It’s incredible to think that a game like Papers, Please – where players assume the role of an immigration inspector in fictional Arstotzka – would gain as much traction as it did. Now, developer 3909 LLC is back with a brand new title called Return of the Obra Dinn. It releases on October 18th for PC and will retail for $19.99. You can find it on Steam and Humble Bundle (a GOG listing is coming later).
Touted as an “insurance adventure with minimal color”, Return of the Obra Dinn concerns a ship that was seemingly lost in 1802. However, it emerges about five years later without its crew, and as an insurance investigator for the East India Company, you have to solve its various mysteries. That includes assessing damages and trying to figure out the fate of its various crew members.
The game’s monochromatic style is bolstered by the resolution being locked to 800×450, which offers an antiquated and old-school look to the adventure. If you’re interested in trying out the concept of Return of the Obra Dinn, then the GDC 2016 build is available free on Itch.io. The developer notes that this is “not meant to be a proper demo of the final product but it’s probably safe to extrapolate from here.” Progress won’t be saved and bugs will be aplenty, but it’s still worth checking out.