Obduction Reviews
Myst's spiritual successor offers a lot of the same delights as its 1993 forbear, but is hampered by litany of technical issues.
A beautiful, if simple, puzzle game that remains faithful to Myst without feeling dated.
A true successor to Myst, with puzzles as ingenious as they are uncompromisingly obscure. Although the experience is hampered by serious technical problems.
Obduction is brilliant in its best moments, but those are rare and have various frustrations between them
Obduction is a beautiful, unrelenting adventure game whose complex puzzles can be both satisfying and frustrating.
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.
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.
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.
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.
An entertaining puzzler that harkens back to the storied heritage of its developer, Obduction isn't quite on the level of its peers, but will satisfy armchair masterminds looking for their next brain-tickling fix all the same.
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.
Obduction houses not one, but many vibrant, lush, and mysterious worlds in a package that seems to be made for old Myst fans like myself. The balance of symbiotic nature of environment, narrative, and puzzle design means that Obduction constantly feels riveting and natural. It's a delight to experience a modern game with that classic Cyan design, but the technical issues detract from the experience far too much, even going as far as artificially increasing the time it takes to complete some puzzles. I managed to really enjoy the experience that was crafted, but it wasn't without a fair amount of annoyance at little optimization problems that make Obduction far from perfect.
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
Obduction is a oldschool adventure game with high difficulty level, but along with puzzles, we have to fight with the optimization.
Review in Polish | Read full review
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.
For anyone wanting a confusing yet ultimately rewarding adventure, Obduction delivers in spades.
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.
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 the perfect reminder of what made Myst so great
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.