im evangelizing this on every platform i have access to right now: last night i started (and finished this morning) "type help", a browser based mystery game inspired by obra dinn. you must recover the investigative files regarding 12 dead bodies found in a home.
it is a text parser game styled like you are using an old DOS system of sorts. engaging and very, very clever. if you get an error while loading the page, enable cookies (for saving your game) for itch.io. there are no sounds or jumpscares or any weird shit. just you and the documents. please enjoy
Games I Have Seen People Compare To Return of the Obra Dinn, ranked
So. Many, many people love Return of the Obra Dinn (correct), and want to keep playing games like that bc it is a finite experience once the mystery is solved. Understandable. Same here.
I have seen a wide variety of games recommended, reviewed, rated, or remarked on as being "Obra Dinn-like" or "in the same vein" or "scratches the same itch".
Usually, this refers to a game with a mystery that includes note-taking and paperwork, with an empty framework of some kind that you have to fill out completely in order to solve it and win. But also some people will say anything.
So I made a list of all the ones I've heard of, along with short descriptions, and whether or not I think the comparison makes sense. I was going to do links for all of them but I fear tumblr will eat them, so I just linked the top tier ones.
Feel free to respond with more! I make no guarantees, but I might look into it, and at the very least people can do their own research on it. ^v^
disclaimer: I love Return of the Obra Dinn. It's a fantastic game, and it does a lot of other cool things that have nothing to do with the notebook-mystery element. The atmosphere? The art style? The sound design? The horrors of the ocean at war with the horrors of your fellow man? Fantastic stuff. These are not the things people are generally talking about when they make these comparisons though, so I will limit my rhapsodies to this. Also, obviously, whether a game is similar to or different then Return of the Obra Dinn is completely separate from whether it is a good game or not.
First: What is an "Obra-Dinn-like"?
I saw @miniaturegiantspacerat use the term "notebook mystery" once in a reply to a post, and I think it fits really well. It's a mystery game where you are gathering information, taking notes, putting together a pepe-sylvia-style conspiracy board of some kind, and/or filling out a form of some kind (for instance, a notebook). The main game loop is looking for clues, writing stuff down, looking for clues, writing stuff down, until the game confirms some of the things you wrote, and now you can use that info to figure more stuff out.
I also think there are lots of games out there that you can/need to take notes about, or that have in-game note-taking systems, and not all of them are "Obra-Dinn-like." We will call these "note-taking games" to distinguish them from "notebook mysteries" or "Obra-Dinn-likes."
Criteria for a notebook mystery:
"notebook" - there has to be a form, framework, or empty space that you are filling up. In Obra Dinn, it's your trusty journal, which you're filling up with names, pictures, & fates. In others, it doesn't have to be a literal notebook.
"mystery" - there has to be a central mystery you are solving. it doesn't have to be the same one all throughout, but there should always be a question that needs answering, up until the end. you can leave the story open-ended if you want to, but there should be a "completed" state of the game.
confirmation - at intervals, the game should confirm parts you've filled in. e.g. In Obra Dinn, every 3 fates you filled in correctly, it would confirm.
notes - it doesn't have to be in-game, but it should be the kind of game where you have to (or at least can) take notes about what's going on. I don't know where I'd be in my Obra Dinn playthrough if I didn't have my notes on what people look like and where they are and what they're doing.
vibes, aka The Feeling You Get While Playing The Game.
Here's the ranks
A tier - Yes, it is correct or fitting to compare this game to Return of the Obra Dinn, and I know because I've played it or watched a full playthrough
The Roottrees Are Dead - Note: the free-to-play original version uses some AI generated images, but they came out with a version on Steam that has full illustrations, a more detailed and streamlined UI, and additional content, for $20.
Chants of Sennaar - The aesthetic & vibes are wildly different, but the notebook mystery aspect is extremely similar, and it keeps the aspect of the player character being an outsider to the world while introducing other characters to interact with.
