Info about Obduction:

Official game description:
**Now also playable on Oculus Rift!**  
_Note: This is a visually lush and detailed game. Playing in VR takes full advantage of higher-end systems - please refer to its minimum and recommended specs._  
From Cyan, the indie studio that brought you Myst, comes a new sci-fi adventure.  
As you walk beside the lake on a cloudy night, a curious, organic artifact falls from the starry sky and inexplicably, without asking permission, transports you across the universe. You’ve been abducted from your cozy existence and added into an alien landscape with pieces of Earth from unexpected times and places.  
The strange worlds of Obduction reveal their secrets only as you explore, discover, coax, and consider their clues. As you bask in the otherworldly beauty and explore the enigmatic landscapes, remember that the choices you make will have substantial consequences. This is your story now.  
Make it home.  
\---  
“Immense and immersive… It was breathtaking… something that feels magical.” - UploadVR  
“Cyan has succeeded in making another adventure that feels truly timeless.” - Polygon  
“Obduction’s beautiful world is a worthy successor to Myst.” - Wired

Release date: Aug 24, 2016

Categories: Puzzle Solving, Exploration, Environmental Storytelling, First-Person Perspective, Atmospheric Horror (Light), Narrative Adventure, Point-and-click Adventure, Nonlinear Progression

Feature scans:
- Wiki: score 10; verdict: High Walkthrough Dependency; summary: The reviews indicate that 'Obduction' is a highly regarded game with beautiful visuals and engaging puzzles. However, a significant number of users report a heavy reliance on walkthroughs to progress through the game. This dependency on external guides can sometimes spoil the experience and highlights issues with the game's intuitiveness and potential technical bugs.
- Steam Deck: score 50; verdict: Tinkering Required; summary: The game receives positive feedback for its exploration and puzzle elements, but users have noted performance issues such as frame drops and slow loading times. These issues require some tinkering to optimize the game for the Steam Deck. Additionally, there are minor complaints about the amount of traveling involved in the game.

- Hardware Profile: No data
Feature extractions:
- Community Price:
  - Community fair range: $10.00 - $15.00
  - Reasoning: The evidence suggests that the community finds the game more appealing at discounted prices. Multiple reviews mention that the game is worth purchasing when on sale, specifically around $10 to $15. Additionally, there is a sentiment that the full price may not be justified, indicating that the fair price range is likely below the current base price.
- Playtime Metrics:
  - Game completion: 15.0h
  - Story completion: 13.0h
  - Session length: 4.0h
  - Endgame: N/A
  - Reasoning: The evidence provides several direct and indirect references to playtime metrics for Obduction. The first quote mentions a playthrough taking 13 hours and suggests an average adult player might take between 10 and 16 hours, which aligns with the game completion time. The second quote indicates that a specific maze puzzle took 4 hours to figure out, even with a walkthrough, highlighting the potential for extended session lengths due to complex puzzles. The third quote mentions spending several hours stuck on a particular puzzle, which supports the idea of long session lengths and potentially extended endgame content. The fourth quote discusses playtimes ranging from 15 to 17 hours for other players, which further supports the game completion and story completion metrics.
- Time-to-fun:
  - Summary: The game starts with intrigue but quickly becomes tedious due to slow pacing and repetitive tasks. Fun moments occur when puzzles 'click' and players gain understanding, but these are infrequent and overshadowed by the overall tedium.
  - Stance: Fun then drops
  - Anchor: Moments when puzzles 'click' and understanding is achieved
  - Time to anchor: 1h 0m
  - Friction: slow movement; excessive loading times; repetitive tasks; tedious puzzle mechanics
  - Unlock drivers: moments of clarity; understanding of puzzles
  - Conditions: patience with slow pacing; tolerance for repetitive tasks; appreciation for puzzle-solving moments
- Player Archetypes:
  - Nostalgic Explorer (buy)
    - Motivation: Nostalgia and exploration
    - Playstyle: Explores thoroughly and enjoys complex puzzles.
    - Experience: veteran
    - Purchase stance: buy
    - Labels: Myst fan; Riven fan; old-school player
    - Reference games: Myst; Riven
  - Puzzle Novice (sale)
    - Motivation: Challenge and enjoyment of puzzle-solving
    - Playstyle: Takes time to adapt but enjoys the challenge.
    - Experience: newcomer
    - Purchase stance: sale
    - Labels: newcomer; casual player
    - Reference games: The Witness; The Talos Principle
  - Quality Seeker (buy)
    - Motivation: Quality and depth of content
    - Playstyle: Enjoys immersive and well-designed puzzles.
    - Experience: familiar
    - Purchase stance: buy
    - Labels: puzzle enthusiast; adventure gamer
    - Reference games: The Witness; The Talos Principle


