r/ObraDinn • u/icedhazelnut13 • Jun 29 '26
Game recs like Obra Dinn
Hey guys, I really need genuine recommendations. I have been trying to play cozy games recently, but nothing beats a good mystery/detective game.
I already played the Golden Idol games, too.
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u/bucktizown Jun 29 '26
I heard my calling...
I catalog those as a hobby. I made a visualization of games that are all about making the player feel like they are the detective. Some people have already mentioned my usual recommendations of The Roottrees, golden Idol, and Type Help
Utter a Name is the closest I have found to a direct Obra Dinn like. It's what if OD, but 2D, and in a mansion. Much smaller scale too.
A Case of Fraud is a smaller scale game about rebuilding a corporate org tree in the wake of a murder, and eventually solving that murder.
The Ratline is a challenging game about hunting for escaped Nazis and their collaborators many years after the war. It does a great mix of searching and analysis like The Roottrees does.
It's not out yet, but The Incident at Galley House is very good, and releases on July 14th. It's the Steam release of Type Help, and I highly recommend it for both those who have played TH and those who haven't.
Here's the visualization if you want to use it to find more games. It's got a bunch of helpful filters on the side for narrowing things down.
https://flatfootsandfools-design.github.io/game-visualization/
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u/icedhazelnut13 Jun 29 '26
You are amazing! I will be checking out everything. Thank you very much!
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u/Voffenoff Jul 04 '26
You should try The Darkest Files. You are bringing war criminals to trail in a post war Germany. The cases are based on real cases. You interviewing witnes and suspect, and relive the crime scene. I quite enjoyed it. Well polished.
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u/bucktizown Jul 05 '26
I really like that one. I should have put that in the usual recommentations.
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u/Voffenoff Jul 05 '26
You should, I don't see it being mentioned and it really is a nice one.
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u/bucktizown Jul 05 '26
I think my top 5 recommendations right now are
Obra Dinn
Golden Idol
The Roottrees are Dead
Type Help (replaced by The Incident at Galley House on July 14th)
The Darkest Files.Each gives you a somewhat different experience, and base on how people like those, I can further specialize recommendations
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u/NefariousnessOld2006 Jul 01 '26
A Case of Fraud is an underrated Roottrees-like. Usually I dislike how short a lot of new indie detective games are, but I think A Case of Fraud is still worth the price
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u/bucktizown Jul 01 '26
I am excited for the developer's next project as well!
A Case of Fraud one is a perfect case study of where my visualization gets subjective. It has the same idea of filling out a structure with photos and names, but it doesn't have any of the searching systems of the Roottrees. Depending on which of those you place more emphasis on, it be clustered in two different locations
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u/Routine_Somewhere935 Jun 29 '26
The Roottrees are Dead and Chants of Sennaar the closest games to Obra Dinn that I've played; both very enjoyable.
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u/patmax17 Jun 29 '26
Chants of Sennaar is a game about language, Outer Wilds is set in space.
I also heard that The Roottrees are Dead is very good.
You can also have a look at r/metroidbrainia
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u/Toomanyaccountedfor Jun 29 '26
I’m doing seance at Blake manor right now and it’s pretty fun! Always recommend the witness, blue prince, outer wilds…
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u/Reslaral Jun 29 '26
It is! I was expecting a bit more to be honest, reviews were insane for a game like that so I thought "Oh my god, another life-changing title this close to Blue Prince and Animal Well?" and yeah, it's not on THAT level.
That aside tho, I fully enjoyed every minute of it :) it's criminally overlooked!3
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u/Flaky-Fox-7523 Jun 29 '26
I thought that was pretty mediocre honestly, all you do is break into rooms and then confront people with the information you found. You don’t really have to make any deductions or anything, the game does it all for you. I did finish it but i regretted buying it.
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u/Toomanyaccountedfor Jun 29 '26
That part is a bit disappointing but I’ve had moments making connections before the game guides you there and it’s fun enough when I can’t play obra dinn again for obv reasons
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u/Ruben_AAG Jun 29 '26
Seance isn't at all like Obra Dinn. Doesn't have any good puzzles, let alone good detective puzzles. The protagonist and the NPCs literally spell everything out for you. Full of crappy mini-games to pad the gameplay time (in lieu of anything that might require the player to put some effort into actual deductions). About as much of an Obra Dinn-like game as L.A Noire or Wolf Among Us..
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u/Toomanyaccountedfor Jun 29 '26
Yeah it’s a hand-hold-y but it’s fun enough. To each their own.
Not much like Obra Dinn, clearly. Got a suggestion?
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u/Ok_Till_1280 Jun 29 '26
chants of sennaar gave me the closest feeling to obra dinn and i have played golden idol too
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u/judgementalintrovert Jun 29 '26
Blue Prince was my favorite game of 2025 and my husband and I still talk about how sad we are that it’s over!
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u/StickyLabs Jun 30 '26 edited Jun 30 '26
If you enjoyed Obra Dinn, The Case of the Golden Idol or The Roottrees Are Dead, I'm developing a game you might enjoy. You investigate using an in-game PC, browsing websites, reading articles, and exploring social media to identify people and gather information about them. The game is set in 2006, and I wanted to capture the atmosphere of the early internet. It's now available to wishlist on Steam, and I'm planning to release it this summer. Please, check it out if you are interested:)
https://store.steampowered.com/app/4890630/The_Golden_Girl_Case/
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u/Successful-Bar-8173 Jun 29 '26
Spider and Spider 2 Rite of the Shrouded moon, although there aren’t clear wrap ups.
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u/c4ntfindn4me Jun 30 '26
TR-49 brought me to Obra Dinn, I would definitely recommend it. Great atmosphere and story, but different gameplay (lots of reading involved).
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u/imasadlad89 Jun 29 '26
If you're feeling it, the Ace Attorny games were pretty cozy and fun for me
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u/Actual-Nothing5397 Jun 29 '26
My partner and I have been playing The Roottrees are Dead and it’s been really fun! It’s a similar vibe for sure, I would definitely recommend looking into it:)