Windows Mixed RealityPlayStation 4PlayStation VRPC (Microsoft Windows)iOSSteamVR2016

Obduction

From Cyan, the indie studio that brought you Myst and Riven comes a whole new adventure that will become your world. The new worlds of Obduction reveal their secrets only as you explore, coax, and consider them. And as you bask in the otherworldly beauty and explore through the enigmatic landscapes, remember that the choices you make will have substantial consequences. This is your story now.

Community

Critics

Storyline

"As you walk beside the lake on a cloudy night, a distant thunderclap demands your attention. A curious, organic artifact falls from the starry sky and inexplicably, without asking permission, transports you across the universe. You’ve been abducted from your cozy existence and added into an alien landscape with a stereotypical Kansas farmhouse, a white picket fence, and a rather bizarre little ghost town - well… almost ghost town. Adding to the oddity, you discover a strangely kluged kiosk that reassuringly welcomes you to Hunrath."

Trailers

Screenshots

Mostly Positive

3,940 Steam reviews

Review History

Reviews

3,940 total

≥h

Steam User 9051STEAMRecommended

Tough but rewarding game... Not only do you have to figure out how to do things... you need to figure out what to do... Starting my third time thru cause its that fun...

Mar 26, 2026·45h·Verified

Steam User 0885STEAMRecommended

Excellent game. Makes me miss Myst.

Mar 25, 2026·20h·Verified

Steam User 0342STEAMRecommended

Балачагым уены вә беренче вакытта Linux'та кабызылган уен.
Уендагы видеоларны уйнату өчен GE-Proton кулланыгызчы инде.

Сыйфатлы башвату жанрында уендыр!

Mar 22, 2026·36h·Verified

Steam User 1766STEAMRecommended

I came for puzzles - left with my mother-in-law stuck in another dimension. Everything speaks French even the kettle. I don’t get it but I won’t quit. 10/10.

Mar 17, 2026·5h

Steam User 3939STEAMRecommended

Yggdrasil O_O

Mar 7, 2026·8h·Verified

Steam User 6185STEAMRecommended

This is probably the best game Cyan's made thus far.

Usually Cyan games have two problems: the puzzles don't make sense in context (here, listen to wind chimes to unlock a space ship door because...reasons) or they are just too obtuse to ever logically figure out on your own (pretty much the entirety of Riven).

Obduction is the first game where neither really occurs. Every puzzle makes sense, both in why it belongs in the game world and how it would work in the game world. You are not starting the power generator just because it's there but because you need to power the laser to destroy the shield generator because the lore explains how this is the only way to open up this part of space-time (i.e. that's how you get to the next area). Each puzzle makes logical sense and those complaining about the difficulty are (I presume) just dumb (though there are a couple frustrating ones--see below).

Due to how logical the puzzles and game world are, I feel this is the first Cyan game where you can theoretically beat the entire game without a guide. I had to resort to one a couple times, but it was never because I didn't know what I had to do, I just usually couldn't figure out how to work the controls for some device (I'm looking at you brass turbines viewfinder!)

Now, do I recommend this game? If you like first person adventure games, then definitely yes; this is one of the best. But...you know how there are some games that are so incredible that you recommend them to people even if they don't like the genre? This definitely isn't one of those. Why? One specific puzzle...

Look, I get that every one of these games always has some puzzle that is harder or more complex than the others towards the end. It comes with the genre. This game's is called The Gauntlet. It's challenging, but not crazily so when you figure it out, and surprisingly makes complete sense with the plot. However, despite it being challenging-but-solvable, it almost caused me to ragequit. Why? It took me 3 hours to beat it and 2 of those 3 hours [b]were %#$@!-ing loading screens![\b] (which is also compounded by the run speed being basically a brisk walk)

(I also feel like I should mention for the completionists out there that, despite beating the game and getting the Easter Eggs, none of the achievements here on Steam triggered for me.)

Feb 28, 2026·24h·1·Verified

Steam User 7902STEAMNot recommended

3D游戏从来没晕过的，这鸟游戏让人晕到吐。

Feb 22, 2026·2h·Verified

Steam User 0770STEAMRecommended

什么意识流游戏？我在哪？我是谁？我要干什么？

Feb 19, 2026·1h

Steam User 1213STEAMNot recommended

PUZZLES ARE NOT EVEN POSSIBLE WHEN USING A WALKTHROUGH. HUNDREDS OF REPEATIVE MOTIONS, EVEN WITH WALK THROUGH JUST TO PASS A SINGLE PUZZLE. NOT FUN. vERY SMALL PART OF GAME CAN BE DONE WITHOUT WALKTHROUGH. NO CLEAR DIRECTIONS TO ANYTHING.

Feb 13, 2026·17h·1·Verified

Steam User 1261STEAMRecommended

My wife and I enjoy doing this together.

Feb 1, 2026·26h·1

Steam User 6942STEAMRecommended

Fans of the Myst series will enjoy this game that follows the same style and feel.

Jan 31, 2026·21h·1·Verified

Steam User 0633STEAMRecommended

It was very challenging but great fun! Did resort to getting some hints when I got totally stumped. Beautiful graphics, I could live in Maray!

Jan 26, 2026·59h

Steam User 0814STEAMRecommended

The puzzles are complex but fun, the world building is breath taking and the end of the game is very satisfying. Please keep making games.

Jan 25, 2026·17h·2

Steam User 7830STEAMRecommended

If you loved the original MYST, then this is an awesome nostalgia trip back to that old school style puzzle game. The puzzles in this game are not easy and are not always intuitive. Plus there is A LOT of walking around the map to navigate to where you need to be. And some puzzles require you to do things and then travel a long distance. The "run" speed is quite slow and so parts of the game can feel quite tedious. However it is a great environment to explore and I loved being back in a MYST type world.

Jan 24, 2026·42h·Verified

Steam User 1721STEAMRecommended

Not a bad puzzle game.

Jan 24, 2026·35h·Verified

Steam User 5781STEAMNot recommended

Play it if you want to risk 'brain strain' solutions to a lot of the puzzles require MENSA level training

Jan 13, 2026·13h·5·Verified

Steam User 5950STEAMRecommended

This review contains spoilers!

