A ghost ship in Falmouth.
Today I am writing to recommend a game to you, just in time for Christmas!
Return of the Obra Dinn.
LOST AT SEA, 1803 the good ship “OBRA DINN”
In 1802, the merchant ship Obra Dinn set out from London for the Orient with over 200 tons of trade goods. Six months later it hadn’t met its rendezvous point at the Cape of Good Hope and was declared lost at sea. Early this morning of October 14th, 1807, the Obra Dinn drifted into port at Falmouth with damaged sails and no visible crew. As insurance investigator for the East India Company’s London Office, dispatch immediately to Falmouth, find means to board the ship, and prepare an assessment of damages.
I love horror where the scary bullshit has already happened and you’ve got to figure out what happened. Detective horror effectively. I think this is why I enjoy certain Lovecraft stories, where someone turns up and has to figure out what happened, The Colour out of Space leaps to mind.
Either way, this is a fantastic game from the chap who made Papers Please, which while not horror in the sense of ‘oh no a monster’ was horrific in an oppressive, ‘you’re fucked no matter what you do’ kind of way.
The horror in this game comes from several places, the ghost ship itself and the back story you uncover piecemeal as you try and figure out what the hell went down.
I’m a big fan of horror games and I love it when someone does something a bit different. A lot of horror games are fast-paced, high stakes, fight or flight and so it’s great to see someone doing something a bit different. This game is slow-paced, tense and tragic all at the same time. A great way to spend a few hours in a horror atmosphere.
Letters from a Horror Writer 