Thanks for all the tips about Obra Dinn - I really wanted to play this when it came out but then completely forgot about it until now.
Has anyone mentioned “Life is Strange”? I must admit I only played the first episode but enjoyed it very much.
I know someone else mentioned ‘Everyone’s gone to the Rapture’ saying it was boring, but this is actually my favourite ‘walking simulator / narrative puzzle’. The setting (in an English shire village) is just perfectly rendered, and the story works even better in the light of the pandemic. I’ve played it through many times, and although there’s no ‘threat’ and no real puzzle solving, the gradual uncovering of the plot through voice-acted scenes and vague ghostly outlines is akin to some sort of open-air immersive theatre show, as if I’ve walked onto the set of ‘The Archers’ (famous long-running radio rural soap-opera for you non-Brits). The ending is just beautifully poignant and I still find myself reflecting on it from time to time, years later. I’ve not really found anything else quite like it, and probably wont since it got panned by some critics for its lack of interactivity (who use ‘walking simulator’ as a swear word).
In contrast, I got bored with Edith Finch after an hour or so, not helped that the movement made me nauseous for some reason. Gone Home was a great story, but way too short - albeit a very satisfying ending.
There’s also “Eastshade” which has a very satisfying story as well, perhaps slightly towards the RPG genre rather than pure narrative puzzler, but I did enjoy the way the story played out around you and you had to be in certain places at certain times to notice what is going on.
“Marie’s Room” is a very short story game in the style of Gone Home, except all in one room. It’s free, so nothing to lose there.
Tacoma is a great narrative puzzler set in space - this is another one I felt was too short, only because I was enjoying it so much and getting to know the characters.
Oxenfree, though a sideways adventure not 3d, is one of my favourite stories in the genre, including some really clever (but v brief) ‘mirrorworld’ interaction with someone else playing the game at the same time as you. I’m not even going to attempt to explain the story for this one - just too good.
“Journey” - a profound experience for me which I played in entirety in one 5 hour session, but I’ve never dared play it again because so much of its joy depended on the other random person I ended up playing it with through the internet.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go grab Obra Dinn… Y’all can keep your horror games like Soma and Amnesia by the way - big nope! But if you know of anything with great stories to uncover that leave you thinking about them for days and weeks to come, I’d really love to hear about them too.
