OnionPowder
Member
I want to jump in on this game, but I'm waiting until they roll out Vive support.
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Obduction |OT| Explore, uncover, solve, decide in a Mysterious world
- Thread starter guybrushfreeman
- Start date
Tetraeon
Member
Finished the game yesterday, only had to use a walkthrough once to
A few thoughts:
Damn is this game beautiful. UE4 is put to great use with some dramatic lighting
. The worlds are varied, colorful, and immersive. Five stars on this front.
The music is classic Myst, especially the thumping introspective cello lines that come in when you're entering a new area or about to discover something relevant to the story. It's a bit sparse at times, but this only makes the moments with music that much more dramatic.
I really enjoyed a lot of the exploration and world building Cyan has done here - the alien machinery is especially cool, and the
. I thought a few areas could have been more fleshed out, though this could be a result of scaling back the scope for a smaller dev team, kickstarted budget, and price point.
Overall I'm really quite pleased with the entire package.
Level design is altogether excellent. Lots of useful shortcuts and game mechanics combining and evolving in interesting
ways as you work your way through the game. Like Portal and Witness before it, Obduction forces you to think differently with mechanics unlike other puzzle games.
Altogether I'd say its is a must buy at $30 if you have a system powerful enough to run it and a hankering for some serious Myst-style puzzling in beautiful alien worlds.
grab one code that I would have been able to get if I had the brain to translate a base 4 math system or had access back to the garage translator in Hunrath; unfortunately there is no way to go back once you have reached this area.
A few thoughts:
Damn is this game beautiful. UE4 is put to great use with some dramatic lighting
and incredible particle effects when you use a teleporter. Admittedly this effect can wear out it's welcome, especially when one of the puzzles (looking at you labyrinth) forces you to teleport back and forth between two worlds multiple times to solve it
The music is classic Myst, especially the thumping introspective cello lines that come in when you're entering a new area or about to discover something relevant to the story. It's a bit sparse at times, but this only makes the moments with music that much more dramatic.
I really enjoyed a lot of the exploration and world building Cyan has done here - the alien machinery is especially cool, and the
alien races look pretty neat
Overall I'm really quite pleased with the entire package.
I think found all of the endings, which was not too difficult as it's literally a single choice you can make at the end of the game that triggers one of the two "main" ones.
and more world-changing
Altogether I'd say its is a must buy at $30 if you have a system powerful enough to run it and a hankering for some serious Myst-style puzzling in beautiful alien worlds.
It's been great. Was nice to see how supportive Sony and the gaming press were of The Witness which I think was also a big step in bringing the genre back.
So glad to have Cyan back with Obduction. Hopefully they are here to stay.
Honestly, now that they have really proven themselves as a modern studio with Obduction... I can't say I'd be at all sad to see them return to Kickstarter (or hook up with a major publisher, or both) to bring us a new Myst.
I'm stuck in the second world
Nevermind figured it out
according to a walk through after I have disabled the red beam in the second world. I'm supposed to head back to the rotating bridge, and move it twice right to get to cross over the brown divider, yet I can only shift it once right. Is there something I should have done first? I can't see anywhere in the walkthroughs I've seen that indicate I was supposed to have done something before this that I haven't
Nevermind figured it out
metareferential
Member
I want to play it so bad but I'm waiting for VR.
No way I'm spoiling this for me on a traditional display.
D
Deleted member 30609
Unconfirmed Member
beautiful game, so far. It's a shame the performance is so inconsistent.
The Technomancer
card-carrying scientician
Uhhh...is the load time after the title screen supposed to be like seven goddamn minutes?
It's been a couple of days since I've finished, but I'm still craving this game. I was slightly disappointed with it, but I think most of it was due to me actually being finished with it. I've been waiting for another game like this for so long that I'm a little down now that it's over. For something in this genre, I don't think there's much of anything to look forward to. Nothing of this quality level at least.
For now I'm keeping my eye on Haven Moon and Catyph: The Kunci Experiment. I really shouldn't be spending the cash right now, but may bite if I happen to see them on sale. There's also Zed that seems to have had a successful kickstarter campaign. It's probably got a long time before release, plus I haven't seen enough of it to know how "Myst-like" it will actually be. I think I've played every other game that's even remotely like Myst that's possible on current hardware.
