Obduction Reviews
Obduction is a true successor to Myst and its legacy. The game can be painfully unforgiving at times, and its puzzles might feel both confusing and unintuitive, but there is a logic at its heart. Once you figure it out the feeling of accomplishment and success is unrivaled. Those who've waited years for more games like Myst need look no further.
It’s a special thing when a game gifts you a superior experience without traditional or prescribed story mechanics, and from that perspective Obduction prevails completely. Some of the puzzles and paths can become overused and tiring after a while, but on the whole it stretches the mind in the right ways. For what it sets out to do, it does it pretty perfectly, and I think both fans and newcomers alike will appreciate its ingenuity.
I miss it, now that it’s over. I’ve waited a long, long time for another Myst game. There have been some substitutes, some pinch hitters that tried to emulate that style. But there’s something special to me about an honest-to-goodness Cyan game. Me, personally—meaning I’m not strictly sure whether there’s a real-life difference or if my opinions are colored by nostalgia. It doesn’t matter, really, except insofar as I felt like I should write that lengthy disclosure up top. I like Cyan’s work.
Obduction is the perfect reminder of what made Myst so great
The world of Obduction is a pastiche of time and mood. So’s the gameplay. Yet in creating something moored only to the design strengths of the studio, Cyan has succeeded in making an another adventure that feels truly timeless.
Cyan effortlessly weaves creativity the way other developers can only dream of, and I’m excited to see where they can go from here.
Obduction is a beautiful, unrelenting adventure game whose complex puzzles can be both satisfying and frustrating.
Obduction is brilliant in its best moments, but those are rare and have various frustrations between them
Cyan seem to be stuck in the past as it continuously tries to make Myst a thing again, but the adventure genre has advanced far past that now with games like The Talos Principle and The Witness putting this game to shame. Obduction feels like a game that belongs in the 1990s with a modern-day coat of paint. If you haven't played an adventure game since then, you might be pleasantly surprised, but I'd have rather spent my time replaying Firewatch, Oxenfree, or any number of other quality adventure titles instead of this buggy mess.
A beautiful, if simple, puzzle game that remains faithful to Myst without feeling dated.
Contained yet sprawling, outwardly simple yet inwardly complex, Cyan has delivered a welcome change of pace from 2016’s action-heavy release schedule.
Obduction is exactly what we wanted from Cyan. It's a new benchmark for the graphical adventures to come.The incredible variety in environments and puzzles stands out and surpass every other contender.
Review in Italian | Read full review
A true successor to Myst, with puzzles as ingenious as they are uncompromisingly obscure. Although the experience is hampered by serious technical problems.
Unsolvable moments are far too common with Obduction, and hence it’s best that whenever the game makes you want to bang your head against the wall, put it aside for the day. If there’s one trap the game falls in, it’s the puzzle maker’s most obvious fallacy. The logic, while apparent to the creator, can be quite opaque to the player.
With Obduction, Cyan has created another game that’s an art of personal journaling. What you know, what you’ve gathered, will save you. The tools seem familiar but it is details that are your weapons. As the otherworldly overlaps the banal, you’re trapped in a labyrinth of places and things.
Obduction might not be for everyone, but it's a strangely enjoyable experience, either for fans of Cyan's classic series, or for those first giving the genre a chance. The world is beautiful and complex, and the seemingly mundane environment is actually a carefully crafted world with intricate detail. There's definitely some frustrations to be had with some of the more obtuse puzzles and occasional technical stutters, but Obduction is definitely a journey worth remembering.
It's an "adventure game for the new millennium" from the creators of Myst and Riven, but how does the followup to the 1993 hit play in 2016?
Obduction manages to capture what made Myst and Riven such great adventure games with an amazing atmosphere, mysterious story and challenging puzzles that engage players from the very beginning. With no hand holding whatsoever, Obduction can be a frustrating experience at times, but the desire to learn more about the game's world and events propels things forward. Unfortunately, several bugs and glitches currently found in the game damage the experience a bit, but if you can cope with them, Obduction can be a very rewarding adventure title.
If the game asks you to wander around in a confused haze for hours at a time, it rewards you with breathtaking vistas and new wrinkles to your understanding of its world that constantly goes deeper and stranger than you think.
Players seeking an adventure through fantastical worlds, with a slew of mechanical and spatial puzzles, will discover that Obduction is a gold mine.