I'd recommend this game with a few caveats. The first is that, if you don't enjoy the classics that Cyan Worlds developed (Myst and Riven), then you probably won't immediately see the appeal of Obduction. So, if you haven't played Myst or Riven, I highly recommend doing so. In addition to both of those games being classics in their own right, they also give helpful points of comparison for Obduction.

Obduction immediately captured my imagination in a fashion similar to Myst and Riven. In those two classic games, you're transported into a strange fantasy universe by something called a linking book. The premise of Obduction really isn't that different: you're transported into a strange fantasy universe by some kind of alien seed. The atmosphere of an Arizona desert home (complete with white picket fence) contrasted with the purple alien landscape is captivating.

The level design feels very well thought-out with respect to realism. Obviously, the idea of a sphere of the Arizona desert being transported to another world is fiction, but once you accept that premise, everything else feels like it belongs. Objects work as you'd expect them to, and you see things where you'd expect to see them. It would have been really tempting for the developers to place all of Farley's notes all around the world, sort of drip-feeding the lore of this world as you progress through things, but they're all in Farley's house instead. And, even though it breaks up the pace of the gameplay to have the player read through books of text all at once, it's worth the tradeoff because it makes the most sense for Farley's personal notes to be in her house - the internal consistency makes the world feel real.

While the level design feels well thought-out from a realism perspective, there's a bit of a problem when it comes to backtracking. Many of Obduction's puzzles are rooted spatial awareness. Once you've mapped out what the area you're working in looks like and how things are connected, you've basically solved the puzzle. However, the gap between knowing how to solve the puzzle and actually executing your solution is often enormous. You often have to backtrack over several levels to circumvent small areas in the middle of a puzzle, and this wouldn't normally be a huge issue for me, but there's nothing interesting to do during that transit time (other than enjoy the backgrounds and set pieces), and the player's movement speed is painfully slow (even while running). Indeed, if the player just ran at a sprint instead of a light jog, I probably would have completed the game in 9 hours instead of 13. I don't think a faster run speed would have broken the immersion of the game at all, and it would have made things feel more fluid.

I imagine a lot of people will leverage complaints about load times and performance. And, indeed, there are some performance issues here. There are rather long load times, especially when swapping between parallel worlds. I'm not terribly frustrated with it, personally, because as time goes on, there will be optimizations that will likely fix this issue (there have already been some in patches of the game since its release). The only time it became irritating was in the Villein world, where a few of the puzzles involve swapping between worlds in short succession. It killed the pacing. And, while the visuals of the game look nice, it's not really worth the performance cost, in my opinion.

The puzzles themselves are generally quite good. As I mentioned, spatial awareness is key for most of the puzzles, but Obduction takes this concept to the next level with the concept of the interlinking worlds. It's not enough for you to have spatial awareness of the level you're standing in. You also sometimes have to have awareness of how the space you're standing in relates to the parallel worlds you swap between. The fact that you spend the game not only in Hunrath, but in the other three linked worlds was a very pleasant surprise that I'll likely never forget.

I was a bit disappointed that the Mofang world was devoid of any puzzle solving or mechanical content, but it makes sense logically for that world to be barren as you uncover the story of Obduction, so it's not really a major complaint of mine.

The biggest disappointment for me were the puzzles that relied on logic rather than spatial awareness. When I discovered that the Villein use a base-4 number system, I was excited to learn all about it. Indeed, it brought me back to my first time playing through Riven. Learning the Rivenese number system was one of my favorite experiences in my time playing video games. It's a captivating moment where everything just kind of clicks and the entire world of Riven starts to make sense. There wasn't really any analog with the Villein number system.

The problem with the Villein number system is that the player is given a tool for brute-forcing the puzzles in the garage in Hunrath. The cash register takes all the fun out of learning the Villein number system and using it in the various solution panels across the game. It's especially disappointing because, if you explore the basement in the Mayor's office, you can find a worksheet where he was learning the Villein number system. It would have been a lot more rewarding for the player to learn these numbers on their own instead of having a tool that translates everything for them (overreliance on the tool also led to a lot of backtracking, which I already explained was an issue in this game).

The best example of a puzzle which disappointed me was one of the last ones the player is likely to solve: the pod vault in the Villein world. The goal is to find Farley's pod. There's actually a very interesting system for organizing the pods. You need to take the pod position (which can be 0-15), multiply it by sixteen, and then add the floor number you want to access. I actually took the time to figure this out by experimenting with the number panel and observing the results, and it was a joy to figure that out. It would have been so cool if the log book had just given the floor number and pod position for each entry. But, the logbook unfortunately reveals the exact number as well (which wasn't necessary information to solve the puzzle). The player can easily figure out which pod is Farley's by plugging the pod number into the register in the garage in Hunrath, even if they don't understand the Villein number system at all.

It was really disappointing to find that learning the Villein number system wasn't really required to solve any of the puzzles in the Villein world. But, I suppose the counterpoint is that you can learn how the number system works entirely within the game's logic, which is pretty cool. And, if you're looking for a good challenge, I recommend learning it!

One could argue that the register in the garage makes the game's progression more accessible to players who don't want to learn a base-4 number system. But, I have a counterargument: The story and progression really isn't anything that special. It's fine, and I don't have any complaints about it, but it doesn't justify handicapping the puzzles - and, if you ask me, the puzzles are what we're really here for. Cyan Worlds' strengths are in the world-building and puzzle construction, not the story and plot.

Overall, I would recommend Obduction. It makes for a memorable experience, and the world-building is fantastic. This is especially so if you're already a fan of Myst and Riven, and if you don't mind some of the clunkiness that comes with those games. Even though this game was made with more modern software development tools, it still feels reminiscent of the point-and-click era (many who are already interested in Obduction will see this as a positive).

However, if you're looking for an immersive first-person puzzler game that takes place in an alien world that feels more modern, play Outer Wilds.

Jan 12, 2026·14h·3·Verified

Steam User 1561STEAMNot recommended

1 x Crash and too many freezes, sufficient memory etc and utilising N-Vidia 5070, albeit enjoying it whilst its running....
PM

Jan 11, 2026·51h·1·Verified

Steam User 0708STEAMRecommended

A unique story, played out in absolutely gorgeous, immersive environments with organically developed puzzles that are part of the story, not just contrived obstacles. What you'd expect from Cyan after all the Myst titles, a great addition to the collection. I've played it several times (with plenty of time in between to forget the details) and still love it every time. The whole thing makes me smile, go "hmmm...." and "say what?!?!?" Truly entertaining in every way.

