this gets in the way of fun really quickly.

   I would say this game is a flawed masterpiece, but a masterpiece nonetheless.

10. I completed this game a few days back and absolutely loved it. More than any other game I wish I could go back and play it again for the first time. A second playthrough now, knowing what I know, seems to be defeating the point.

11. Finished in about 12 hours too without using guide. I have a feeling a lot of people got impatient with distinguishing causes of death and looked at guides. The game does need a couple of quality of life improvement.

12. Beautifully done review…you have me convinced; Cheers! ?

13. It's so wonderful seeing indie game devs coming up with such unique games like this. Color me intrigued.

14. 4:22 Definitely feels like a spoiler. Wish you wouldn't have added that.

15. Better prepare dictionary before playing it, I guess.

16. "Wow I can't believe John stabbed me the first mate of the ship right in the chest" lol if only murders were that easy to solve

17. sold on art direction alone

18. i would never have known about this game if it weren’t for you. cheers for that

19. This reminds me a lot of paper sorcerer.

20. This is legitimately one of the best games I have ever played. It really drew me in as soon as the first (or technically, the 'last') chapter was completed. As soon as I saw the beast in The Doom I was blown away.

    Such a great experience, I would recommend it to anyone.

21. I loved this game. It's important to note that the game regularly confirms in batches of three if you're right about someone's fate. If you get three right, the game will tell you exactly which fates. Its kinda cheesy, but i used this mechanic to figure out several fates in the latter half of the game.

    There is one dude who plays a pivotal role in several scenes, but is never shown doing the job he has. He's shown in the crew sketches standing next to people involved in his job, but you don't know how significant that is at first since you'll often see people mingling in those pictures. The only way I figured him out is by inputting random names while knowing I had 2 other fates correct, so I knew the second I picked the correct name the game would confirm it. It kinda felt like cheating, but I did this multiple times, especially with the Chinese topmen who have very little dialogue.

    Also, I didn't take any notes while playing. I found everything easy to follow since if you select someone in your book you can get a map of the ship with every scene they're in clearly marked with arrows pointing out the order. This is especially useful for disappearances during the beast chapter.

22. Oh jeez, it's out? Awesome, boy have I been looking forward to this one. Lucas Pope will impress again, I certainly hope.

23. I'm at around 45 fates now. Man, this game is a masterpiece. I can't remember the last time I got so invested in a game.

24. Man I've been waiting for ages for it to officially released
    Glad it's finally out

25. Damn, I love the art in this game. I feel like a dog looking at bacon; just love at first sight.

26. Thanks for the spoiler-free video!