Unknown and Lost Souls (The Return of the Obra Dinn)

 Of nay video game I have ever played, none grabbed my attention like that of The Return of the Obra Dinn; a story about a ship lost to see. The goal of the game is to solve the fates of all sixty crew members through logical deduction and the ability to revisit the moments of their deaths. Through listening for accents, physical appearances, and assuming occupations, you must learn the lives of all sixty people in order to solve the mystery of the Obra Dinn. The first time you travel back in time, you witness the end of the story: a mutiny between the last three crew mates and the captain. From then on, every death is presented out of order, and it is up to the player to solve what happened to rest of the crew. I was glued to the screen every time I witnessed a new death: a new beat in the story. The beauty came from the sense of discovery and ongoing mystery. I think that the Obra Dinn is a wonderful example of beauty found in the unknown as well as inherit beauty in story.

One aspect of the game that blew me away was a connection I made with the first mate, Hoscut. Hoscut is an Irish speaker who, in every scene he was present, was always putting his fellow men before himself. I formed a connection with a character that I cannot interact with. I think that the writing and the voice acting alone carries so much weight that I am able to immerse myself so deeply within the story.

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