Jan 11, 2026·21h·6·Verified

Steam User 7129STEAMRecommended

Pretty much a Myst game in a different setting, with the good and the bad that comes with it.

If you liked the Myst games definitely give this a go.
If you like puzzle solving adventure games also give this a go.

Jan 9, 2026·16h·2·Verified

Steam User 2953STEAMRecommended

It's fun and has an amazing lore to discover in the game.

Jan 9, 2026·18h·1·Verified

Steam User 5871STEAMRecommended

Great game with lots of complex puzzles!

Jan 9, 2026·44h

Steam User 9862STEAMRecommended

Super Spiel (insbesondere in VR) mit vielen Rätseln und Erkundung. Viel Lauferei, aber ist dadurch nicht komplett vorgeschrieben was wann und wie gemacht werden muss.

Jan 7, 2026·10h·1

Steam User 0232STEAMRecommended

fun

Jan 5, 2026·1598h

Steam User 0918STEAMNot recommended

I love puzzle games. I was excited to play this. I was so disappointed.

The worlds are big, and while beautiful and interesting looking, your *running* speed is about a million times slower than most other games *walking* speed. And about 90% of this game is just going back and forth around the gigantic worlds. TAKES. TOO. LONG. TO. GET. ANYWHERE. I became so disinterested in taking the time to read the lore as things came up because everything took so long I just wanted to get to a puzzle and DO something.

Also, there are some videos of people talking to you in various places and every person also spoke at a glacial place and if there was a helpful nugget in there, it was droned out by how slow everyone spoke and how long they spoke about things that were not even that important or relevant. The main NPC, who you are helping since you're on the "outside" and able to interact with the world while he is hidden away in a building, just immediately takes a condescending tone toward you and then vaguely (eventually) orders you to do something. Don't bother returning to him for any additional information after your initial orders, because he (a) doesn't give you any additional information and (b) still takes an attitude with you for not doing what he asked you to do. Super does not make me want to do anything to help this man.

Finally, after we locked ourselves out of an achievement because full areas of the map became completely closed off to us for absolutely no reason that I can gather from a game design perspective, we discovered (after much extremely slow running around) that we had somehow soft-locked ourselves out of progressing. As we were near the end of the game, we absolutely did not want to spend any more time just going around and redoing everything at a glacial speed from the beginning, so we quit. Disappointing.

Jan 4, 2026·17h·11·Verified

Steam User 0850STEAMRecommended

A true Classic

Jan 3, 2026·9h·1

Steam User 2964STEAMRecommended

I had fun. You've got to be patient with this game, though; it's an exercise in delayed gratification.

Jan 2, 2026·91h·1·Verified

Steam User 9417STEAMRecommended

Not as good as Myst (although the graphics are great), but still a fun play.

Jan 2, 2026·12h·Verified

Steam User 9625STEAMRecommended

Amazing game, very thoughtful and epic puzzles.

Jan 2, 2026·55h·Verified

Steam User 7612STEAMRecommended

Reminds me of the quiet, reflective nature of Riven, Myst and Exile, for obvious reasons. Just a beautiful immersive experience.

Dec 31, 2025·4h·1

Steam User 2500STEAMRecommended

Obduction comes from the creators of Myst, and as someone who played Myst back on release, when it came on multiple discs you had to swap in and out, I jumped on this immediately. I’m happy to say it did not disappoint.

This is classic Cyan-style puzzle exploration done right: immersive worlds, environmental storytelling, and puzzles that reward observation and patience. There’s just the right amount of hunt, confusion, and second-guessing, those moments where you wonder, “Did I already turn that on… or am I remembering wrong?”, and that’s part of the fun.

The experience is thoughtful, rewarding, and confident in its pacing. If you enjoy this style of game, slow-burn exploration, interconnected puzzles, and discovery-driven progress, this is an easy recommendation.

Dec 29, 2025·19h·Verified

Steam User 0523STEAMRecommended

Good one,
Not as good as Riven or Myst, but still good

Good graphics, the global level design idea is very nice and gave some "oh wow so i can do this" moments.

Bad points:
Missing clues for some puzzles (2 especially)
Optimization, laggy at some moments and you can't reduce max FPS while FPS are useless in this kind of game
No Key binding is also boring for AZERTY players

Dec 29, 2025·11h·Verified

Steam User 6314STEAMNot recommended

It's slow. Really slow. Obduction leaves you with a lot of time to ponder, is what I thought in the very early game with how much it forced me to slowly walk back and forth around the much-too-large terrain. Whether that's to set a bunch of rail levers to the right direction, or to cross the map to apply some learned information elsewhere, or hours spent wandering literally searching for what to do next, or (in the late game) solving puzzles that take you through tens of loading screens - you have plenty of time to be left to your thoughts. Not in a good way. That's my main takeaway from Obduction.

What I did like: the diegetic puzzles and the worldbuilding. Unlike Myst and a lot of other games that combine puzzles and walking around, where many puzzles are clearly Puzzles and no more, with the world build to accommodate them; in Obduction it's the other way around with essentially every puzzle feeling like a natural product of the environment and the characters that inhabit it. The reasons for the puzzles' presence and for the drip-feed of clues are justified by the game's narrative. There's plenty of information about what life is like in the world of Obduction, both implied and explicit, and I had no trouble empathising with the characters and the decisions they'd made leading up to the game's events.

Except for one. There's a character you meet at the start of the game who sets you on the right path and gives you a series of overarching tasks. Some of the steps to completing his tasks are truly obtuse, you can spend hours wandering around having missed e.g. an interaction with an object that really doesn't look like it can be interacted with, and despite the fact that this character explicitly knows ALL of the steps required to complete his task, should you dare to think "maybe I'll talk to him again and see if he has a hint" - the developers chose to implement extra dialogue that a) openly mocks you for needing to do so, b) restates the directionless overarching task, just to rub it in your face.

