It's The Most Fun I've Had Failing.

Since it was originally released at the end of last year, I've been keeping a cautious side-eye on Return of the Obra Dinn.  I was a big fan of Papers, Please in all its quirky, document-checking splendor, so another adventure by Lucas Pope was something to look forward to.  Being the extremely frugal gamer that I am, I decided that I should probably wait until a sale.  So I waited....and waited...AND THEN IT MAGICALLY WENT ON SALE AT EXACTLY THE PERFECT TIME!.  By "perfect time," I mean when I got tired of watching my current Cities:  Skylines effort slowly fall apart.

If you haven't heard of Return of the Obra Dinn, you need to seriously check it out--really, really, really.  It came out last year, but I am going to go ahead and pre-call it my current GOTY.  I started it up and thought "I will just dink around for a little while."  Fast forward to four hours later and forcing myself to go to bed...and then going to bed and thinking about how I could better solve a few identities...and then waking up really early because I wanted to play.  Yes, I'm not exaggerating when I say it is that good.

One of the scenes aboard the Obra Dinn.

Return of the Obra Dinn is a mystery game that involves some serious powers of observation and deduction.  You play the role of an insurance inspector who is sent to learn about the mysterious disappearance (and then reappearance) of a ship in 1803.  Luckily, you have a few handy tools at your disposal that help you piece together a picture of what happened.  One of those tools is a strange compass-like object (called a Momento Mortem) that can be used near any earthly remains.  Once activated, it can re-play the death scene of the person who died.  Then, you find yourself in these motionless tableaus where your character can move about and observe any other figures in the scene.  The goal is to observe the scene, dig out any pertinent clues (which can be audio or visual), and then use that information to piece together the identity and fate of the people aboard the ship, and finally to unravel the story of the journey.

The Momento Mortem helps you puzzle out how someone died.

If you're thinking, "I'm good at puzzling things out!"  You might be, but Return of the Obra Dinn doesn't throw out clues willy-nilly and some tiny details can be extremely pertinent.  Another of the handy tools that the game gives you is a logbook.  This book contains valuable information like a crew roster, a map of the ship, and, the best part, it magically adds chapters as you unwrap pieces of the story.  My favorite feature is the drawings that can be used to help you identify characters--you gradually fill it out as you discover details and it's handy for deducing clues about jobs aboard the ship.  There's really only so much you can deduce--a certain degree of informed guessing is required.

The crew portrait page can help you keep track of who's who.

After playing for about 7 hours, I got frustrated and gave up before I had solved all the identities (and, I looked up a few--and totally regretted it--don't do it!).  Solving the entire puzzle is tough and requires some serious detective skills.  Even without solving the puzzle, I was enthralled at picking apart clues and gradually piecing together the story.  I continue to be impressed by Lucas Pope's ability to craft unique gaming experiences that are phenomenal, quirky, and just so damn fun.

Pros:
+ Classic vibes.  You can change your display options to one of several old school graphics looks (Macintosh, Commodore, IBM, etc.).  It's 1985-tastic.

+ Unique.  I cannot think of a single gaming experience that I have had that compares to it.  Sure, there are detective games and puzzle games...but solving this puzzle is so damn enjoyable.  There's something very positive reinforcement-esque when you see the message and sound pop-up that indicates that you've correctly identified three people.  It feels so good.

+ Work.  There's no easy way to solve this puzzle and it requires you to seriously pay attention and use your noggin.  (DON'T BE TEMPTED BY WALKTHROUGH'S/GUIDES!!!  There's so much pleasure in solving things for yourself)  I'm not the kind of person who picks up a game because I want to brag about how difficult it is, but there's something to be said for games that genuinely make you work for your bread.  This is one of those games.

+ Cool story.  As you work through clues and find more and more dead bodies, the story of the Obra Dinn is detailed...and it's a great one.  It's also the kind of thing that you have to piece together for yourself.

+ Tools that guide you, but again, don't hold your hand.

Cons:
- Getting stuck is particularly tough.  Lemme explain--at one point I absolutely could not figure out how to advance the story.  I figured that it was mostly because I needed to correctly identify some more of the characters who I had discovered.  I spent an hour or more just wandering around and re-viewing the scenes that I had unlocked.  I got frustrated and tried to avoid spoilers because I wanted to do it myself.  Avoiding spoilers and figuring out exactly what you need to do to move ahead is kind of rough.  (It turns out that I had somehow missed using my Momento Mortem on one particular corpse--I blew it by looking up spoilers--but I actually figured out which corpse purely by accident).  I guess what I'm trying to say is that this is a game that doesn't hold your hand in any way.  In some ways (like the pleasure of figuring things out) that is great, but in others, it does put a bit of a damper on things.  (And, just FYI, there are a number of helpful guides that don't give any spoilers--just handy nudges in the right direction)

-Replayability factor is low.  Most likely this is a game that you will play through once and then set aside.  The fortunate thing is that it's so amazing that the one time is magical.

Even despite the difficulty and frustration of getting stuck, I had a great time with Return of the Obra Dinn.  After getting stuck and looking up some spoilers, I forced myself to resist the urge of spoiling the rest.  I didn't end up solving the fate of the entire crew and gave up.  Once I've given myself some time (and I've forgotten the story) I'd love to fire it back up and try my hand at rightfully solving it.

Recommended for:
+Anyone who likes to puzzle things out
+Gamers wanting a classic feeling game
+Wannabe sleuths

Not Recommended for:
-Gamers hoping for tons of action
-Impatient/easily frustrated gamers--there aren't any hints and looking up spoilers ruins the whole thing.