Return of the Obra Dinn is not as much a game as an interactive experience. As you play through, the story always leaves itself vague enough for more questions and more backstory. The visuals are gorgeous and the ability to walk around a still scene is fantastical and allows you to solve the many mysteries of the game. The great music and voice acting engage the mood of the scene. Some elements of pacing are reminiscent to Lucas Pope's last masterpiece Papers, Please. The gameplay itself is basically a gigantic whodunnit puzzle on a scale never seen before, identifying the names and cause of death of the entire crew. The clues are laid out geniously, although by the end of the game it is difficult to identify characters who never speak and some logical deductions I read about after completing the game are obscure. I had to exploit the completion system near the end to get some names correct. Playing the game a second time to get all the achivements made me feel like the first time you viewed a death before you can write things down drags on a little bit, and it has basically no replayability. In the end, this is one of the most engaging and satisfying experiences that can be found on Steam. It took ten hours over two days to complete where I just couldn't stop playing, but despite the short playtime compared to other games, the quality of those ten hours is well worth the price.

Return of the Obra Dinn is not as much a game as an interactive experience. As you play through, the story always leaves itself vague enough for more questions and more backstory. The visuals are gorgeous and the ability to walk around a still scene is fantastical and allows you to solve the many mysteries of the game. The great music and voice acting engage the mood of the scene. Some elements of pacing are reminiscent to Lucas Pope's last masterpiece Papers, Please. The gameplay itself is basically a gigantic whodunnit puzzle on a scale never seen before, identifying the names and cause of death of the entire crew. The clues are laid out geniously, although by the end of the game it is difficult to identify characters who never speak and some logical deductions I read about after completing the game are obscure. I had to exploit the completion system near the end to get some names correct. Playing the game a second time to get all the achivements made me feel like the first time you viewed a death before you can write things down drags on a little bit, and it has basically no replayability. In the end, this is one of the most engaging and satisfying experiences that can be found on Steam. It took ten hours over two days to complete where I just couldn't stop playing, but despite the short playtime compared to other games, the quality of those ten hours is well worth the price.