After completing one of his tasks - which was very vague, and exhausted every one of my loose threads, and had me explore the entire environment - this character said "great, now do all that again a bunch more times". Previous roadblocks had been surmountable through trial and error, but this left me with absolutely no idea how to proceed. That was the only time I needed to look up the answer - turned out I'd missed an interaction with an object that I had no reason to think was interactable. Great!

There's a puzzle later in the game that a lot of other reviews are claiming "you'll definitely need a guide for". I didn't, and you won't either unless you're unwilling to spend 20 minutes with a notepad figuring it out. I thought that one was pretty satisfying, honestly - yes, it was mired down by the glacial walk speed and all of the loading screens, but by that point I was used to it and determined to beat the game no matter what.

Overall - a few good moments, good plot, genuinely intriguing lore entries, let down by the game being 80% downtime and that extremely frustrating main character. The sale price (£10 at the time of writing) is... ok. Definitely do not pay more.

Dec 27, 2025·14h·Verified

Steam User 6415STEAMRecommended

I'm glad I gave it a second chance.

Let me start by stating that Obduction isn't my first puzzle game. Indeed, it isn't even my first trek into Cyan's worlds. Spelunx was my intro into Cyan when I played it on a school computer - a macintosh to be specific - followed by Myst and the series later on family computers. I've also played various Myst-like games throughout my childhood. So, going into Obduction I more or less knew what I was getting into - or so I thought.

Obduction is a bit different from those. One of the biggest difference, and the one that I was considering a flaw, is that the zones are sprawling. Oftentimes you'll find yourself interacting with a device that seems pointless but is actually interacting with another device across the map. At first this was frustrating me because I found myself aimlessly wandering around sprawling areas for a long length of time. I almost uninstalled it and gave up. It took me having to give it a second chance with a fresh playthrough that it all started to - connect.

Connect - that is the theme of this game. Your main objective is to connect the trees. Once that theme clicked, it all came together. I daresay that this game couldn't have been made back when Cyan was using HyperCard to make their games. The gimmick of its theme, the obduction, the swapping of states, it all is quite neat. The puzzles follow this gimmick throughout, especially the infamous Gauntlet. Once you figure out the gimmick and begin to understand it - there are mini versions of the gauntlet dotted in various areas to help the player realize it - it becomes second nature.

Obduction is a fun game with some minor flaws. It has Myst dna for sure. I do recommend, especially to fans of Myst and that type of game.

Dec 26, 2025·19h·Verified

Steam User 9347STEAMRecommended

very interesting game, a little vague at times but that's how they roll. I definitely want to play another game by Cyan.

Dec 24, 2025·42h·1·Verified

Steam User 1719STEAMRecommended

Dec 9, 2025·30h·Verified

Steam User 9254STEAMRecommended

Super jeu pour ceux qui apprécient Myst. Un bug regrettable à la fin, géré grace au walkthrough de la communauté (merci à eux).

Dec 7, 2025·28h·Verified

Steam User 3798STEAMNot recommended

In the beginning this game looks really nice. The mystery and the lore wil intrigue you. The ambience is appocaliptic and silent, almost scary.
BUT, after discouvering the map you'll soon realize that the puzzles you hoped to love actually consist of just walking the same paths over and over again, not knowing where to go.
I respect the team for designing a stunning game with intense lore and probably ingenious puzzles; that's why i am shocked that they neglected or forgot the in-between gameplay (as I like to call it). Therefore I quit the game pretty soon, hoping that next time they'll ad some mechanism (like teleportation across map) to fill that 90% in-between gameplay with actually interesting content.
28$ is way too much to just be walking around.

Dec 7, 2025·9h·1

Steam User 0473STEAMRecommended

唯一無二の風景、根気を要する難解なパズル。どっしり構えてプレイすべき

こんな方におすすめ
・（言わずもがな）MYSTシリーズが好き。後悔しません
・SF・宇宙ものが好き
・きれいで怖い景色が好き
・ペラペラではなくずっしりしたグラフィックに浸りたい
・試行錯誤しながら行ったり来たりでパズルを解くのが苦ではない
・四進法に強い

MYSTシリーズ好きなら間違いなく独特の文明デザインや細かな仕掛けに感動します。MYSTシリーズが好きすぎたせいで、プレイしはじめた頃は「こんなに自由に動き回れると逆に困る」と途方に暮れて塩漬けにしてしまいましたが、改めてプレイするとやはり傑作でした。
シリーズの一番の特徴である「異種文明」の表現が圧巻で、人類から大きくかけ離れた種族が残した構造物や文明の欠片を眺めるだけで心が躍ります。怖いくらいに巨大な神殿、当たったら即死しそうなスピードで動くぶ厚い金属製風車、重たい鎖の音、奇妙ながら計算しつくされた規則性。すべてどこかで見たことがあるようなものなのに、思いがけないスケールや色彩で描かれることにより、恐怖に近い驚きを味わえます。

道具やアイテムを集めて必要な場所で使ういわゆる「脱出ゲーム」的な機能はありません。ストーリー含めてヒントが少なく、同じところを何度も彷徨ったり行き詰ったり、しんどいと感じる方も多いと思います。決して「グラフィックがきれいな脱出ゲーム」ではありません。その点でいえば、人を選ぶゲームかもしれません。
はじめ投げ出してしまったときは「MYSTのような作品が歓迎される時代ではなくなったか…」となぜか社会のせいにしていましたが、全然そんなことはありませんでした。久し振りにパズルで脳汁でました。

Nov 30, 2025·27h·Verified

Steam User 0164STEAMNot recommended

looks cool, seems cool, and has some cool ideas, but utterly miserable to play

Nov 29, 2025·4h·5

Steam User 8010STEAMRecommended

WOW! Another brain-flexing, puzzle packed, absolutely amazing game from CYAN. I'm not surprised at all. It took me 3 days to finally figure it all out WITH a walk through (not ashamed to admit this) but I absolutely love the visuals, i love the complex puzzles, the maze - even with a walk through this one took me 4 hours to figure out. Love everything about this and i'm glad I was able to add it to my collection of all the MYST games. Looking forward to seeing what else you create!