Type Help - Note: this is a purely text-based game. If that's not your thing, they are making a version with audio and visuals called "The Incident at Galley House", set to come out in 2026, but I will say that it being text-based is very much a feature, not a bug, and works perfectly for the type of mystery it entails.
Tacoma - admittedly, there's not much of a confirmation system, but its other characteristics similar to Obra Dinn more than make up for it. The vibes are off the chart - it's an empty ship that experienced a disaster where you uncover snippets of scenes of the crew going about their lives, where you play as a corporate employee assessing the aftermath. If that ain't Obra Dinn-like, idk what is.
A.5 tier - I haven't personally played it or watched a full playthrough, but I've researched it enough that I feel confident saying it's comparable to Return of the Obra Dinn
The Case of the Golden Idol - look, I straight up don't like this game, I watched one (1) video of the beginning and Gross, but it does have mystery-solving systems in place similar to Return of the Obra Dinn, and there is a bit of a vibe, partly in the art style and partly in the aspects of death.
B - Definitely at least a note-taking game, potentially a notebook mystery, uncertain if it's comparable to Return of the Obra Dinn
Her Story - putting together a story from fragments, there's a few vibes there, but I was unable to find information on any confirmation system.
Sethian - solving an unknown language (similar to Chants of Sennaar), but similar to above, couldn't tell if there was a confirmation system, or what the vibes were.
A Hand With Many Fingers - you're literally making a pepe-sylvia style conspiracy board about the CIA, perfect.
Book of Hours - I am 26 hours into this game as of writing this, and I can confidently say it is the most complicated thing I've ever played. you're a librarian slowly restoring a giant old library called the Hush House, uncovering room after room, unlocking books, learning skills, semi-befriending the townsfolk, and helping visitors find the books they need. It's not a notebook mystery because a notebook mystery generally has one big mystery you're trying to solve at a time, and Book of Hours has 8 billion mysteries of various sizes you're constantly trying to figure out, many of which are about mechanics and how the game works. It is certainly a note-taking game because of how many things you have to keep track of at once. Usually with games like these I find myself getting frustrated too easily and quitting, but something about it channels that frustration into righteous indignation and spite and I find myself wanting to prove that I can best it. sorry for getting off-topic, it's just a wildly different game than I thought it was going to be and I wanted to warn people.
C - I don't have detailed information, but looks promising
Unheard
Cypher
Strange Horticulture
Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective
D - I don't have detailed information, but looks significantly different
Heaven's Vault - more narrative-focused than Obra Dinn. "a dynamically constructed adventure game that responds to every move you make!" a very cool concept, probably an incredibly cool game! Incredibly different from Obra Dinn, where you solve a finite and pre-determined mystery.
Journey - this is just its own thing.
Sable - see above - open world RPGs are not Obra-Dinn-like.
Tunic - this looks like an action-adventure game that has some note-taking and mystery elements - they're not the main focus, though they are part of the world.
Tales of the Neon Sea
Misericorde - this is a visual novel
Uncle Chop’s Rocket Shop - I can see how you might think this was vaguely similar to Papers Please, a different game Lucas Pope made, but I have no idea why one would compare it to Obra Dinn
E - I don't have enough information to make a determination
Lorelei and the Laser Eyes
Blue Prince
The Forgotten City
No Case Should Remain Unsolved
corru.observer
Counterfeit Monkey
Rusty Lake: Roots
The Gostak
F - No.
Baba is You - I love Baba is You. It is in no way shape or form Obra-Dinn-like. There's puzzles but that's it.
Sky: Children of the Light - It’s an MMO (massive multiplayer online). That’s. Immediately very different. It is pretty and free (windows only) but like. no.
Inscryption - a genius, amazing game that you could definitely take notes about as you play it, but is not remotely Obra-Dinn-like, except perhaps occasionally in terms of Vibes and Atmosphere.