Definitely not. Load times can be kind of long, but no where near that. I'm on a system that's essentially a PS4 power-wise (probably worse). I never timed it when loading but I would guess the longest one was probably around 1 minute for me.
For now I'm keeping my eye on Haven Moon and Catyph: The Kunci Experiment. I really shouldn't be spending the cash right now, but may bite if I happen to see them on sale. There's also Zed that seems to have had a successful kickstarter campaign. It's probably got a long time before release, plus I haven't seen enough of it to know how "Myst-like" it will actually be. I think I've played every other game that's even remotely like Myst that's possible on current hardware.
Definitely not. Load times can be kind of long, but no where near that. I'm on a system that's essentially a PS4 power-wise (probably worse). I never timed it when loading but I would guess the longest one was probably around 1 minute for me.
Finished this last night, only missed one achievement. It's a really cool game, but admittedly there's a lot of stuff that didn't jell with me.
Another thing that bugged me was almost every time I saw an interesting object I could interact with, "Backer Reward" would pop up, which happens so often that it became synonymous with "this is useless". It was kind of disappointing that there was only one or two objects that you can pick up and twirl around that actually help you solve something (not counting notes/books). Ultimately there's just too much backtracking/wondering and taking time to implement puzzle solutions for the little amount of interactivity and the time it takes to mentally solve the puzzles. I recognize in a sense that's Myst in a nutshell, and I'm sure you can chalk some of it up to personal taste and probably preferring Myst-likes and straight puzzle games to actual Myst and adventure games. Still, I think they could've went a little more new school with a lot of the design.
That all said, I very much enjoyed the game despite my issues. There's some fantastic world design in here and it's really neat how it integrates into the puzzles, which ramp up the further you get into the game into some really ingenious stuff. I really liked the setting and lore as well, everything is just painstakingly well thought out for the most part. The game is also utterly gorgeous, like god damn at the amount of bump-mapping and the details on some of the objects and textures in this game. At times it uncannily mirrors the Myst games in that pre-rendered style. I did get quite a bit of stuttering though which was unfortunate, hopefully that'll subside with patches and new drivers.
Hunrath becomes a real drag to explore and do specific things the further you get into the game thanks to the abundance of cell walls used for teleportation. I'm not a fan of that mechanic in general since it disorients your navigation, but in the other worlds it works since they're more linear and don't use the mechanic as often. Kaptar had a couple levers that were tough to spot, and their placement felt catered more to the point-and-click style rather than full movement in 3D (pretty minor complaint). Malar's (I think that's what it's called?) brilliant maze and sphere swapping puzzles were undermined by having to load every time you use the mechanic. The number system is really cool and it was satisfying parsing it out early on in the garage, but I felt it was implemented poorly almost whenever it was used later on, and was too easily brute forced outside of a single instance.
Another thing that bugged me was almost every time I saw an interesting object I could interact with, "Backer Reward" would pop up, which happens so often that it became synonymous with "this is useless". It was kind of disappointing that there was only one or two objects that you can pick up and twirl around that actually help you solve something (not counting notes/books). Ultimately there's just too much backtracking/wondering and taking time to implement puzzle solutions for the little amount of interactivity and the time it takes to mentally solve the puzzles. I recognize in a sense that's Myst in a nutshell, and I'm sure you can chalk some of it up to personal taste and probably preferring Myst-likes and straight puzzle games to actual Myst and adventure games. Still, I think they could've went a little more new school with a lot of the design.
That all said, I very much enjoyed the game despite my issues. There's some fantastic world design in here and it's really neat how it integrates into the puzzles, which ramp up the further you get into the game into some really ingenious stuff. I really liked the setting and lore as well, everything is just painstakingly well thought out for the most part. The game is also utterly gorgeous, like god damn at the amount of bump-mapping and the details on some of the objects and textures in this game. At times it uncannily mirrors the Myst games in that pre-rendered style. I did get quite a bit of stuttering though which was unfortunate, hopefully that'll subside with patches and new drivers.
Played for another couple hours today and made some solid progress! No getting stuck this time anyways (well, except for puzzle where I'm not sure if I need more info or if I just need to work at it: a panel with a bunch of knobs, buttons, lights and numbers! Although I think I got the number part down, at least).