Nov 29, 2025·52h·1·Verified

Steam User 8120STEAMNot recommended

just finished the game.
this game gives me "Getting over it" vibes. it is so tedious.
why?

first half is:
1- all i do is walk, walk and walk
2- huge map and little puzzles
3- you cant possibly know where your next piece of the puzzle is, you just need to try everything in this huge map

second half is:
long Loading screens and the puzzles depend on those loading screens.
i cooked, ate, washed, pooped and slept while waiting on those loading screens

Nov 17, 2025·12h·5·Verified

Steam User 5433STEAMRecommended

iF YOU FEEL NOSTALGIC FOR myst, YOU WILL LIKE oBDUCTION. (i RECOMMEND PLAYING WITH capslock ON.)

Nov 10, 2025·12h·Verified

Steam User 3380STEAMRecommended

Buy it on sale:
Obduction is a great game, with the only frustrating aspect being a long loading screen that takes place during an important gameplay element. The story and worldbuilding is good, although not as good as that of the Myst series. If you can get this game when it's on sale for ~$15, go for it, but I don't think it's worth full price if you're looking to replicate the experience of Riven or similar.

Nov 9, 2025·22h·Verified

Steam User 3892STEAMRecommended

All around an excellent game, with the only pain points for me being some of the backtracking + a few puzzles that honestly could've been a bit less tedious. I think it deserves a bit higher rating than the 77% it currently has, I'd personally give it an 80-85 but that's just me.

Nov 8, 2025·21h

Steam User 1234STEAMNot recommended

Depending on your computer, there's an element to Obduction that has extremely long load times. But that element isn't introduced until you're already hours into the game. (And in my case, determined to finish.) Unfortunately, this new element is used over and over and over again: it's essential for traveling back and forth, checking puzzle progress, learning from mistakes, etc. The loading times simply ruin the pace of the game.

(I started the game over on a better computer for my full playthrough. The issue was slightly better, but still there.)

Nov 6, 2025·45h

Steam User 9752STEAMNot recommended

Unfortunately, a bug prevents me from finishing the game. The challenge in solving the puzzles doesn’t come from having to think — it comes from how tedious they are, so I’m not even planning to start over. The character’s slow movement speed doesn’t make things any easier either.

Nov 4, 2025·8h

Steam User 0248STEAMNot recommended

This was a good game until I got some ways into Maray and the "puzzle" Gauntlet. When I figured out what to do there which is pretty easy any and all goodwill i had built up with the game was destroyed utterly.

Because its just tedious.

Its designed to just waste your time. I couldnt believe i had to do what my brain told me I had to do so i just went and looked around, learned its considered one of the worst puzzles of all time. And I whole heartily agree.

It doesnt even make sense in the in-game lore, where its stated to be made to slow an army down. With an army it would have been damn quick. Its only slow because you have to do so much running, elevator riding, loading just to double check you did the right thing. There is no way to have a frame of reference and birds eye view while manipulating the pieces.

Its just plain antifun. From the moment you solve it in your head it takes hours to complete it, slow by f****** slow step. The moment from solving to completion kills any and all enjoyment.

Nov 4, 2025·34h·3·Verified

Steam User 8944STEAMNot recommended

don't really care for games where I have to rely on walk through to figure out what to do.

Nov 2, 2025·8h·Verified

Steam User 0010STEAMRecommended

Just plain Misty fun.

Nov 2, 2025·175h

Steam User 6695STEAMRecommended

The game experience and style is relative to the old Cyan games through the video and audio entries throughout. You can play it in the point and click style or free-roam like in 'Real Myst' if you like. I prefer the free-roam option for this game. The puzzles are moderately difficult to piece together and require use of the in-game camera and photo storage system and i personally use a journal or m cellphone camera to save clues for later reference.

Traveling between worlds is just like the ages of the Myst series and the cross-overs add even more difficulty.

Anyone who enjoyed the old Myst games or Uru will certainly lie this one. The price is still way to high for it in my humble opinion, but there are other options out there for keys.

100% recommended!!

Nov 2, 2025·11h

Steam User 3794STEAMNot recommended

The puzzles in this game are really good, they make you think in ways I haven't seen other puzzle games really do. The problem is how long it takes to do anything. This game is mostly walking. You can completely figure out how to do a puzzle but then it takes around 20 minutes of walking and loading screens to actually do it. Everything else about this game, the scenery, the narrative, the puzzles are all really good, besides the odd choice to continue using FMV for characters. But if I'm having to scroll on my phone to keep engaged while I'm solving puzzles its not good. This kind of ruined it for me but if you can stand that then I do think it's one of Cyan's better puzzle games, nowhere near the quality of Myst or Riven, but better than Exile I'd say.

Oct 20, 2025·10h·9·Verified

Steam User 4140STEAMRecommended

My Fave , Thanks Cyan

Oct 19, 2025·11h·Verified

Steam User 7151STEAMRecommended

I completed Obduction and enjoyed it, Cyan continues to deliver a solid, Myst-like experience. However, the game is bogged down by a few issues that take away from the enjoyment:

The movement speed is SLOW. Extremely slow. Even on "run" mode it's painful to get around. It feels like you're walking through jelly. This is coupled with painfully slow loading screens that take a good 15-30 seconds even on a top-spec machine in 2025.

The first area has several different "connecting" points that are extremely difficult to keep track of. You'll need to draw a map (none of the ones I found online are helpful in this area) which isn't bad per se, but after 12 hours I still never knew where I'd end up. Although some cross-map paths do eventually open up, it's still frustrating to get around that first area.

There are at least three puzzles that are just *tedious*, notably a frustrating pair towards the end of the game. You'll definitely need a guide for one, and the other you'll just have to do a bunch of running back and forth to get right (the online solver did *not* work for me), and since your run speed is so slow and you're having to sit through those loading screens it takes *ages* to complete. I almost ragequit right there.

[spoiler] They reused the dang door-behind-a-door thing from Riven. Ugh. [/spoiler]

There's a solid 12 hours of play here, but the game feels unfinished. Notably the fourth "area" has nothing in it whatsoever - that might have been a design choice, but it really just feels like they ran out of time and slapped something together without an entire area of the game complete.

Overall, I'd say this is worth a play if you loved the Myst games - but a lot of it feels like a literal slog as you meander your way up and down staircases at a glacial pace, seeing the same view of nothing over and over. Be prepared to be very very patient.

