GAME
Return of the Obra Dinn
Sixty deaths, each frozen in a single instant
Lucas Pope · 2018-10-18 · ■■■■□ 4/5 · 9.5/10
Where are you with this game?
Press one and the game goes on your shelf. You can see it on your account page.
In three lines
Return of the Obra Dinn is a logic-grid / observation puzzle game released by Lucas Pope (3909 LLC) in 2018.
Puzzlebyrinth scores it 9.5/10, with a difficulty of 4/5. Sixty deaths, each frozen in a single instant
Its core mechanics are Deduction.
Our Review
A monochrome mystery where an insurance assessor must identify sixty crew and reconstruct their fates aboard a ghost ship.
Mentions across our columns (50)
Essays（13）
- 2026-09-20 · KomugiThe Verb of Noticing — Puzzles Where the Answer Was Always on Screen
- 2026-09-06 · KomugiThe Verb Survives Even When the Name Is Lost — Four Paths Japanese Puzzles Took Across Borders
- 2026-08-18 · Komugi · 5 mentionsWhy Does a Spoiler Feel Like Theft? — On Owning an Experience
- 2026-08-14 · Komugi · 7 mentionsSolving by Ear — Designing Puzzles Around Sound (from The Witness's Jungle to Unheard)
- 2026-08-09 · Komugi · 8 mentionsIn-Game Notebook Design — Where Should a Deduction Puzzle Keep Its Memory? (from Obra Dinn to Chants of Sennaar)
- 2026-08-02 · KomugiSolving the Time Loop — Designing Games Where Knowledge Is the Only Save Data (from Majora's Mask to Outer Wilds)
- 2026-07-12 · KomugiReading the Unreadable — The Grammar of Decipherment Puzzles, from Fez to Chants of Sennaar
- 2026-07-05 · Komugi · 4 mentionsWhen the Control Scheme Decides the Difficulty — From Grid Movement to Drag-and-Arrange
- 2026-07-01 · Komugi · 7 mentionsWalking and Deducing — The Boundary from Gone Home to Return of the Obra Dinn
- 2026-06-11 · Komugi · 5 mentionsNarrative Puzzles and Storyless Puzzles — Lorelei vs Stephen's Sausage Roll
- 2026-06-07 · Komugi · 7 mentionsDesigning Hint Systems — How to Show, How to Hide
- 2026-05-27 · KomugiThe Vocabulary of Perspective Puzzles — From Monument Valley to Manifold Garden
- 2026-05-08 · Komugi · 10 mentionsObservation as Play — Common Grammar of Witness, Obra Dinn, and Lorelei
The Counter-Review（9）
- 2026-08-20 · Mayoi · 2 mentionsCounterpoint on Papers, Please — Reading Through the Negative Reviews
- 2026-08-03 · Mayoi · 2 mentionsCounterpoint on Gone Home — Reading Through the Negative Reviews
- 2026-07-23 · Mayoi · 2 mentionsCounterpoint on Chants of Sennaar — Reading Through the Negative Reviews
- 2026-07-13 · MayoiCounterpoint on Superliminal — Reading Through the Negative Reviews
- 2026-07-06 · Mayoi · 5 mentionsCounterpoint on Return of the Obra Dinn — Reading Through the Negative Reviews
- 2026-06-29 · MayoiCounterpoint on TUNIC — Reading Through the Negative Reviews
- 2026-06-15 · Mayoi · 3 mentionsCounterpoint on Lorelei and the Laser Eyes — Reading Through the Negative Reviews
- 2026-06-11 · MayoiCounterpoint on Outer Wilds — Reading Through the Negative Reviews
- 2026-05-26 · MayoiCounterpoint on COCOON — Reading Through the Negative Reviews
Puzzle Soundtracks（6）
- 2026-08-19 · Doremi · 2 mentionsSoundtrack: The Vanishing of Ethan Carter — chords with the third removed, built to make you walk
- 2026-08-04 · DoremiSoundtrack: Telling Lies — one-sided music, playable in any order
- 2026-06-28 · DoremiSoundtrack: Call of the Sea — Flip the love song over and you get a second theme
- 2026-06-27 · DoremiSoundtrack: The Case of the Golden Idol — grey music for frozen time
- 2026-06-16 · Doremi · 2 mentionsSoundtrack: Chants of Sennaar — Learning a people's sound before learning their words
- 2026-05-31 · Doremi · 9 mentionsSoundtrack: Return of the Obra Dinn — music that sounds, then steps back
Guides（4）
- 2026-07-20 · KomugiThe Best Puzzle Games on Steam in 2026 — 22 Picks from 130+ Reviews
- 2026-07-16 · MayoiBest Puzzles of H1 2026 — Mayoi's 10 Picks That Survived My Skepticism
- 2026-06-29 · Komugi · 2 mentionsSteam Summer Sale 2026: 50 Puzzle Games by Price
- 2026-05-26 · Komugi · 3 mentionsBest Thinking-Puzzle Games on Steam 2025 — 10 Picks from Meta-Puzzles to Observation Mysteries
Design Roundup（4）
- 2026-07-11 · Tsumiki · 2 mentions“Building a language with someone you can't understand”: what The Message from Deep Space says about language-deciphering puzzle design
- 2026-07-09 · Tsumiki · 2 mentionsInvesting in “hard because you think”: what the 2026 Draknek New Voices grant's six games say about puzzle design
- 2026-06-27 · Tsumiki · 2 mentions"We didn't want to make just another shooter": Capcom's Pragmata on the puzzle-shooter, and Draknek on what a puzzle game is
- 2026-06-02 · TsumikiThis weekend's Cerebral Puzzle Showcase, and designing the act of 'taking notes' into the puzzle itself
Paper Digest（3）
- 2026-09-24 · Fukai · 2 mentionsKemmerly et al.: Confident without being right, people bet more and searched more — Fukai Reads
- 2026-09-14 · FukaiDygert & Jarosz: People who repair a misread sentence also solve insight puzzles — Fukai Reads
- 2026-09-04 · FukaiMcCaughey et al.: People Change How Much Information They Buy Only When They Are Told the Price Changed — Fukai Reads
The Designer's Philosophy（3）
- 2026-07-13 · KizukiInside Jason Roberts's Philosophy — Turning the Space Outside the Frame into a Playground
- 2026-06-30 · KizukiInside Sam Barlow's Philosophy — Throw Away the Container, Stage the Story in the Player's Mind
- 2026-05-31 · Kizuki · 10 mentionsInside Lucas Pope's Philosophy — If There's No Problem, I'm Not Interested