Below are summaries of things people say about the game per category.
Each point is assigned a weight that represents how often it is mentioned across all reviews.
What players like:
- Challenging and enjoyable puzzles (weight 0.76): The game features a variety of puzzles that are described as interesting, challenging, and well-balanced. Players find them satisfying and rewarding.
- Beautiful and immersive environments (weight 0.69): The game is praised for its beautiful and immersive environments, featuring dramatic scenery and breathtaking landscapes. The visuals are stunning and contribute to an engaging atmosphere.
- Nostalgic experience (weight 0.43): The game evokes a strong sense of nostalgia, particularly for fans of the Myst series. It includes references and Easter eggs that enhance this nostalgic feeling.
- Myst-like spiritual successor (weight 0.38): The game is frequently compared to the Myst series, capturing its essence and providing a nostalgic experience for fans. It successfully recaptures the eerie and unsettling feeling of the original Myst.
- Well-polished and engaging game (weight 0.22): The game is described as well-polished, with a fantastic story and great soundtrack. Players find it entertaining and engaging in every way.
- Fantastic world-building (weight 0.18): The game features breathtaking and detailed world-building, with a world full of details and beautifully crafted environments.
- Interesting and engaging story (weight 0.17): The game features an interesting and engaging storyline, with a cool and unique narrative that captivates players.
- Immersive atmosphere (weight 0.13): The game offers an incredibly immersive experience, with players praising its immersive worlds and atmosphere.
- Environmental storytelling (weight 0.11): The game excels in environmental storytelling, using the game's universe and unique aspects to tell a compelling story.

Common complaints:
- Obtuse and frustrating puzzles (weight 0.51): Many players found the puzzles to be overly difficult, nonsensical, and not well-instructed. Some puzzles were seen as tedious busywork or overly complicated, leading to frustration.
- Excessive backtracking (weight 0.34): Players reported substantial amounts of backtracking, which was seen as tedious and time-consuming. This includes long distances and excessive running around.
- VR-specific bugs and issues (weight 0.27): VR mode has several bugs, including crashes and unintuitive controls. Some players found the VR mode unplayable due to these issues.
- Performance issues (weight 0.26): The game suffers from significant performance issues, including frame rate drops, stuttering, and occasional lagging. These issues impact the smoothness of gameplay.
- Disappointing and underwhelming ending (weight 0.23): The game's ending was seen as rushed and hollow, with a hastily construed conclusion. Characters were uncompelling, and the story lacked intrigue.
- Slow character movement speed (weight 0.22): The character's movement speed is extremely slow, which can be frustrating and off-putting. This includes slow walking and running speeds.
- Lack of clear directions (weight 0.18): The game lacks clear guidance and objectives, making navigation confusing. Players often feel lost due to the lack of hints and direction.
- Tedious gameplay aspects (weight 0.16): Various aspects of the game are seen as tedious, including puzzles, backtracking, and overall gameplay. This tedium can lead to frustration.
- Artificial stretching of gameplay time (weight 0.06): The game artificially stretches gameplay time, making it feel longer than necessary. This can lead to a sense of tedium and frustration.
- Non-rebindable controls (weight 0.06): Players cannot rebind controls, which can be frustrating for those who prefer custom control schemes. This lack of flexibility is seen as a drawback.
- Short game length (weight 0.06): The game is perceived as being too short, which can be disappointing for players expecting a longer experience.
- Outdated mechanics (weight 0.05): The game feels outdated with mechanics that do not meet modern standards. This can make the gameplay feel less engaging.
- Limited world interactivity (weight 0.05): The game offers limited interaction with the world, which can make the experience feel less immersive and engaging.
- Off-putting intro (weight 0.05): The game's intro was initially off-putting for some players, which can set a negative tone for the rest of the experience.

