Finding Fun #3: Return of the Obra Dinn

Fresh Take on Detective Work

The game's core mechanic of exploring frozen moments in time breaks from traditional detective game conventions. Instead of inventory puzzles or dialogue trees, Return of the Obra Dinn focuses purely on observation and deduction. The satisfaction of noticing a crucial detail in someone's uniform, recognizing a face from a previous scene, or piecing together multiple events in a sequence offers an intense sense of accomplishment from the beginning.

A Visual Style That Demands Attention

The game's distinctive art style creates a striking visual experience that makes it fun to scan for clues. The stark two-tone contrast makes every scene feel like the carefully composed photograph that it is. This minimalist approach makes the game more visually engaging than many modern titles with photorealistic graphics.

Growing as a Detective

The game progressively teaches you how to be a better detective. Early scenes are simpler, with obvious clues that help you understand the game's logic. As you progress, the puzzles become more complex, requiring you to combine multiple pieces of information and make logical leaps across scenes. This gradual increase in complexity creates a sense of mastery as you learn to think like a detective and fully understand what happened. It almost feels like a Metroidvania game where you're learning new abilities as you progress and backtracking once you have more data or skills.

Unraveling the Ship's Story

The fun of piecing together the ship's story grows with each new discovery. The game's non-linear structure means you're constantly making connections between different scenes and crew members. The moment when you finally understand how certain events unfolded, or when you correctly identify someone based on subtle clues from multiple scenes, creates a profound sense of accomplishment that keeps you engaged throughout the experience.

How Did You Solve That?!

I wouldn't be surprised if Return of the Obra Dinn largely spread through word-of-mouth. After just 30 minutes of playing the game I sent messages telling others who love puzzle games that they would enjoy it and to go in blind. Throughout my playthrough there were a few times I asked others who were further than me to clarify whether I already had enough information to solve a particular case or was on the right track and it was surprisingly fun to get clues and discuss without ruining the mystery.

The Temptation to Brute Force a Solution

The game gives you feedback every few cases solved and you always choose from a list of options while solving, thus it provides an environment where brute forcing becomes a tempting option. For instance, if you know a crew member's name and you know they're alive then you might just keep clicking through where they relocated to until you solve it. This obviously isn't a fun way to play the game and defeats the intent of it, but it's a noticeable option especially when you're stuck on a case.

Uneven Case Complexity

Not all crew members' fates are equally fun to solve. Some cases require careful observation and deduction across multiple scenes, while others can be solved with a single obvious clue or come in batches. This inconsistency in puzzle complexity can create moments of anticlimax when you solve a case too easily after struggling with a more challenging one. It's not like Tetris where every time you clear 4 lines you get a similar feeling of reward.

Limited Replayability

Like discovering a new cuisine only to find out the restaurant closed a week later, this game can't offer you the same high quality experience for long. This is a characteristic of most great mystery games. Other games like Zero Escape: The Nonary Games attempt to build in replayability with the reward being you can see all the endings it has to offer.