Return of the Obra Dinn

Return of the Obra Dinn is possibly the purest detective game I have ever played. It's made by Lucas Pope, probably known for Papers, Please, and somehow manages to pull off an even more simplistic art style that's not only pixelated, but also 1-bit - just black and white, and yet fully 3D. I'll get back to that later.

I can't say too much about the game, as most any details about the story would spoil some part of it, but you play as an investigator for an insurance company, investigating the fate of the titular ship Obra Dinn when it is found empty after being lost at sea for a long time. You're armed with a notebook for cataloguing your findings, and a pocket watch, which can send you back in time to experience the last few moments of someone's death, given you find their corpse.
So the game is mostly just you, traveling through the 3D still frames surrounding each crew member's death, possibly accompanied by a few lines of dialogue from just before. Using every little clue you can find, you're supposed to piece together the identity, cause of death, and killer of every last person. And, honestly, the game is crafted brilliantly in this regard. You're thrown a few bones (easy cases), but many of the deaths really require you to look at all the details of what these people were doing, what they look like, what they sound like, at the time of their death, and in any memories before. I can't stress enough that it really does feel like detective work in the purest form I've experienced.

Now, I do of course have to point out some negatives. Coming back to the graphics of it... It looks very uniquely stylized, I can appreciate the feel of it, and it's amazing that a graphical game, let alone a 3D game, can work with just 2 colors. But being unique or technically remarkable doesn't make it good. I would have much preferred some style that doesn't require significant effort at times to figure out what is happening. At best it was just a little sore to watch, at worst it was impeding gameplay.
Secondly, and I can't quite pinpoint why this is, but despite liking mystery/detective stories and finding the game incredibly well executed, I still felt something off a bit. I felt like it needed something more, maybe some other mechanics, maybe a bit more content, I don't quite know. All I know is that I didn't enjoy it as much as I feel I should have. But it's vague enough to chalk it off to "just me".

All in all, Return of the Obra Dinn is a masterfully crafted detective game that I would very much recommend. It's quite unique among the games I've played, and the minor grievances I had regarding the graphics, length, or possibilities, don't outweigh just how well-made the core of it is. It surely also earns a spot in my list of the best.