Gameplay feedback:
- Challenging and logical puzzles (weight 0.43): The game features a variety of puzzles that are challenging yet logical, requiring spatial awareness and exploration. These puzzles are well-integrated into the game world and range in difficulty.
- Open-world exploration and adventure (weight 0.3): The game offers an open-world experience with first-person adventure gameplay. Players can explore various environments and solve puzzles to progress the story.
- Interconnected and complex puzzle systems (weight 0.26): Puzzles are interconnected and environmentally linked, offering a complex system that requires players to explore and interact with the environment. The puzzles vary in complexity and difficulty.
- Story-driven and narrative puzzles (weight 0.25): The game features puzzles that are tightly integrated with the story and narrative elements. These puzzles are part of the story progression and contribute to the environmental storytelling.
- Exploration and navigation mechanics (weight 0.23): The game involves extensive exploration and navigation, with systems in place for interaction and puzzle-solving. Players need to navigate through different environments to solve puzzles.
- Backtracking and teleporting mechanics (weight 0.19): The game features backtracking and teleporting mechanics, allowing players to navigate between different worlds and locations. This includes fast-travel and indirect routes.
- Immersive and atmospheric experience (weight 0.16): The game offers an immersive experience with a focus on atmosphere and environmental design. The visuals and audio design contribute to the overall immersion.
- Sci-fi setting and story elements (weight 0.06): The game is set in a science fiction world with a narrative that includes sci-fi elements. The story is driven by the exploration of this complex world.
- Optional point-and-click controls (weight 0.05): The game offers an optional point-and-click control scheme, providing players with different ways to interact with the game world.
- Trial and error problem-solving (weight 0.05): The game features linear gameplay with trial and error problem-solving, requiring players to experiment and learn from their mistakes.
- VR support and graphics (weight 0.05): The game includes VR support with a focus on graphics quality, enhancing the immersive experience for VR players.

Performance notes:
- Graphical and performance issues (weight 0.38): Players have experienced various graphical problems, including stuttering, low-quality graphics, glitches, and frame rate drops, which significantly affect the gaming experience.
- Game crashes and bugs (weight 0.11): Players have encountered game crashes and various bugs, some of which are game-breaking and impede progression.
- High memory usage (weight 0.09): The game has been reported to have high memory usage and potential memory leaks, which can impact performance and stability.
- Graphics settings issues (weight 0.06): There are issues related to graphics settings, particularly in VR, which affect the visual quality and performance of the game.
- Positive performance on high-end hardware (weight 0.05): Some players with high-end hardware have reported smooth performance, indicating that the game runs well on powerful systems.
- High system requirements (weight 0.04): The game has high CPU and VGA requirements, which may limit accessibility for players with lower-end hardware.
- SSD recommendation for loading times (weight 0.03): The game recommends using an SSD for faster loading times, which can improve the overall gaming experience.
- Photos feature not working (weight 0.03): The in-game photos feature has been reported as not working properly, which may affect players who wish to capture and share their gameplay moments.

