Return of the Obra Dinn

First-person detective mystery aboard an abandoned 1800s merchant ship

Lucas Pope · Published by 3909 · Released Oct 18, 2018

Reviews: Overwhelmingly Positive; 97% of 35K
Recent reviews: Overwhelmingly Positive; 96% of 231 in 30 days
Playing now: 123; right now
Steam Deck: Verified
Last update: 4 years ago; Sep 14, 2022

What is Return of the Obra Dinn?

A single-player, first-person mystery adventure set aboard an early-1800s merchant ship that reappears years after being declared lost, with no crew visible. As an insurance investigator, you explore the vessel and use logical deduction to determine what happened aboard.

For you if...

+you want detective puzzles built around close observation
+you prefer little guidance and independent logical deduction
+you like historical naval mysteries with atmospheric presentation

Not for you if...

−you dislike revisiting scenes to hunt for small clues
−you want fast pacing and streamlined navigation
−you prefer puzzles with clear, immediate guidance

What players say

97% of 35,238 reviews are positive · 96% of 231 in the last 30 days

Players praise the deduction-focused mystery, monochrome art style, soundtrack, and freedom to piece together identities and deaths without much guidance. The most common complaint is that revisiting memories and backtracking between bodies becomes slow and tedious; some players also find later identifications dependent on guesses or tenuous leaps.

Screenshots and trailer

Return of the Obra Dinn system requirements

As published by the developer.

Minimum

OS: Windows 7 or better
Processor: 2 GHz Intel i5 or better
Graphics: Discrete GPU
Memory: 4 GB RAM
Storage: 2 GB available space
Notes: Requires 720p or higher resolution and outputs 16:9 aspect only, letterboxed if necessary.

PC version details

DRM, required accounts, controller support and Steam features.

DRM: None declared on Steam
Controller: Full controller support
Platforms: Windows, macOS
Achievements: 16
Steam features: Cloud saves, Family Sharing

Steam Deck: Verified

All functionality is accessible with the default controller configuration
Shows Steam Deck controller icons
In-game text is legible on Steam Deck
Default graphics settings perform well on Steam Deck
External controllers are not supported for the primary player

Multiplayer and co-op

Single-player

Languages

Full audio: English. Text only: French, Italian, German, Spanish - Spain, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese - Brazil, Russian, Korean, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Arabic, Ukrainian.