The Return of Oberradin review: It's the storm, the storm of Kraken!

You may not have heard of Lucas Pope, but you know all about Naughty Dog Studios. From Impromptu Math to IGN's perfect review of The Last of Us, to the series of IP after the victory of Uncharted, Naughty Dog is now one of the world's best-known video game development studios, and Lucas Pope has worked on two Uncharted games. In 2003, it took nine months to independently develop the 1-bit stand-alone game Indie God "Please show me Your Documents". This independent game with a volume of only about 40M, with more than 20 different endings in the background of the Cold War in the 1980s, through the daily work of a border inspector to complete the personal views and questions of life, 16 years ago, when independent games became popular. On October 18, 2018, the Return of Oberradin pushed the 1-bit game to a new peak.

1-bit Brief introduction

1-bit games have been around for a long time, and the concept was still in the works until April 2016, when someone launched a jam on itch that detailed the elements of a 1-bit game: "Two-color (main color and background color, usually black and white). No mixed colors, such as grey in black and white), and no music or sound effects. It was also stated in the rules that we wanted the game to have no additional feedback (such as text), and only graphics to show everything." However, 1-bit games developed by this rule gradually faded out of the market because they were too "dull". As a result, after more than two years of "defining" the meaning of 1-bit games, there are almost no other conditions except the "two-color" requirement. Since then, 1-bit games have ushered in a period of unprecedented intellectual liberation.

The black and white world of "Orba Dinn"

According to the relevant news, the Return of Oberradin was put into intensive development shortly after the release of ID Please (2014). From the original 40M to today's more than 730M, such a capacity in the history of 1-bit games almost never seen, after a few years of new work in the end is worth our waiting? The much-anticipated question becomes clear when you actually experience it: the Metacritic score of 90 is well deserved, and the return of "Obra Dinn" is well deserved.

The game belongs to the adventure puzzle category. As an actuary appointed by the East India Company, the player is tasked with making an insurance estimate and investigating in detail the cause of the disappearance of the Oberadin at the Cape of Good Hope six years ago. Before going to Obra Dinn, the protagonist received a "Courier" from a survivor named Henry Evans, and the "Death Note" (hereinafter referred to as the note) and the "death pocket watch" (hereinafter referred to as the pocket watch), which became the key to unlocking the mysterious return of the mysterious sea ship.

The selection of first-person perspective mode is the preferred perspective mode for the production of this kind of game. In addition to the conventional mobile keys (W, S, A, D), the optimization obstacles of "Tap" and "Q" keys provide players with the operation rights to open notes and turn pages, respectively. The "Left Button" and "E" keys provide permission to activate the stopwatch, trigger the story, and select the target character, respectively. So in the calm night, the eve of the storm, you and I will inexplicably hold the artifact, inexplicably explore this through the African continent, left in the storm cape lost merchant ship - Oberadin.

One and a half days, with a guesswork. This review is long overdue, force majeure factors are too many... The level of love for 1-bit games makes me believe that the game has reached a high level of performance in the overall gameplay after experiencing it. From the notes, we know that the Oberradin had a crew of 60. We need to constantly travel through the long river of time through the stopwatch, freeze the historical picture, and witness, observe, analyze and compare all available information according to the triggered scenes and dialogues, and correspond 60 people to the pictures in the notes and the figures in the photos one by one to solve the historical truth of this strange 4 years. You will find that this is a wonderful way to open the door to Western mythology.

The black and white grainy sense of history, clever design, and rigorous logic were the only feedback I got from the game beyond the "accompanying" elements of music and style. From the game category setting of adventure puzzles to the item setting of notes and stopwatches, "Orba Dinn" really amazed me with its plot and character dialogue. I have yet to see a game that breaks and expands the rules of adventure puzzle solving. General adventure puzzle games start from the plot, through the dialogue of the characters to obtain information, to "crack", and "Oberradin's Return" not only with the unique nature of 1-bit attached to the sense of historical time, but also from the conventional start, the plot and text from the visual and auditory separation. When the player experiences, he can see the text and hear the sound, but he can not see what happened, and he can only observe the specific situation of the specific crew in the specific scene through the stopwatch time after the end of the screen dialogue with white words on a black background. It can be said that Lucas as a developer, whether from the perspective of a player or a psychologist, it is obvious that the study and control of human psychology and thought is an important factor in the development of the game. Only this point has accounted for half of the current 1-bit.

In the game, when we marvel at the scene created by this appropriate accompanying music, we must not forget to observe and think about the details: the number of hammocks on a fort, the direction of the guns, the position of the bullets, the style of socks under the quilt, the text on the label in the dark corner... Almost every black and white 3D model you can see is inextricably linked to completing your notes. Clues to the plot of Chapter 3 remain unsolved in the final chapter, characters in Chapter 5 suddenly disappear without explanation, and one or more crew members in Chapter 2 remain unidentified for most of the chapter. You may know all the ranks and clothes of the Navy, and know the facilities and construction of all the ships at sea, but you can't use them all... These "difficult labor" problems will be felt shortly after you experience: "Well, it's okay, I'll find the next crew member... It's okay. I'll find the next one... It's okay, it's common, it's common... Hold the grass!" Just remember: "Complete the match", well, yes, that's the goal... However, after saving 58 souls, you will realize that the story has only just begun...

