Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #13502 in Computer & Video Games
• ESRB Rating: Everyone
• Format: CD

Features

• Windows 95

Customer Reviews

Another Great Oldie
The year is 2046. You, Lila, and your partner (both scientific and romantic), Max, have just celebrated the 100th day since the successful completion of your life's work: a satellite that uses nanotechnology to repair and cleanse the Earth's atmosphere. You're on a well-deserved camping vacation when you notice a strange rock formation growing on a nearby ridge. Soon after, Max disappears. Trying to find him, you are sucked into a series of dreamscapes that seem to come from the mid of your creation. Can you navigate your way through them to find Max? More important, can you interpret the dream realm to find out what's going on?

The first thing you should know about _Obsidian_ is that it came out in 1996. Games have changed a lot since then. The second thing you should know is that it's first-person game in the style of MYST. So if you demand the latest bells and whistles, the best graphics, and freedom of movement, this game is not for you. It's also not for you if you prefer games with lots of interesting characters to interact with. But if you don't care about the age of a game and like wandering around deserted places trying to figure things out, _Obsidian_ just might be your cup of tea.

I ran _Obsidian_ on a newer computer running XP, using the Windows 95 compatability mode, with no problems at all, except that the graphics were occasionally somewhat pixelated, especially during motion sequences. The interface is simple point and click. Movies take you between spots where you can accomplish things and some nicely integrated FMV video sequences help to round out the plot. During the course of the game you visit five different dream realms offering varying degrees of surreal experience. The path of the game is somewhat linear; you must visit the realms in sequence and finish each one before you can move on. Within two of them you can accomplish your tasks in any order, but that's about all the free will you have here.

The puzzles are mostly task-oriented. The trick is to discover what exactly the task is. Even once you know this, you sometimes don't immediately know why you're doing what you're doing. So it helps to be able to just accept your circumstances and go along with the flow. Some explanation is offered as you get deeper into the game, but things aren't really spelled out until the end. Mostly, you have to put information together in your head and form your own idea of what's going on. If you like plot-heavy games, _Obsidian_ probably isn't for you.

I found the puzzles to be on the easy side; there were only two that I needed help to solve. So the game was much shorter than I had expected it to be--only 15 hours or so. I've learned, however, that my experience was quite unusual and most people spend days in realms that I breezed through in the course of an evening. Your gameplay might be much longer.

_Obsidian_ comes on five discs and does not fully install, so there's lots of disc swapping, There was only one area where this was particularly tedious, as you had to go back and forth between discs a lot.

I'd been looking forward to playing _Obsidian_ for quite some time and I was not disappointed. If you like older, inuitive style games, this is a very good buy!

Another sleeper...
Another great but underreviewd game that has not become (apparently) out of print and collectible...

One of my favorite adventure games, due to the quirky-to-bizzare scenarios, varying ambiance, sense of humor and well integrated puzzles. The weird characteristics of the "bureau" room and composited in live-video screens were a real hoot-- and provided some altogether new challenges in solving the puzzles. Not to be missed...

My other favorites are "Zork Grand Inquisitor," "The Dark Eye," "Grim Fandango," and "Of Light and Darkness" mostly due to the bizarre and humor factors... Also the Resident's "Freak Show" took bizarre to a new level (no real surprise, as this is the Resident's we're talking about here), though is apparently so odd that it totally confused amazon, as it seems to appear only in their "books" section while it's actually CD computer software...

Best Myst-clone out there
Even now, years after playing the game, I found myself checking back here at Amazon to search for similar games. The graphics are great [lots of excellent FMVs], and the puzzles are appropriate & make logical sense. Unique worlds wrapped around an intriguing plot will provide hours of entertainment. Plus there are two different endings!
I'm an avid fan of most Myst games [though I did find Uru lacking], so if you like them, you'll love this one.