Oct 13, 2025·12h·3

Steam User 3641STEAMNot recommended

In Myst and Riven, I can figure out puzzles by taking screenshots and writing things out on paper. This thing.. if it can be called a "game", I had to take constant brakes from the blinding loading screens. Making the simplified version of puzzles by cutting out paper and draw them in real life to figure out where to go.
After 5 hrs, I was like what the actual f*ck am I doing with my life? The visual and world building is certainly interesting, but it is way too huge and way too many backtracking. Oh f*ck those rotating transporters!
......
Completed the game, still not recommend it and f*ck those rotating transporters!

Oct 2, 2025·9h·6·Verified

Steam User 4724STEAMRecommended

Great puzzles, with enough hints for you to figure it out if you take a second to think and explore the world

Oct 1, 2025·51h·2·Verified

Steam User 5045STEAMRecommended

Feels familiar to the Myst franchise but set in a whole new universe with unique rules of its own.

Sep 27, 2025·28h·3

Steam User 7816STEAMRecommended

Bounced off it years ago but recently played through and honestly enjoyed it overall. Not as good as some of Cyans earliest but it still feels like a Myst-type game for the most part.
Bit underwhelming ending but it can be really hard to nail that in this type of game and some might have really enjoyed it.

Overall, definitely worth a pickup and. play-through with your spouse or friend. I enjoyed the 'ah-ha!' moments of figuring out the 'gimmick' so to speak.

I do -not- however recommend their next game, 'firmament' which I played on GOG. Just trust me on that one. It looks pretty but man...nah.

Sep 18, 2025·17h·Verified

Steam User 2764STEAMRecommended

I was so stoked back when this game was first put on Kickstarter, as I really wanted to see a spiritual successor to Myst from the same studio that put out the games in that classic series. Honestly, the game did not disappoint me at all! It had all of the elements of something like Riven, which was my favorite of the Myst games, and made that experience a little more accessible and easier to get into, as the puzzles weren't necessarily as brain-wracking or obscure, but it by no means dumbed the experience down at all. While the walking speed and the loading times of a certain fast-travel mechanic might be off-putting for some players, I don't believe that these elements take away from how great of an accomplishment that this game is. I rank this up there right alongside my favorite Myst games from Cyan.

Sep 15, 2025·74h

Steam User 7474STEAMRecommended

Good world development, some fairly complex puzzles, interesting story line.

Sep 13, 2025·21h·Verified

Steam User 4504STEAMRecommended

It's awesome. Puzzles seem easier than Myst/Riven, although I haven't played those since I was but a wee child, but if you need a puzzle game this is a good one.

Sep 1, 2025·17h·Verified

Steam User 0317STEAMRecommended

Obduction é um excelente jogo! Eu gostei bastante da minha experiência nesse game. Ele começa do jeito que eu gosto: sem tutorial, te joga em um mundo para você descobrir as coisas por conta própria. No começo eu não entendia quase nada do que estava acontecendo, mas conseguia ver nitidamente o progresso sendo feito, o que era bem gratificante.
O jogo consegue fluir bem durante toda a campanha, principalmente mais pro final, onde as coisas começam a complicar mais. Seus puzzles, no geral, não são difíceis, mas têm exceções que são bem complexas, porém não destoam muito do resto do jogo. Eu senti uma vibe parecida com The Witness e Outer Wilds nesse jogo. Apesar de não ter semelhanças claras, o sentimento de solidão e de explorar um mundo desconhecido é muito parecido.
Eu optei por jogar fazendo meu mapa mental, para tentar pegar o máximo possível da história, que, apesar de ser interessante, não é nada de outro mundo. Achei que as informações não foram tão bem colocadas no mapa: tem lugares com muita coisa e outros com quase nada de texto. Mesmo deixando um pouco do realismo para trás, se espalhassem mais as informações ficaria melhor de lembrar depois.
E, bom, é claro que o jogo também tem alguns problemas. Entre eles, muitos loadings, esse provavelmente é o pior de todos, porque tem puzzles que para serem resolvidos, é preciso passar por esses loadings diversas vezes, o que deixa a experiência mais massante nesses momentos. Nem todos os puzzles são bons de fato, alguns você pode acabar acertando na tentativa e erro porque não foram bem instruídos, e a narrativa como um todo poderia ser melhor aproveitada.
Mas, no geral, ainda sim é um jogo muito bom, e mesmo com seus erros, nenhum prejudica significativamente a experiência. Se for jogar, aqui vai um conselho: preste atenção nas coisas e sempre tente interagir com tudo o que achar.

Sep 1, 2025·20h·1

Steam User 7036STEAMRecommended

幼少期にMYSTシリーズに触れ、MYSTは自分の人生といっても過言ではないのでその後継的なゲームをリリースしてくれてまずはうれしかったです。
謎だらけの世界を少しずつ解き明かしていく感じがとてもワクワクしました。
トロッコが動かせるようになるとめちゃくちゃ楽しいです。
日本語対応してませんが、有志による日本語化パッチを使用しました。
これもそうですがsteamにあるMYSTシリーズ、日本語化されてないものが多いのでもっと日本人ユーザーを増やして圧をかけていきたいですね。

Aug 25, 2025·50h·Verified

Steam User 9722STEAMRecommended

Absolute tour de force. This is absolutely Myst+++.

Breathtaking environments, brilliant puzzles and really interesting storyline. Cyan really outdid themselves with Obduction. It was everything I'd hoped it would be. I just couldn't get to sleep until I'd finished it. So much to do, and so much to figure out.

Enjoyed (almost) every minute, and managed to figure everything out without cheating except for 1 puzzle which I think the devs may have made a slightly misstep in designing (see gripe #2).

Everyone who loves Myst and puzzles should play this game, it's awesome.

I only have 3 gripes and 3 pieces of advice:-

1. There's one puzzle that uses a "viewfinder", and the thing should have a handle or something, but on my screen the 'hit point' to use the viewfinder properly was so small I ended up looking up a solution.

Advice: When you get to a puzzle with a circle 'viewfinder', and you're thinking "there's 4 things to point at but I can't point at them", just.,, stick with it.... don't walk away.