A 1-bit breakthrough in mainstream gaming

Since Lucius Pope's "Papers Please" was canonized in India in 2013 with an 8-bit image, the 1-bit wave has grown considerably. Last year's 1-Bit clicker jam, held on April 1, lifted the strict rules on 1-bit games, and a meteor shower of novel ideas swept through the mainstream. The horizontal 1-bit version of Fairy Song pioneered an attempt to find a natural balance between music and adventure; "City Clickers" tries a business simulation in the 1-bit world, which has unique characteristics and remarkable effects. If Platformers were RPGs combines Adventure Island, Super Mario game modes, RPG role-playing stories with platform-hopping elements: Players start with 3 skills, each time they encounter obstacles and steps or potholes, the system will be based on the player's "jump" skill attribute points (each level can obtain attribute points, free distribution) and the number generated randomly generated by the system to calculate the number and the obstacle attribute points than the size, large win, get attribute points, otherwise fail from the beginning. The idea behind this game is very creative, using the 1-bit as a kind of "bridge" between two game categories that are almost unlimited in relation to each other... For four years, instead of emulating and absorbing the features and ideas of mainstream games, 1-bit is gradually presenting its own features and ideas to mainstream games after the emergence of games such as If Platformers were RPGs and Oberformers' Return. "Here, too, we can be mainstream."

Game story and personal analysis

For an unusual adventure puzzle game, "Orba Dinn" has an unusual ending. Although the origin and origin of the "treasure" - the golden conch - is not explained in the ending, from Captain Robert Wittere's conversation with the mermaid in the lazaretto (isolation room) : "Kraken,You brought it here,Send it back." We can tell that this is related to the Kraken of Norse mythology (this Kraken is not Pecken). In Greek mythology, the beautiful sea god Nerites (Nerites) was turned into a conch because of the jealousy of Amphitrite, but Northern Europe is not associated with Greece and is not recognized. Among the extraordinary treasures, artifacts, or artifacts of Norse mythology, the golden conch was mentioned only in the glittering life of Beowulf. In the collection left by the Anglo-Saxons, we learn that the siren approached Beowulf to avenge the murder of his son (Grendel), seducing him with her own body and a golden cup, which is largely the golden conch in the work. The Gold Cup is unknown after Beowulf's death, but one thing is certain: it is still in human hands. Considering the historical documents and the plot of the story, can we make a guess (the main characters are introduced in the plot, but many of the crew members who died are not introduced) :

Oberadin's merchant ship, with a crew of 60, four Taiwanese, including Ming's uncle and Miss, were carrying the golden conch for some reason, but the "treasure" was accidentally discovered by second mate John Davies. The moon is dark and the wind is high, plotting the four pairs and jackals and leopards for a long time, killing, hijacking, and escaping from the wooden boat. The big dream of ill-gotten wealth has backfired after all. This matter soon became known to the sea Boss. He moves quickly to seize the treasure. So the second pair in the sea was already ambushed by all the sirens attack killed, Ming uncle to protect Miss helpless to open the god box in exchange for life for a golden conch use rights, stun the sirens (because of weak strength failed to kill). The second mate is mean and cowardly and survives. He for survival, but with all, to find treasure on the grounds of back to the ship to survive. Unexpectedly have not yet opened his mouth was shot by Ming uncle. Strife broke out. At this time, the sirens that are being lifted by the rigging suddenly awaken and kill several crew members, but they are quickly pinned down by the crew and transported to the isolation room. After a brief period of silence, Kraken, the North Sea monster, let the storm bring destruction, and the crab demon who arrived together also slaughtered the crew. In this storm, Abigail (Captain Robert's wife) was hit by the falling ship pole and passed out. Captain Robert, who had not yet learned of the incident, had already rushed to the isolation room, and used sharp words and decisive actions to kill the sirens and shake the tigers, thus forcing the Kraken who was making a big noise. Soon after, Martin Perrott, a third mate who knows Captain Robert's style, along with his assistant and surgeon Henry Evans, secretly send the siren and the golden conch back to sea... There was no peace on board. Demoralization, cliquing, insanity, plotting rebellion... All kinds of things come up. At the end of the story, first officer William Hoscut, still angry about the treasure, fights with his brother-in-law (Captain Robert). After Robert shoots his brother-in-law who is blinded by money, he shoots himself with tears in his eyes beside his dead wife's bed, while Oberadin is still drifting...

Conclusion

The power of nature is mysterious, but the power of money can be measured, do not be carried away by money, go into the devil, fall into the abyss, irreparable. In fact, from the beginning of the game, if you pay attention to the distant sea, you will find that there is a point of light constantly flashing. Yes, that's the golden conch. It is a symbol of the power of nature, a existence beyond our reach.