Obduction Reviews

Obduction is ranked in the 51st percentile of games scored on OpenCritic.
9 / 10.0
Aug 24, 2016

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.

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Aug 24, 2016

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.

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9 / 10.0
Sep 5, 2016

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

9 / 10.0
Oct 12, 2016

For anyone wanting a confusing yet ultimately rewarding adventure, Obduction delivers in spades.

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8.5 / 10.0
Aug 25, 2016

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.

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8 / 10.0
Sep 13, 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.

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Aug 24, 2016

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.

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8 / 10
Sep 6, 2016

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.

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80 / 100
Sep 8, 2016

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.

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GameSkinny
ForTheTwo
Top Critic
Sep 13, 2016

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?

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7.9 / 10.0
Oct 22, 2016

Obduction is a game that is made only for adventure fans. It has a very mysterious story like its predecessor Myst which is not easy to follow and understand. However, its technical graphics is very better than most adventure games. Anyway, if you’re a Myst fan, then the game is probably for you but don’t buy it if you’re not very familiar with adventure genre.

Review in Persian | Read full review

7.8 / 10.0
Apr 23, 2020

Obduction is a silent game in which it is not explained. The basis for understanding what happens will be exploration. And the choices you make will have substantial consequences. Whether or not it is satisfactory will depend a lot on the type of player. Because it is truly a demanding game for you to understand its mechanics and logic. It is a long, difficult and slow game. A game that challenges the player in every aspect of their gameplay. I can recommend this game as long as you understand what you are going to face. It is a good game within its genre, but for that reason it is a heavy, complex and quite frustrating game.

Review in Spanish | Read full review

77 / 100
Dec 17, 2017

Obduction is a great first person puzzle game, developed by the makers of Myst, thus being a spiritual successor to this game. The player will find clever and challenging puzzles within a mysterious world that gradually reveals a dense and intriguing story, all of this followed by a great art direction, creating stunning and complex environments. Unfortunately, performance issues and lack of optimization bring constant stuttering and a long loading time, being a source of anger and frustration after some time. The delay in fixing these problems and bringing an expected update to the PSVR overshadows the many qualities of the game.

Review in Portuguese | Read full review

Tom Marks
Top Critic
76 / 100
Sep 1, 2016

A beautiful, if simple, puzzle game that remains faithful to Myst without feeling dated.

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76 / 100
Oct 7, 2016

Players seeking an adventure through fantastical worlds, with a slew of mechanical and spatial puzzles, will discover that Obduction is a gold mine.

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7.5 / 10.0
Oct 3, 2016

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.

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7.3 / 10.0
Aug 30, 2016

Obduction is brilliant in its best moments, but those are rare and have various frustrations between them

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Metro GameCentral
Top Critic
7 / 10
Sep 6, 2016

A true successor to Myst, with puzzles as ingenious as they are uncompromisingly obscure. Although the experience is hampered by serious technical problems.

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Edmond Tran
Top Critic
7 / 10
Aug 30, 2016

Obduction is a beautiful, unrelenting adventure game whose complex puzzles can be both satisfying and frustrating.

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Cubed3
Top Critic
7 / 10
Sep 24, 2017

Obduction is a niche title, and not everyone will enjoy it. It's beautiful, the story is engaging, and the voice-acting is absolutely top notch, but the puzzles are often pedantic and may push some players, and even adventure fans, away. However, if you can enjoy the puzzle structure, and get past the annoying load times that sometimes crop up, this is tremendously fun and well worth the price of admission.

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