I'm getting a little bit infuriated with the performance in some spots. My machine is fairly old but (Radeon HD 68xx and 2500k) but I feel like it should still be able to run low @ 720p without much trouble. I'm getting outright slideshow in certain parts, and it doesn't feel like this happened earlier in the game. It was particularly bad doing the rotating boulder puzzle
.
I was really surprised when I found the
in a early-ish location. Kind of a 'holy crap, how did I miss this!' moment, except then I realized it was actually impossible to find early due to how it worked. Would've been a cool secret early on I think, since most people wouldn't think twice.
I'm getting a little bit infuriated with the performance in some spots. My machine is fairly old but (Radeon HD 68xx and 2500k) but I feel like it should still be able to run low @ 720p without much trouble. I'm getting outright slideshow in certain parts, and it doesn't feel like this happened earlier in the game. It was particularly bad doing the rotating boulder puzzle
since warping between worlds would take forever with the addition of massive framespikes simply moving around
I was really surprised when I found the
seed to the vault in the house
It's pretty impressive how long Cyan has been around. The Manhole was released in 1988, and even with a major project ending in disaster (Uru/Myst Online) they've managed to stay open and independent ever since! Are they the longest-running small independent western studio? They must be on the short list at least.
I'm not sure where Myst goes next storywise though. The lore really did get messy and cluttered in the last few games, and then you have to reintroduce it to a modern audience. A lot of this can probably be chalked up to Myst Online's troubled development history, but still.
Are you talking about how
you can walk behind the back door but the sphere is blocking the path
At the end of the game I also took the time to
backtrack around to where you swap the Soria seed. After activating the tree, I went through the portal there and came back around so I could see what the Soria sphere is. It's basically nothing 
Yes, you're correct about things getting cluttered. I'd want them to really go back to basics and find a good narrative back door back into that universe that would have the freshness that the first game (and Obduction) has, getting that sense of wonder and discovery back in the series. Returning to a focus on the core concepts of books and ages, and doing something that's completely accessible to those who have never played the games before, but rewarding for series veterans.
It definitely feels like a series that really is ripe for revival in the current climate.
by far the best puzzle in the game, very rewarding when you solve it.
Are you supposed to
break it by dropping it from the ladder and move on?
Could you give a list of your top recommendations for games like this? I really love this style of game but the only one I've played in the last five years is The Witness. I've also played Gone Home and Talos Principle if those count. Before that, I think the last one was Safecracker when it first came out and Myst V when that came out.
Bl@de
Member
Grabbed the key thanks.
Just when the game was starting to get good, the third planet, the game ended.
Really disappointing
I still thoroughly enjoyed the entire first half
I think I got the good ending
I want to play more!
Really disappointing
they did nothing with the red planet.
I still thoroughly enjoyed the entire first half
, up to the jungle planet. The jungle planet was just a bit too tedious.
I think I got the good ending
, with all the spheres warping in to the same location, I was pretty satisfied with that.
I want to play more!
caved in and bought it after finishing up mankind divided... let's goooo
I fired it up just to look at settings and it defaulted to everything at epic except for water which was at medium, then I hit auto-settings and it put everything on epic even the water, which was odd..
Should I wait for the patch (the one they put out then pulled and are working on again?)
I fired it up just to look at settings and it defaulted to everything at epic except for water which was at medium, then I hit auto-settings and it put everything on epic even the water, which was odd..
Should I wait for the patch (the one they put out then pulled and are working on again?)
Fahzgoolin
Banned
exactly right. Not saying this Witness is bad, but I never bought it because of those points. I want my puzzles to have an interesting context behind them. Heck, even Portal does that.
Myst-likes aside, the closest analogy to Myst's and I assume Obduction's puzzle design might be some parts of the Metroid Prime series, especially Metroid Prime 2. Also some 3D Zelda dungeons at times (like the big multi-room puzzles, not the basic block-pushing or use-this-item-in-this-spot stuff). But those series are so simple by comparision and of course combat-heavy that it's only a very rough analogy, and only in their best-designed moments.
I went through and made a decent sized list, and it doesn't even include everything. I'm going to separate them by first person adventure (Myst, Obduction) and first person puzzler (Portal, The Talos Principle). Some are kind of in-between these 2 sub-genres, but I'll put them where I feel they fit the best. I'll list the ones I recommend the most and a few extras as well.