Recommendations:
- Recommended for puzzle and adventure fans (weight 0.47): This game is highly recommended for fans of puzzle and adventure games, particularly those who enjoy titles like Myst and Riven. It offers complex puzzles and immersive worlds that will appeal to enthusiasts of the genre.
- Worth playing for Myst fans (weight 0.12): If you enjoyed the Myst series, this game is worth trying out. It captures the essence of those classic puzzle games and provides a similar experience.
- Consider other games (weight 0.1): Some reviewers suggest playing other games like Quern or Outer Wilds for a more modern or different experience. These alternatives might offer unique features or improvements that some players prefer.
- Good for story and world-building (weight 0.06): The game is recommended for those who enjoy solid storytelling and rich world-building. It offers a deep lore and engaging narrative that will appeal to fans of immersive games.
- Positive encouragement for developers (weight 0.06): Players encourage the developers to continue making games and commend their good work. This feedback highlights the appreciation for the developers' efforts and creativity.
- Challenging puzzles (weight 0.04): The game features complex puzzles that may require significant brainpower to solve. Players looking for a mental challenge might enjoy this aspect of the game.
- Buy on sale (weight 0.03): Some reviewers suggest purchasing the game on sale for a better value. This indicates that while the game is enjoyable, it might be best to wait for a discount.
- Cooperative gameplay (weight 0.03): The game is worth picking up and playing through with a friend. This suggests that the game offers a cooperative experience that can be enjoyed with others.
- Use guides if stuck (weight 0.03): If players get stuck on complex puzzles, using a guide is recommended. This indicates that the game's puzzles can be quite challenging and might require external help.
- Not recommended over top titles (weight 0.03): Some reviewers do not recommend this game over stronger titles like The Talos Principle or The Witness. This suggests that while the game is good, there are better alternatives available.
- Good for Sci-Fi fans (weight 0.03): The game is a good fit for fans of science fiction. This indicates that the game's themes and setting will appeal to those who enjoy Sci-Fi genres.
- Visually outstanding (weight 0.03): The game is recommended for those who enjoy visually outstanding games. This highlights the game's impressive graphics and visual design.

Other player notes:
- Snapshot photography and data extraction (weight 0.04): The game features a snapshot photography mode and allows for data extraction, adding a unique element to gameplay.

Emotions:
- Frustration (weight 0.42): Players are frustrated primarily due to the game's puzzles, which are often described as obtuse, cryptic, or broken, leading to progress halts. Additionally, the slow movement speed, excessive backtracking, and long loading times contribute significantly to this frustration, making the gameplay feel tedious and unengaging.
- Satisfaction (weight 0.14): Players express satisfaction with the game's engaging and logical puzzles, beautiful graphics, and immersive story. The challenging yet rewarding puzzle-solving experience, along with the game's stunning visuals and effective auto-save system, contribute to a gratifying progress and overall enjoyment.
- Disappointment (weight 0.14): Players feel disappointed due to the game's slow pace, frustrating mechanics, and technical issues. The lack of interesting content between puzzles, weak puzzle design, and an unsatisfactory ending also contribute to this disappointment, as the game fails to live up to the expectations set by its predecessors like Myst and Riven.
- Joy (weight 0.13): Players experience joy from the game's stunning visuals, engaging story, and unique puzzle system. The beautiful graphics, immersive soundtrack, and rewarding puzzle-solving moments create a fun and entertaining experience.
- Enjoyment (weight 0.09): Players enjoy the game's beautiful environments, engaging story, and satisfying puzzle solutions. The overall experience is described as fun and immersive, with cool puzzles and a fascinating world to explore.
- Nostalgia (weight 0.08): Players feel a sense of nostalgia due to the game's similarities to the Myst series. The comparisons to Myst and Riven, along with the old-school puzzle game style, evoke nostalgic moments for fans of previous Cyan games.
- Excitement (weight 0.07): Players are excited by the game's complex puzzles, breathtaking environments, and the anticipation of a spiritual successor to Myst. The discovery of new chapters and puzzles, along with engaging gameplay, contributes to this excitement.
- Confusion (weight 0.02): Players feel confused due to unclear objectives and lack of clear directions at the beginning of the game. This lack of guidance makes it difficult for players to understand what to do next.
- Admiration (weight 0.02): Players admire the game's beautiful graphics, phenomenal world-building, and engaging story. The environmental design and good puzzles are also highlighted as noteworthy aspects.
- Enthusiasm (weight 0.01): Players are enthusiastic about the positive gameplay experience and the logical, challenging puzzles. The game is praised for its engaging and well-designed puzzles.
- Discomfort (weight 0.01): Some players experience discomfort due to motion sickness caused by the game. This physical reaction detracts from the overall enjoyment of the game.
- Awe (weight 0.01): Players are in awe of the game's unique scenery and atmosphere. The visually stunning design and immersive world contribute to this sense of awe.
- Intrigue (weight 0.01): Players are intrigued by the game's world and story, which are well-integrated with sci-fi western elements. The intriguing narrative and exploration mechanics keep players engaged and curious.}