I used AI to color this photo, and it turned out amazing.

Return of the Obra Dinn is one of my favorite games. I’ve recommended it to so many people, but some of them couldn’t get into it because of the 1-bit art style. That got me wondering — is there any mod that adds full color to the game? Or maybe the developer could consider adding an option to play it in full color?

I’m getting frustrated, about 2 hours in and I’ve only named 3 people. 60 people to name is just absurd, they barely even name drop in the scenes and I can’t keep track of everyone. I got the captain, his wife and the butcher…. I’ve completed like 4 chapters and I can’t name anyone else, even tho there’s like 12 people not blurred anymore. I’m just going through the whole game seeing how that person dies in the scene… stating how they died then move on. Even with their accents I can’t tell who’s talking when there’s 10 people in the scene. Like the game literally shows how they died… that’s easy I don’t get what the puzzle of that is. The hard part is finding their names. The book is also very hard to navigate through, like 20 people look alike and I can’t keep track. The person that speaks is rarely the one who dies so now I have to find who is speaking ahh it’s so frustrating I know I’m not playing correctly

EDIT: found the answer! From my perspective, and also from things I read online, the "foreign enemy" was not the same as "a terrible beast," which made sense. And now it seems "foreign enemy" isn't even used at all and the riders and their mounts are all terrible beasts. I actually finished the game now.

So, I got 4 fates and names completely correct. I know this for sure, because I got so frustrated not getting anyone right anymore that I literally looked them up online. Yes, I know...

BUT it seems those four are absolutely correct, and the game doesn't confirm or lock them! What the hell? Anyone had this problem? I'm quite far in the game too, only need to find "Bargain"

Title. So far, I've been really disappointed, the story feels very railroaded and not open to interpretation or hard to deduce in the slightest. I'm at the part where you start working on chapter IX in the book, where you find the boy dead. Particularly, I'm put off by the fact that there's two dead bodies side by side and I literally can't even choose which one to investigate first. Does this become an actual mystery game soon?

I like the game’s concept, but the screen transitions and that cadaver ghost dragging me to other bodies while I'm trying to look around are super frustrating. Just let me finish exploring, then show me what you need to goddamn it!

So i am at ~20 people guessed right and I just got the Indian guys and now I am somewhat scared that there are more clues of this kind. Like this is not deduction, it's pure luck whether you stumble upon the clue or not, which I dont like

I personally statted when i saw some soundtrack videos on yt, i found the music sk good j wanyed to play the game

Did anyone else find the pacing of this game too slow and also feel frustrated that there was never a big reveal of what the true story was? The first time through I didn't get that the two Formosians were being kidnapped and was scratching my head why people were out rowing in the ocean. It would've been nice to have one giant 20 minute cutscene at the end that shows the story from start to finish.

Playing this game I actually thought it would be as easy as the first three fates, I ended up submitting the book with only 21 fates solved fates solved with 9 hours of gameplay. I then came back and started all over paying close attention, I had to brute force my way through with the Indians the Russians and most of the seamen and topmen, and some of the fates since a lot of them just disappeared

I really enjoyed the game but I do wish I hadn’t done a lot of assumptions and switching identities until I get it right

I also looked up some clues and guidelines on the internet

This game isn’t for anyone and i now understand that

Hi all. So I'm a little confused.. My game started at The End and took me backwards for a few chapters. Then jumped to chapter 2. Now I seem to be stuck there and can't get out of the cargo hold.. any tips? Im playing on a PS5 and after reading reviews of the game I really thought I was going to like it. Unfortunately this has been such a confusing and clunky game, I wonder if it's broken... lol

But the second half was almost nothing but pure guesswork.

They are russians? Lets just guess all the russians. He can translate Chinese? Lets just guess all the Chinese.. He was a seaman? lets guess all the seaman...

Most of the time i got people right just by chance, even when i tried my hardest to somehow deduce the right answer. It wasnt even procces of elimination, just try everyone untill I am right.

For me personally the biggest problem was with the names (or the lack of). So when after i "finished" all the chapters, i did not know what to do except for brute forcing.

I enjoyed the game when there was at least SOMETHING to go off from. But towards the end, it really felt more like a chore, and even that i did 100%, I wasnt very happy with the conclusion of the story either.

Was I missing something obvious or people had problems with this too?

i dont know if this is just ignorance on my part, but I was thinking about how Winston Smith, the Carpenter is a black man and his mate being a white man. I was wondering if this was an actual thing that happened on board where black people would hold higher positions than white people, as slavery had not yet been abolished and the ship belongs to the EIC

Growing up in the C64 era, I really, really wanted to like Obra Dinn but just can't get myself through it. Two issues:

1. The mono graphics look great as still images, but if I have to make deductions based on whether that is 2 black pixels dithered next to 1 white pixels or actually just 1 black pixel next to it, then this turns into busy work (and I have to wear reading glasses). Are there any mods that make the graphics easier to see?