First Person Adventure
Recommended
Fract OSC: This is an excellent game. It's kind of surreal and abstract. There's really no story, and it's puzzles for the sake of puzzles. The cool thing is that you solve each area to create music.
The Room: There's 3 games in the series with the first 2 available on steam. If you haven't played any of these you should. It kind of distills the Myst experience down to puzzle boxes. The PC version will probably be fine (and probably better graphically), but it may be best to play these on a tablet or phone.
Ether One: Supposedly the redux version is kind of buggy. You should get both the original and redux when you purchase the game. I would stick with the original version. The game is very Myst-like, but the majority of the puzzles work on dream-logic. Technically all the puzzles are optional, but you will want to complete all of them to get epilogue.
Canveus: I recommend this because it's FREE, and has a cool art-style. It's a solid game too. You can check itch.io's Myst Jam and possibly find a few others.
Antichamber: This is one of those that's in-between the two sub-genres. The game is kind of like a M.C. Escher version of one of these games. If I remember correctly the progression is almost Metroid-like, but with knowledge. Almost like The Witness in that regard.
Other FPAs
ASA: A Space Adventure (There's also a sequel I haven't played yet)
Dark Fall: The Journal (Also has 2 sequels on steam)
The Eyes of Ara
Dream
Kairo
MIND: Path to Thalamus
First Person Puzzler
Recommended
Quantum Conundrum: It's been a while since I played this, but remember liking it quite a bit. You switch between dimensions that have different properties to solve each puzzle.
Q.U.B.E: Director's Cut: A very Portal-esque game in which you manipulate cubes to reach the exit of each chamber. It starts simple with some essentially creating stairs and platforms, but it does get more complicated.
Magrunner: Dark Pulse: It's kind of like Portal with Lovecraftian horror. You change the magnetic polarity of platforms, boxes, etc., to reach each goal.
Other FPPs
Magnetic: Cage Closed
The Ball
Parallax
Pneuma: Breath of Life
I know! Would love to see more coverage on this thing, we know Cyan has no money left for marketing, and their media outreach seems to be non-existent.
Would like to see the game reviewed on some of the big old standard sites (IGN, Gamespot, etc) but they don't seem to be paying any attention to it.
Fahzgoolin
Banned
such a huge shame. I wonder if they would just outright hate it though because it's not a typical genre.
I don't know the legal status here, but the best simple backdoor hook I can think of is Saavedro, perhaps older and wiser this time. He's alive and free in Exile's good endings and there might be other survivors. You can easily have another Narayan linking book or two turn up somewhere in the multiverse.
Shrike Alvaron
Member
Just want to say that I highly recommend ASA and Kairo. Kairo was just surprising to me in how much I enjoyed it and was immersed in the game despite the incredibly simple presentation. ASA is a bit odd with a clunky translation and some frustrating puzzles, but I really enjoyed the setting and story of the game.
Sorry, not been able to play for a few days, so thank you for uploading this. Your description also made me realise why my own tweaks weren't working: I was installing to the wrong executable!
Fahzgoolin
Banned
Awesome =)
I'm glad it helped!
Btw, I think it's pretty cool that I solved a problem in a way that wasn't directed or intended. I solved a problem backwards. I love that the world and puzzles so far are consistent enough that you can do that.
Whoa! that's really helpful, thanks for this!
Do you recommend the Rhem games? I have stayed away from them because I have heard that they are complex and frustrating for the sake of it, instead of being masterfully designed like Riven.
Finished the game up last night with no walkthroughs. I basically loved the whole package; it felt like a great spiritual successor to their earlier games without feeling like a retread. I especially enjoyed the way that the puzzles played with spatial awareness. Some of the tasks may have gotten a little tedious towards the end (I got very familiar with the loading screen) but overall Cyan did an excellent job and I hope they continue to make more games as mysterious and exciting as Obduction.
You're welcome!
I actually haven't played the Rhem games for pretty similar reasons. I also worry about strange compatibility issues. I would hate to purchase them and then realize they don't work on my PC. Once in a while I try to look for new game suggestions and these always pop up. I haven't played the Mysterious Journey series for the same reason.
TheWorthyEdge
Member
How do I pull this red lever?
