Obra Dinn is a must-play. Even if you don’t like the genre, even if you don’t like the aesthetic, even if you don’t like video games, you should sit down with Obra Dinn and check it out. It’s an incredible work of art. it belongs in a museum
Obra Dinn was an incredible work of art, but it's not accessible by any definition of the word. I don't think anyone would enjoy it if they weren't already deeply in love with video games and puzzles.
The Outer Wilds (not worlds) is another one that I think rivals Obra Dinn, and is more accessible. It might be the best narrative-focused puzzle game ever made.
She got all the way through "The Case of the Golden Idol" though, which is a totally different experience but probably uses similar bits of the brain. I'll try her on Pentiment next, but I suspect she'll get bored quickly.
I think Outer Wilds is brilliant, but the ability required to precisely control that spaceship is way beyond any casual player.
Then again, I'm the kind of person who plays DCS, has over 350 sends in Getting Over It (one left handed), and flies the VTOL VR AH-94 with SAS off, so I'm probably not a good baseline.
It looks right up my alley, thanks for the recommendation.
The Outer Wilds ship controls are not too complicated, but the player needs motivation to get used to them initially.
In Flappy Bird you repeatedly press a single button to flap.
I don't think they're remotely comparable, but YMMV!
Outer Wilds is one of the few games with truly 3D movement as part of it’s blood. Not just a jump but a jetpack and ship that demand traversal of the third dimension. And I’ve taught enough people who are new to games over my life to know how hard they find using a controller in a game with more simple set ups initially. Outer Wilds…a casual gamer could probably learn it, but to someone who has rarely used a controller or mouse/keyboard movement in a gaming context it would be quite a bit more difficult.
Game is totally worth it though.
I get stuck on the puzzles and give up for a while (days, weeks, months), because I only can get through a single rebirth or maybe 2 per play session (due to my casualness, other commitments, etc). But every time I come back, I can fling the ship around the system no prob, just can't remember enough of what I did last time to progress.
On the other hand, my son smashes every vehicle in every game into every wall he can find. That boy needs some driving lessons, stat.
If only I could play it again for the first time. There's really nothing quite like it.
By the way, it's just Outer Wilds, no "The". Still easily confused with The Outer Worlds, though.
It’s definitely a game for people who love complex puzzles and have a lot of patience. I think someone who loves super complex puzzles who has barely touched a video game before could still like Obra Dinn. (Countered to Outer Wilds which, while a more generally accessible great puzzle game, has a control scheme that would he incredibly painful for people not already somewhat familiar with 3D game movement)
I almost wish for amnesia to be able to play it for the first time again.
The man is an artist. An artisan. He makes no two games the same, and he is not a copycat. He really explores the design space and comes up with something novel.
I think he is the best game designer of this age. Sorry if it sounds hyperbolic, and you'd be right to doubt it -- but he truly is.
Obra Dinn - You're an insurance adjuster filling out paperwork
Papers, Please - Dystopian document simulator, you're a low ranking customs agent in a soviet style country.
Savour it though, you can only play it "for real" once.