Overboard! Reviews
Overboard! is one of the year's most delightful surprises so far, a terrific reverse murder mystery with several twists and turns around every corner, and one that can still put up a notable challenge as you try to figure out every possible step towards getting Veronica off the hook and on the path to a life of luxury instead. A mix of sharp writing, clever puzzles and simple yet effective gameplay results in a killer experience that will leave you coming back for more.
Where 80 Days was about the broad implications of travelling the entire globe, Overboard! focuses instead on the minutiae of a single day, and the intricacies of interaction. It's a glorious study in how to create a delicate Rube Goldberg machine of dialogue and dependencies, as a cast of mostly terrible people waltz around each other with ulterior motives and pre-existing feelings about everything, including our Veronica and dear, departed Malcolm. It's excellent: play it.
You are the murderous starlet forced to concoct your alibi in Inkle's fresh and beautifully detailed paperback crime novel of a game
Charming, witty, and very replayable: Overboard flips the whodunnit on its head and proves that it can, indeed, be good to be bad.
With a wicked sense of humour, loads of visual flair, and a surprising amount of cerebral satisfaction packed into its deceit-filled race against the clock, Overboard! is a delight. It's one to keep within arm's reach when you're in the mood for short bursts of frantic, but low-effort, fun.
Overboard! is an excellent exploration of the whodunit genre that is both grounded and willing to do whatever it likes. This, in turn, makes it incredibly likable.
Overboard! is an outstanding time-loop game that challenges you to think like a crafty murderer out of an Agatha Christie novel!
Inkle Studios' Overboard won't be every gamer and why should it be? If you're the type who likes to take a more relaxed approach to their gaming and don't mind reading then Overboard is a solid game choice! You as the player make your own choices and choose your own actions to drive the story down different paths. A lot of the fun is based on playing a detective's nemesis where you're trying to outwit other characters to get away with murder!
Overboard is a charming and darkly funny game, with incredibly well-written characters and a great atmosphere of intrigue, secrecy and 1930s style.
Get away with murder and outwit your fellow passengers in Inkle's newest "youdunnit" adventure, Overboard! Maintain your innocence for one crucial morning on the S.S. Hook, where everything you do (and don't do) will determine your fate.
I love the ship and the personalities that reside on it, each with its own issues and secrets. I would love to see how the developers can expand it, maybe telling another story from a different perspective or by moving the protagonist into another space. Overboard! represents a clear way for the narrative and choice-driven adventure title to evolve in cool ways.
Overboard is a brilliant narrative video game through and through. The unique premise sets up a tangled web that is engrossing to figure out, as you take your villainous widow through all sorts of scenarios where she does everything from kill again to perfectly set up someone else to take the fall. This might not be as altruistic as other time loop games in the pantheon, but it's certainly one of the most ingenious in its design.
Overboard is not the biggest game in terms of a single playthrough, but you’ll dive in again again until you’ve polished your excuses and suspicion-dodging shenanigans. Throw in a superb soundtrack, a gorgeous visual aesthetic and you’ve got a game to die for.
While I typically look to games to provide some action and excitement there are sometimes games that come from less hardcore roots that can still be very entertaining...
Overboard! makes being the villain extremely satisfying thanks to its smart logic and highly replayable format with multiple compelling ways to claim dubious riches.
Even with multiple goals to accomplish, secrets to uncover, and potential endings to see, Overboard! isn’t going to last you months. This is a relatively short game. You might run through it thirty times, but many of those will take ten to fifteen minutes. Others might take thirty minutes to an hour on the long end, but this is an appetizer, the sort of game to be savored over a long weekend rather than obsessed over for months. That’s not a slight. That weekend will be filled with fascinating twists, especially considering you know from the very start what actually happened. Overboard! is a wonderful voyage, well worth your time. Just make sure you don’t go over the rail yourself.
You can – and truly ought to – grab it right now on Switch, Steam of iPhone or iPad. It’s an utter delight.
In February, I positively reviewed Inkle’s Heaven’s Vault so when the team announced and immediately released the “reverse whodunnit” Overboard, I was immediately interested. Are the mysteries of Inkle’s more grounded title worth solving? Find out my thoughts in this Rapid Review.
Overboard’s unique take on the classic murder-mystery is a blast to play through, with the constant experimentation making for a really fun time. There were so many occasions where I thought I’d pulled off the PERFECT crime, only to come undone by one silly mistake… it might sound daunting, but it just made the whole experience all the more enjoyable. Twelfth time is a charm, right? It can be guilty of getting repetitive here and there, but it doesn’t tarnish what is otherwise a splendid little experience. If you fancy yourself as a bit of a sleuth (but one that works in reverse), you will REALLY want to give Overboard a try.
Overboard's biggest issue is its simplicity and inability to surprise or amaze the players. The potential was there, but this is definitely not the detective story of the year.
Review in Slovak | Read full review