The Technomancer
card-carrying scientician
Oh my god
The first time I activated
I knew Cyan was back
The first time I activated
that enormous mining machinery
Belgian Dude
Member
Thanks for the advice a couple pages back, by the way. I was feeling really overwhelmed with the size of the world (and while I was finding new places, I wasn't "solving puzzles" so I didn't really feel like I was progressing) so I took a bit of a break and beat Myst (I thought it was actually fairly easy, surprisingly, bar the maze) and came back to this.
After some more methodical exploring really early on I was able to
(not much of a puzzle, but a matter of knowing the layout of the place which I feel is an awesome introductory thing), and then I found the
, which I thought I'd need to input somewhere later.
I immediately went to try it, and I don't think there's a better feeling than to have your chain of thought proven right.
God this game, and I'm really only starting.
E: (also early on) Regarding the
I'm a bit stumped considering the
After some more methodical exploring really early on I was able to
get into Farley's
"15" on the whiteboard
When it clicked that I already had seen where I should input it, and what door I'd be able to unlock if I did that,
God this game, and I'm really only starting.
E: (also early on) Regarding the
6-digit telephone code
only phone I recall seeing so far was the 7-digit 'help you' on the garage. Need to start taking more notes, but I can't wait to piece that together.
This game is amazing so far. Cyan has still got it, and no one else talks through environments like they can.
I finally figured out that using DXTory and locking to 30 FPS is really the only way to remove frame pacing issues. I still get hitches when walking over larger distances, but thank god the microstutter is gone now.
I finally figured out that using DXTory and locking to 30 FPS is really the only way to remove frame pacing issues. I still get hitches when walking over larger distances, but thank god the microstutter is gone now.
Thank you so much for taking the time to make that list! Some really interesting titles there I'll have to keep an eye out for.
Great list!
There's also The Solus Project, came out this year by the The Ball (which, by the way, is excellent and I totally recommend) devs. It's also made in Unreal Engine 4 and it's also about exploring an alien planet, so it may be the closest thing to Obduction right now. Has a survival component though.
After spending as long to complete the second world as some people have finished the entire game in (Currently at about 12 hours of playtime), I'm a bit lost as to which direction to head in next:
I've restored water to the tree in the mechanical-mountain area. The three archways have lit up in different colours...and that's it. I can't tell where I'm supposed to head to next now that I've done it (I have popped quickly into the jungle area to open that door from the ledge).
D
Deleted member 30609
Unconfirmed Member
Just finished the game. I love, love, love the feeling of being stuck, thinking I've seen most of what a game has to offer, and then solving a key puzzle and stumbling into what feels like an impossibly big new series of branches. It feels kind of superficial to say, but the way the game rewarded me with more and more unique, beautiful places to explore always felt great, even if the puzzles were occasionally ho-hum. Like... it felt as though I was walking around Riven in full-3D -- it looked so good.
I had to look up help with one puzzle.
so I'm taking partial credit for that one, Cyan.
It was a decent little story too.
Also, props to the poster above me for mentioning Fract OSC. Great game.
I had to look up help with one puzzle.
The diagonal 15 that auto-corrects to the code for the door. I had already entered that before, but figured the auto-correct meant I was doing it wrong,
It was a decent little story too.
Also, props to the poster above me for mentioning Fract OSC. Great game.
prag16
Banned
I think they only need a few full days of data for it to be pretty reliable, BUT I think I've read that low numbers (maybe less than 50k) are MORE unreliable due to margin for error for whatever reason.
However we have to keep in mind there were over 22,000 backers. Many (most?) of those steam owners are backers who didn't pay for the game (well, they paid during the crowdfunding) at release, so they'll need a lot more owners to really rake in any real cash.
It was in the top 10 sellers on Steam for a few days and is still top 3 on GOG (only beaten by The Witcher) - would that include backer copies?
People really need to know how absolutely fantastic this game is.
It really came out of nowhere for me. I seem to remember reading about Cyan doing a Kickstarter, but dismissed it out of hand thinking there's no way they could deliver. Wow was I wrong.
Was all of the development of this covered by Kickstarter, or did they have to sign up with a publisher for additional funds?
It really came out of nowhere for me. I seem to remember reading about Cyan doing a Kickstarter, but dismissed it out of hand thinking there's no way they could deliver. Wow was I wrong.
Was all of the development of this covered by Kickstarter, or did they have to sign up with a publisher for additional funds?
Kickstarter covered all of it. There was a publisher deal but it fell through (and they had to scale back a bit to compensate and stay in budget).
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