Who else should do a classic quest if not the authors? Myst And Riven from the studio Cyan? These are brothers Robin And Rand Millers (Robyn Miller, Rand Miller) in 1993 blew the minds of gamers with a fully three-dimensional game with a first-person view, FMV with live actors and tasks for the especially attentive. In this sense, financed through Kickstarter Obduction adheres to the origins of the genre right down to the buttons, levers, combination locks and even the mode of moving by points – the developers traditionally know a lot about perversions. Looks great, but the question is: who needs it today??
Three worlds await the kidnapped
Similar to other works Cyan, this cranks up the mystery to the maximum right from the start and takes off right off the bat. Aliens have kidnapped a nameless hero, but they torture him not with an anal probe, but with puzzles, which, you see, is much more humane. He (or she, depending on which shadow you choose in the settings) is locked in several worlds, movement across which is limited by energy domes, and you can only get from one planet to another using a teleport. But first you have to fight your way through a forest of mysteries, so the hero’s return home drags on for many hours. Whether you spend them with pleasure or disappointment depends rather on your character.
Already the first world, Hunrath, similar to https://punt-casino.co.uk/withdrawal/ the colonial south of the United States with a Star Trek touch, teaches a lesson from the “old school” textbooks. There is no direct path anywhere. To advance even a paragraph of the script or get behind a locked door, you will have to extract meaning from the scenery, notes and dialogues. And at the same time, move everything that moves, turn on everything that turns on, and be observant – there’s no way without it. After all, interaction with the external environment works in a non-obvious way: connect a cable, turn a lever, press a button – something happens, but what exactly? The structure of some tasks and mechanisms of the universe Obduction you understand only when the riddle is solved and the path is open. On the other hand, there are practically no unnecessary items: if something seems useless, it’s only at first.
The emphasis on intuition and memory does not negate ingenuity – who imagined race walking among the beauties in the spirit Dear Esther, he’s wrong. Some moments of the quest are successful enough to make you grow fond of them, for example, the connection between the elevator in the city hall and license plates at a gas station. Or transferring a handcar with a blue laser to the planet Kaptar, where giant gears grind in caves. Even a notepad and pen are useful for situational reasons to write down codes for locks. At the same time, don’t expect any action, or any danger, or even equipment – this is a distilled classic, it’s like listening to All That She Wants by Ace of Base on cassette. There is nothing to be surprised here: the developers warned us in advance about the mixture of old-fashioned gameplay with modern graphics on the Unreal Engine 4.
Looks like Obduction really cool, and the music sometimes makes you think about the eternal. The problem with the game is different: the authors are narcissistically in love with past achievements Cyan and, as a result, fall into self-repetition. The adventures do not present surprises, the plot smells of mold, but closer to the denouement it puts you into a routine trance. The apotheosis of despondency occurs on a jungle planet, where you need to set up a labyrinth, bouncing a ball between planets, and at the same time get rid of the obsessive question: where did the $1,321,306 collected by the studio’s fans go?? Is it really about painting scenery and recording music?? There is no complex animation here, no artificial intelligence – especially since the locations, despite the tasty little things, are compact, and the role of the only character talking with the hero was taken on by Robin Miller.
“Our hearts demand change”
The solution is simple: Cyan is disingenuous, equating the time spent in the game with the pleasure received from it. Because the first rule of a bad quest is to waste your precious hours and minutes. There is no shortcut from one end of the location to another, although all the problems here have already been solved? See first rule. You need to run three times along the bridge sandwiched between the portals, on which you can even roll a ball? See first rule. The script requires using the same teleport several times in a row? Well, you know what to do… Add to this the sloppy optimization with downloads that make life flash before your eyes – and you will understand why one person’s small step in Obduction requires almost as much patience as the Great Leap For All Humanity.
As the experience of new XCOM, Wolfenstein: The New Order And DOOM, old stuff is good in moderation. Imagine that you came to the dentist, and he offered you a glass of vodka for courage and took up the blacksmith’s pliers. Exactly the same discomfort, partly diluted with nostalgia, causes the passage Obduction.
If you were captivated by the aesthetics of the game’s universe (and many were captivated by it), please accept our condolences. But those who grumble from the bench about the correct color of the grass can only be congratulated. Who wanted to meet the nineties and a specific look at quests from Cyan, he will find that very atmosphere here. Let’s give the authors their due: in an era when a pose cannot be distinguished from a position, they follow their line, go against fashion and ignore the path along which the studio genre is leading Double Fine And Daedalic Entertainment. In other words, Myst left, Millers remained.
Pros: live classics; beautiful picture with a lot of details; there are some interesting puzzles.
Cons: dotted plot; most tasks require observation rather than logic; calculation for topographic cretinism and delaying time; lame on both legs optimization.