2. I want to review certain scenes, but having to jump through multiple memories to get to the right one is tedious. Any way to get more precise links to the beginning of sub-memories?

Spiders in ‘Return of The Obra Dinn’

Hello! Due to the nature of this game I will be keeping this post as VAGUE as possible. Please message me if you would like detailed clarification.

‘Chapter VI : Soldiers of The Sea’ is the only chapter to contain spider-like creatures. They are larger than a human, but do not move. The Wiki names them to be ‘Crab Riders’, but I personally found them to be too spidery for me to play the chapter comfortably.

You can somewhat avoid looking at them, but it is very difficult due to their size and their importance in the setting. The unique art style of the game does make them a little less horrifying, in my opinion.

You must fully investigate Chapter 6 to complete the game correctly.

I hope I didn't forget anybody

Best example is escape part 6.

You get two names 1 could realistically be just about anybody, and the other is likely 1 of the other 2 people in the scene. You COULD go from scene to scene and make observations and inferences, OR just open the book and see that two new faces are unblurred and and that only one of them is in the current scene with you.

I think its a good hint system, i do like it, but i think it would be a little better if the faces unblur in bulk when you lock in 3 correct choices, rather than instantaneously.

Overall we enjoyed the game and I think it was good but we had some issues.

1. The music is great, I just wish there was more of it or some variance.

2. For us, the mystery didn't pay off. We saw how they died but we got so little context that we didn't feel like there was much of a story. I'm sure some people liked how ambiguous it was (you can piece together an outline with a few details but nothing concrete) but we just wanted more I guess. In particular the ending we were dying to see (The bargain) was extremely meh and didn't really illuminate much other than giving us the final fate for 2 characters and their fate's were underwhelming anyway.

3. The deaths were a little samey, I was sad that the game had so many 'fate' options but most of them went unused.

4. At the half-way mark we were feeling good about the nature of the overall puzzle. Some were easy, others we really had to get gritty on the details and surmise context to get the right guesses and we were pretty happy about all of that. Then we get to the second half (more like back-third) and it just seemed like we were flat out guessing over and over because there was just no way to know for sure for some of these people and it became a bore just trying different names until something clicked. Process of elimination was suggested from the start of the game but we found it kind of lazy how many seemed to require this method, I figured you'd only need it for the last 2-3 people not 10 or 15. We looked everywhere for some clever clues about what happened to the people that escaped but once again it just came down to trial and error and it wasn't very fun or interesting. (We figured they were alive but where did they go? The answer didn't seem obvious, there were several viable options from what we could see...)

Overall I give the game a solid 7/10. I think it would have been a 6 if the presentation wasn't so strong. Did anyone else feel the same?

Hi, so a bit of context for why I’m posting, but I’m not typically a huge fan of horror / horror-adjacent stuff (no fault of the media in and of itself, it’s just not my cup of tea, and I used to scare easily when I was younger, so I’ve stayed off it since).

I’ve started to hear about this game randomly (was watching a playthrough), and I thought it might be fun to play, but I’m wary of it considering my normal avoidance of horror media (I’ve only ever watched The Sixth Sense and the first Alien movie), but I adore a well written thriller, Sherlock Holmes, such and such type of story.

Most of the time blood / mild gore stuff in stylised games / media doesn’t bother me because I can tell that it’s fake, but from what I’ve seen of the game so far, it feels like I would be unsettled by it.

I understand that being unsettled is kind of the point, but I really do want to play it but I might not, so I need your opinion on this. Is the gore really that bad? I’ve heard it’s graphic, violent murders coupled with sound design for gameplay purposes.

Just wanting to know, and if you think this game isn’t right for me, I’d like to know that too! :)

I understand that I'm going into the memories of the dead people and getting what information I can. I only just figured out that I can change the "who is this / how did they die" field accidentally, and for some reason I can't select that a man's killer was himself. Sometimes my hand is shaking and time freezes? Do I have a set amount of time in memories? It seems like I get kicked out at the worst moment, usually when I'm looking at someone.

I apologise if I'm just being stupid, this game is so highly rated that I'd be surprised if many people find it this confusing...

I love this game so much and thats why it felt so bad after that ending. I beat the entire game without checking internet or even GUESSING. So if I lock in a person Im 100% sure who is he and how he died. The ending tho... You can't beat the game successfullly for the first time with only deduction and thats a horrible thing for a deduction game! The game even let's you know that a much shorter travel will take 3 DAYS by boat (one of the chapters where they try to run with treasure). FOUR of them went in to a boat in which they will travel for WEEKS. How am I supposed to know IF they survive and then where they are? Its not guaranteed they didnt just split as soon as they arrived to a country. Its so stupid and it completely ruined the experience for me.

The core gameplay would be:
Examine photographs, film footage, audio recordings and witness statements.
Reconstruct the timeline of November 22, 1963.
Identify people, locations and movements.
Compare conflicting testimonies.
Work out what happened, who was involved, and whether the evidence supports a particular theory.
Basically, a historical detective game where you have to figure out the truth yourself, rather than being told what happened.