2. I'd say the method to get the 'good ending' isn't quite telegraphed enough. You spend the entire game following instructions, and every single hypothesis and result by party "A" leads to success, Nothing from party "B" seems worthwhile. And yet, we're to intuit that from a few pieces of writing by party "B" that we're not to do one thing 'X'.... That needed a smidge more telegraphing I think.

Advice: Pay VERY close attention to all the notes you find scattered about talking about the 'trees' and what they do, and keep an open mind about what they mean, even if it seems like it's just worldbuilding background and pointless.

3. The time it takes to move between 'worlds' is really long. For me, I would just Alt-tab and go read a web page or watch something on streaming TV until the sparkles died down in the background. For two of the puzzles, I managed to get through several episodes of Futurama waiting for the screen changes. This is on a 13th gen i7 with 16 Gb RAM and a 4060 with an nvme SSD... So no slouch!.

Advice: Settle in and be patient. Opinions are mixed, but in general, it's a total crapshoot whether it'll be fast or slow. My bet is that it's down to how much VRAM you have in your GPU.

Enjoy!

Aug 18, 2025·24h·6

Steam User 5416STEAMNot recommended

It made me nauseous. I physically couldn't play this.

Aug 9, 2025·2h·2

Steam User 9544STEAMRecommended

Es difícil pero muy satisfactorio. Los puzles son muy imaginativos y la historia es interesante.

Aug 3, 2025·41h·Verified

Steam User 9023STEAMRecommended

éPIQUE

Jul 31, 2025·28h

Steam User 7063STEAMRecommended

It is an epic game. 4 worlds and lot of walking, also some driving. I love the art, the details, the story. It's not perfect, and I used the guide in some points, but it raised my expectations from Firmament - which I haven't played yet. Thank Cyan you for a good game.

Jul 30, 2025·27h·1·Verified

Steam User 5088STEAMNot recommended

Hatte zuvor Quern gespielt (fantastisch!) und nun Obduction. Das ist eine Enttäuschung. Vielleicht ändert es sich ja noch, aber im Moment ist das Spiel wenig motivierend, wirkt irgendwie veraltet als wenn Cyan in ihren alten Mustern festhängt, die in Myst, Uro oder Riven vor 20 Jahren (?) damals faszinierten.

Jul 29, 2025·61h

Steam User 1484STEAMNot recommended

Never again

Jul 28, 2025·14h

Steam User 3981STEAMRecommended

cool

Jul 28, 2025·12h·Verified

Steam User 4714STEAMNot recommended

The controls in VR just don't work like they should.
Update: the normal controls are clunky as well. Also, the puzzles are pure nonsense. Just an overall frustrating experience with some very good ideas and ambitions at its core.

Jul 27, 2025·12h·2·Verified

Steam User 5150STEAMRecommended

Super fun and challenging escape room style game. I'm stuck on a bit of a math related puzzle right now... just counting off on a base 4 grid and it is honestly frying my brain a bit, but in the kind of way that once I get it, oooooh, I am going to be so proud of myself! I refuse to look up any of the answers, so it's slow going but the exploration is pretty rad too. Graphics aren't terrible for something this old either. Enjoy!

Jul 25, 2025·47h·Verified

Steam User 8602STEAMRecommended

Spannendes gut gemachtes Rätsel - Spiel

Jul 23, 2025·21h·Verified

Steam User 7650STEAMRecommended

A game ruined by loading screen.

Jul 22, 2025·31h·5·Verified

Steam User 9241STEAMRecommended

Tolle Grafik, logische Rätsel, alle machbar. Bei mir nur kurze Wartezeiten beim Spherenwechsel (ca 10s).

Jul 21, 2025·43h·Verified

Steam User 5847STEAMRecommended

Game good, some puzzles you can make it by just thinking a lot but some others are just too stupidly dificult to get, i got stuck like 4 or 5 times because of this.
Please for the love of god make the character run faster, trying to try diferent solutions for diferent puzzles makes me run a lot and the slow speed of the character just dosnt help, i wanted to quit 3 or 4 times because of this.
General: You can play this, if you get stuck on something complex just use a guide, i used it for 2 puzzles because i didnt activated something along the way while exploring everything.
Beautiful graphics, runs really well, on HDD loading the maps its a bit tiring, maybe with SSD this is not an issue. 8/10 (didnt understand that well the story tbh)

Jul 18, 2025·16h·1·Verified

Steam User 3656STEAMRecommended

•?((¯°·._.• ÃϻÃŻĮŇĞ •._.·°¯))؟•
•?((¯°·._.• ŤĤÃŇЌ ЎỖǗ ƑỖŘ ČŘẸÃŤĮŇĞ •._.·°¯))؟•
]|I{•------» ώάήţ мόŕέ άήȡ мόŕέ мόŕέ «------•}I|[

Jul 12, 2025·29h·Verified

Steam User 3719STEAMRecommended

I enjoyed Myst and then Riven and this game is very similar to those. Keep up the good work.

Jul 9, 2025·61h·3·Verified

Steam User 8597STEAMRecommended

Dense graphics and music, complex puzzles, demanding concentration and memory. Initial game can be frustrating, but perseverance provides great rewards!

Jul 6, 2025·104h·1

Steam User 9869STEAMRecommended

Right up there with Myst and Riven for me. Loved the game, world, and story. Love that the puzzles mostly aren't puzzles but are part of the world that have a reason to be there and to be the way they are. They are perplexing to the player because they are not of the world. That said, from a "game design" perspective, some players may be frustrated with how much traversal is required in some sections, but I enjoyed taking in the sights and sounds.

Jul 2, 2025·35h·Verified

Steam User 6702STEAMRecommended

Very good puzzles, a bit long of a backtracking and loading times wait but not too hard and the game also doesn't hold your hand on everything. Really liked the way you were supposed to think outside the box.

Jun 30, 2025·14h·Verified

Steam User 3757STEAMRecommended

CE JEU EST SUPER

Jun 28, 2025·50h·Verified

Steam User 3405STEAMRecommended

THe game is pergect . i dawnload it from steam that it sthe worst . the game stuck at a place . i make new game . it was ok but it stuck again so i have to start from the begining again . aALWAYS PROBLEMS WITH THIS STEAM ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ .

