One of my favorite video games is “Papers, Please,” developed by Lucas Pope, who also created “Return of the Obra Dinn.” Naturally, I was excited to play “Return of the Obra Dinn” for class, and the gameplay experience pleasantly exceeded my expectations. “Return of the Obra Dinn” is a first-person mystery adventure game where the player assumes the role of an insurance investigator dispatched to examine the remains of the merchant ship Obra Dinn, which was lost at sea five years ago. As the investigation deepens, the player progressively uncovers the fate of the crew. The game presents its investigative narrative with a unique monochromatic art style. This essay will discuss the relationship between narrative and puzzles and how “Return of the Obra Dinn” incorporates puzzles as gameplay mechanisms that support the story’s narration.
In chapter fourteen of Jesse Schell’s “The Art of Game Design,” the author inquired into the distinction between puzzles and games. Games and puzzles can be considered problem-solving exercises; what differentiates them is how they engage with the players. Specifically, puzzles allow players to develop a “dominant strategy.” This diminishes the replayability of puzzles as once the solution is found, the puzzles are no longer challenging for the players and thus no longer interesting. On the other hand, games usually employ dynamic elements and mechanisms that prevent the development of a single “dominant strategy” or solution. This distinction is also mirrored in the concept of “fair play” in mystery narratives. In mystery stories, the plot functions as an interactive activity constrained by a set of rules, providing readers with the necessary clues to solve the mystery. This invites readers to engage with the story actively, exploring different interpretations and solutions. Similarly, in investigative games, the narrative and its mysteries can unfold in diverse ways with each play through. Players are motivated to explore various strategies and outcomes, ensuring that each experience is unique and the narrative remains engaging.
The “Return of the Obra Dinn” uses the puzzles as a vehicle to deliver the narrative. As the primary investigator, the player uses the Memento Mortem, a pocket watch, to observe the exact moments before someone’s death. By examining these particular moments, the player will be able to connect the faces of the subjects under investigation with the names and identities listed in the logbook. This investigation mechanism provides excellent puzzles that follow Schell’s “Puzzle Principles.” First, the player’s objective is clear– to complete the logbook and uncover the reason behind the deaths on the ship. Additionally, the logbook provides a sense of progress for the players. Through matching more faces to the identities, the players will feel like they are step by step approaching the “truth.” Moreover, the difficulty of the game increases gradually. In the beginning, matching corpses to identities is easy because you are exposed to less information pointing towards a few possibilities. However, as one progresses in the game, the connection between each character becomes more intricate, and it takes more time to fill in the logbook.
Although the game does get harder, it compensates for that by engaging the audience emotionally. The game characterizes the people murdered on the ship by utilizing a lot of visual clues moments before their deaths. Some poignant stories told at these instances before the characters’ deaths foster an emotional connection, compelling the players to discover the fates of each individual. For instance, one of the midshipmen named Thomas Lanke was murdered by the Gunner’s Mate. Before his death, instead of calling out the murderer with resentment, Lanke chose to ask the First Mate William Hoscut to deliver a message to Milroy’s (Milroy is another midshipman who unfortunately died from the Kraken attack) mother that he tried his best to save her son before he passed away. Since solving more puzzles reveals more of the narrative, this form of characterization in the game further drives the gameplay forward.
Nonetheless, certain aspects of the game emphasize its puzzle elements. For instance, the game’s design allows players to freely explore scenes without following a defined order. This nonlinear structure can create an unorganized repository of information that players must piece together, potentially making progression difficult and breaking the immersion of the story. However, this very structure also gives players control over the order in which they unravel the mystery. As suggested in “The Art of Game Design,” in such a game structure, players will “naturally gravitate toward answering the questions that are easiest for them and slowly work their way up toward harder questions” (259). Therefore, the nonlinear narrative helps with creating a gameplay experience that gradually increases in difficulty. As the puzzles become more challenging, the satisfaction derived from uncovering the narrative after solving each puzzle becomes more rewarding for players. Moreover, the nonlinearity accentuates the sense of “fair play” in the game by allowing the players to approach the mystery from different perspectives and consequently reach different endings of the story. The high degree of freedom invites the players to replay the game to explore different outcomes.
In conclusion, “Return of the Obra Dinn” creates an immersive and interactive experience that fulfills the “Fair play” rules of mystery fiction and the principles of puzzle design. By integrating the narrative and puzzle-solving components, the game ensures consistent player engagement. The gradual increase in difficulty and clear objectives provide a balanced and rewarding puzzle-solving experience. At the same time, the emotional depth of the narrative allows the players to empathize with the characters.
— Panthita T.
References:
Schell, J. (2020). The Art of Game Design: A book of lenses. CRC press, Taylor & Francis group.
Intermittent Mechanism 