What Remains of Edith Finch - I love this game. It's not a notebook mystery or note-taking game. I can see why it's similar to "The Roottrees Are Dead", since it also involves uncovering a family tree, but there's no real guesswork involved. The story is revealed as you walk through an old house - as long as you get through the whole house (which isn't hard), the story is told. There is a notebook in game, but you don't actually take notes it in, it's more of a way of tracking your progress than a tool for figuring stuff out.
Honorable Mention: Event in a Place games
There are many games that are similar to Obra Dinn in the sense that you are exploring a Place where an Event has happened, and working through the aftermath or trying to figure out what the Event was. However, many are not notebook mysteries or note-taking games. It is technically correct to say they are "Obra Dinn-like" because they do share an important aspect with Return of the Obra Dinn, but it's not what most people mean when they say "Obra Dinn-like".
It's a Venn Diagram with notebook mysteries - The Roottrees are Dead is a notebook mystery, but not an Event in a Place game (EP), Tacoma is both, and What Remains Of Edith Finch is an EP but not a notebook mystery. I may make a separate post about it, idk yet. Anyway, here's some EPs that aren't notebook mysteries
Gone Home - a fantastic game. There is a mystery, and a framework to fill out (the map of the house), but no notebook or note-taking is necessary, nor a confirmation system. What IS Obra Dinn-like is piecing together what happened by the state the house was left in and letter & audio diaries left by the inhabitants, as well as constantly feeling like a ghost is maybe gonna eat you. It's one specific fate you're trying to determine throughout the game - the player character's sister, Sam - but I can see why it'd give off similar vibes.
What Remains of Edith Finch - see above. You uncover the fates of each family member as you make your way through an old spooky house, getting transported to mini-scenes that show the way each person died. I can definitely see why someone would compare to Return of the Obra Dinn in that respect - progress is measured in part by number of death scenes witnessed, which is a pretty unique mechanic. It's not a notebook mystery or note-taking game, but it is similar to Obra Dinn in some respects.
IRON LUNG AU/FANGAME IDEA: A “Type Help”-esque adaptation of Iron Lung where you play as a COI employee trying to find uncorrupted transcripts of the audio logs in the black box after the events of the movie DO YOU SEE THE VISION DO YOU HEAR ME GOD DO YOU HEAR ME
long idea dump under the cut
The characters are given numbers just like in the game (and you can rename the numbers into the characters' names to keep better track of them like in Type Help)
@ = the transcriber
1 = Simon
2 = Ava
3 = David
4 = Jack
5 = The One Who Told You to Cross the Wires
6 = the SM-8 captain
7 and 8 = the rest of the SM-8 crew
And when Simon hallucinates, only his side of the conversation is heard (but it would also be funny if the hallucinations weren’t simple hallucinations and they were picked up by the voice recorder or transcribed on their own)
bonus if the transcriber goes mad while making the transcripts of the audio logs and hides the files and file names so that the player has to find them
The locations should have initials as well, I think. I have a few ideas (HA = hangar, CA = cave) but idk what other locations to abbreviate because that would mean naming areas in the blood ocean map. I think replacing the location initials with coordinates would be funnier but that’s a lotta numbers lmfao. I could also give the subs initials (SM13 and SM8) but idk.
Of course, the events would all be in different time codes just like in Type Help, and they will be separated into acts as well (Type Help had 4 acts, but for this one there are three, I’m still thinking of what to name them)
The text colors for each act should be green for ACT I, yellow for ACT II, and red for ACT III.
I should name this au lol
EDIT: i forgot to add but I think any extras would be either in white or in blue (like how in Type Help, extra files that @ made are in yellow iirc but don’t take my word for it I haven’t played the game in a while)
has no one compiled an actual actual list of Obra Dinn-likes? there's lots of somewhat garbage "so you enjoyed ____, well here's similar games" stuff out there but all include stuff that just has surface level similarities (like there's thematic plot overlap with Edith Finch, but c'mon it is not remotely an Obra Dinn-like), and everyone's kinda agreed this is actually a new video game subgenre, but no one's formalized it. i just want moooooore
