The best PC games of 2018: Return of the Obra Dinn

It’s the middle of a calm night as you climb the ladder and board the Obra Dinn. The ship is completely empty, not a soul in sight. Bleached, 1-bit visuals make the ship’s edges look freckled and scratchy like someone has etched this whole vessel onto a chalkboard. The three lower decks are lined with cabins, cabinets, and closets. You’ll be getting to know every inch of this ship during your time here. It’s 1803 and a merchant ship once thought lost at sea has spookily drifted back to dock. It’s been four years since the Obra Dinn went missing. Now that it has returned to the British Isles, contracts must be drawn up and paperwork must be filed. Playing as an insurance evaluator, you’re given the chilling job of discovering and documenting the mysterious disappearances of 60 sailors and passengers that were once aboard this ship. Return of the Obra Dinn is the latest game by Lucas Pope, creator of the harrowing border control sim Papers, Please. But Pope has left law for lore, and in Obra Dinn you’ll bear witness to things that have only ever existed in the gossip of sailors.