I was never of a video game player growing up.
Mostly that was the result of growing up in the ’70s and ’80s when board games were the diversion of choice, and all you really electronic games-wise were the likes of Pong and Space Invaders which, while fun, were hardly the stuff of endlessly-absorbing interest for me.
Partly though it was aptitude – while I could read or write a story for hours on end, the idea of sitting there and working out a strategy to win the game was boring in the extreme.
The only game that came close to convincing me that was worthwhile was Sim City, which happily threw in lots of creativity with the strategy (not to mention cheat codes supplied to me by a friend which kicked me along when my attention span ebbed) and Myst which offered the chance to explore amazing new worlds and solve mysteries, something which caught my imagination.
Now Cyan Inc. who brought Myst and Riven to the masses have come up with a new game Obduction, which seems to have everything I liked about Myst and then some.
According to c|net, there’s a lot to like about the game which started life as a Kickstarter campaign:
“Obduction doesn’t shy away from its Myst connections, and Myst fans will notice a similar aesthetic to the earlier game. There’s a steampunk feel with rotating rusted metal structures and riveted doors. The trailer also hints at an expansive world, more akin to the varied landscapes of Riven.
“The plot revolves around an organic artifact dropping down from the sky and moving you, the player, across the universe. Your goal is figure out why, where you are and how to get home.”
Granted I may not ever play Obduction but then again I might – perhaps it’s high time I became a participant in someone else’s imagination, particularly when it’s expressed as beautifully and expansively as this game.