Jun 22, 2025·175h·Verified

Steam User 3133STEAMNot recommended

It's heart breaking to see a game with great visual, world building, and storytelling, but terrible technical implementation.

Unfortunately, this is what we are seeing here. Over-30-second loading screens, even on a modern PC almost 10 years later. Graphical stuttering. Controls are not rebindable (thank you for the nice unintentional collection of photos of things I tried to jump over). The killing blow, however, was that you can fall through the map (which can happen if the landscape collisions didn't load quickly enough) and trigger an auto-save, completely and irreversibly messing up your save file.

They're never going to fix the bugs. I backed the Kickstarter, even have a physical edition... and... yeah. Do not buy this game.

Jun 21, 2025·30h·9

Steam User 9461STEAMRecommended

What I loved most about Obduction was how little I knew about what was going on from the start.

Unlike the Myst series, Obduction is the start of a brand new storyline, but like its Myst predecessor, you are thrust into the world of the game and left to figure out what is going on. If you're a Myst fan, Obduction may well be for you. If you found Myst to be too challenging or confusing, Obduction may still be for you.

Obduction follows a more linear path than previous Cyan titles, and most puzzle solving takes place by exploration and navigation. The live action video helps ground the fantastic imagery with a touch of reality, but most of the narrative is unfolded by experience and deduction.

If there's anywhere the game falls short, it is in the conclusion. As a Kickstarter game, Cyan set a stretch goal to include an additional word- a goal they did not reach. I suspect this flexible plan resulted in an ending that was adapted to the shorter scope. It ties up the story but feels like it wasn't fully earned. I'm not entirely sure why I am choosing the path I take at the end other than that the game did not provide me with more options. But the experience was enjoyable overall and perhaps the story might be fleshed out one day with a comic adaptation or something.

Jun 17, 2025·52h·2

Steam User 0626STEAMRecommended

super

Jun 14, 2025·5h·Verified

Steam User 6920STEAMNot recommended

While technically not in the same series, It's a basically Myst game If you've played Myst and liked it, you'll like Obduction. If you didn't like Myst, you won't like Obduction. If you haven't played Myst, then go play that first. You can probably find it for free or super cheap somewhere. It's actually amazing how Cyan studios and Rand Miller are still in business producing the same games after 25 years.

Personally, I like the Myst games (including Obduction). The games always contain at least 1 super cryptic puzzle that halts all progress and makes you tear your hair out. And in Obduction, that puzzle comes early on the first world. Maybe it's easier in VR where you can get a closer look at the clue, but on my laptop it was nearly impossible.

Jun 12, 2025·12h·5

Steam User 3577STEAMRecommended

Pretty, superbly engaging and well-advised to any puzzle-adventure fan, especially those leaning towards the latter part of that description.

Very unfortunately, near the end of the game, the end of Maray, you first deal with a fatiguing maze (please don't miss that you [i]can[/i] in fact rotate also the individual parts of that puzzle...) and almost immediately after that end up at the final door puzzle, the hint for which was moved to a more obscure location due to a bug with the original hint -- said hint making little logical sense already but now then certainly -- and said hint being in fact absent completely when the game language is set to some non-English language(s), as a now new & improved bug. Ugh.

This happening near the end of the game leaves one with little time to recover the spirit, but spirit this game still has. Recommended.

Jun 3, 2025·25h·2

Steam User 6019STEAMRecommended

This is thinking game som don't look for a lot of action. BUt this game draws you in so you want to keep playing even when i know i should be doing other chores.

May 28, 2025·51h·1·Verified

Steam User 8338STEAMNot recommended

I liked it until the last puzzle, completely broken due to the developers (even changing it to make it harder) and the ilogical way of solving it.

May 22, 2025·12h

Steam User 9806STEAMRecommended

A great 'puzzle' game that really only has a few traditional puzzles and is more about learning the rules of the worlds, it feels like a decent departure from Myst while keeping all the same DNA.
I can agree with most of the negative reviews that the main issues are slow gameplay as a result of lackluster movement speed (even when sprinting) and constantly needing to reconfigure the same devices multiple times in a row. It wasn't that bad, though, and you'll mostly only feel the pain if you don't have a good grasp on what/where to try next.
Avoid guides for as long as you can and use one of the soft-hint ones by the developers if you absolutely need one. The only thing I had to look up was [spoiler]that I had missed a sticky note in one of the workshops...[/spoiler]

May 21, 2025·12h·1

Steam User 6060STEAMNot recommended

Il gioco in se è bello ma i passaggi tra un "teletrasporto" e l'altro richiedono trooooppo tempo...

May 19, 2025·28h·Verified

Steam User 3728STEAMRecommended

Visually stunning game with interesting worlds and puzzles.

May 18, 2025·15h·1·Verified

Steam User 2333STEAMRecommended

Gorgeous game, good storytelling, puzzles easier than I'd prefer. Not a bad introduction to the puzzle genre.

May 14, 2025·11h·1

Steam User 1125STEAMRecommended

if you like riddles and puzzles in a game, this game is for you!

May 8, 2025·62h·1·Verified

Steam User 0291STEAMNot recommended

excellentes idées mais exécution désastreuse

Les puzzles sont juste tirés par les cheveux et sont impossibles à passer sans guide externe. Vraiment dommage

May 1, 2025·11h

Steam User 1688STEAMRecommended

Najlepsza gra logiczna z otwartym światem w jaką grałem

Apr 29, 2025·28h·1

Steam User 7929STEAMRecommended

VERY FUN.

Apr 26, 2025·56h·Verified

Steam User 7856STEAMRecommended

ОБОЖАЮ ЭТУ КОМПАНИЮ И ВСЕ ИГРЫ. КОТОРЫЕ ОНИ СОЗДАЮТ

Apr 24, 2025·207h·Verified

LANGUAGE	AUDIO	SUBTITLES	INTERFACE
English	Y	Y	Y
Chinese (Simplified)	—	Y	Y
Dutch	—	Y	Y
French	—	Y	Y
German	—	Y	Y
Italian	—	Y	Y
Polish	—	Y	Y
Portuguese (Brazil)	—	Y	Y
Portuguese (Portugal)	—	—	Y
Russian	—	Y	Y
Spanish (Spain)	—	Y	Y
Turkish	—	—	Y