GAME · released

Return of the Obra Dinn

Lucas Pope · 3909

Quick read

Return of the Obra Dinn is a freeze-frame morgue: name the dead, once. The watch stops a death, and the ledger is the only XP that matters.

What kind of game is it?

Deduction adventure in first person. You walk a ship, stop a moment, and write a name you earned. Knowledge persists; the ship does not reroll. The crew list is what you finish or abandon.

Who is it for?

For players who seek a ship they walk until the fates click into place.

How it plays

Loop: Exploring a map
Sessions: Medium sessions
Progression: Campaign
Players: Single-player
Structure: Linear
Tone: Deadpan · Challenging

Game DNA

What playing it feels like, out of 100. Our reading, separate from Steam reviews.

Progression80
Estimate
Story58
Estimate
Social18
Estimate

Key Steam facts

Steam store figures, checked 17 Aug 2026.

Release

released

2018-10-18

Review score

96.7%

Checked 17 Aug 2026.

Steam positive percent.

Review count

34,974

Checked 17 Aug 2026.

Store price

€19.50

Checked 17 Aug 2026.

Languages

Demo

Early Access

Players

Single-player

How many people play Return of the Obra Dinn?

Estimates from public Steam data, not figures from the studio. Ranges, not exact numbers.

Estimated copies

870k – 1.9M

Steam reviews × 25 to 55. For a free game: players, not sales.

All-time peak players

1,766

Most people playing at the same moment, per SteamCharts.

Average players, Aug 2026

139

Peak that month: 245.

Median playtime

12.2 h

Half of 300 recent reviewers played 9–16.2 h. 2% under 2 h.

Players over time

Sept 2023Aug 2026

Where the players are

Languages of the last 300 Steam reviews. A proxy for regions, not a country split.

English48%
Simplified Chinese21%
Korean7%
French4%
Portuguese (Brazil)4%
Japanese4%

Steam data checked 4 Oct 2026

What makes it different?

You stop a moment, write a name you earned, and the crew list is the only thing left to finish.

Core mechanics

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Shared: Puzzle solving, Narrative choice, Exploring a map

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Genre / subgenre

Adventure
Horror

Steam genre: puzzle.

Related rankings

Sources

Store price checked 17 Aug 2026.

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