Return of the Obra Dinn

Return of the Obra Dinn is a first-person detective adventure game. It was developed by Lucas Pope, known for games such as Papers, Please and The Republia Times.

Plot

The titular Obra Dinn is a massive trading vessel, which, in 1802, set sail from London towards Asia, carrying two hundred tons of valuable goods on board. The ship was supposed to reach the Cape of Good Hope within six months before continuing its journey. Unfortunately, it never arrived - after a brief search, the freighter was declared lost at sea. To everyone's surprise, six years later, on October 14, 1808, Obra Dinn returned to London, its sails damaged, the entire crew gone. The playable character is an insurance agent working for the East India Company. She must investigate the ship and find out what happened on board. The key to the mystery is the captain's journal, which must first be found.

Gameplay

The game is a classic detective tale, in which we must slowly uncover further pieces of the puzzle and it's fully possible to solve the mystery before the main character does. Since it's an adventure game, the gameplay revolves mostly around exploring the ship and solving puzzles. The puzzles aren't typical to the genre, however, as they don't require finding objects and using them on the environment - instead we must find clues and compare them to the entries in the captain's journal to determine the truth.

Return of the Obra Dinn differs from Lucas Pope's previous games. It's relatively apolitical and its gameplay is more traditional. The game still features plenty of intriguing experimentation, although it's more tied to the storytelling and the visuals. The graphics are three-dimensional, letting us freely explore the ship. The artstyle, however, is pixelated and monochrome, mimicking the look of early games on the Apple II.

Last updated on 24 February 2023