Return of the Obra Dinn

March 7, 2026
Hours: Saturday 11am - 5pm
Location: Chicago Gamespace, 2418 W Bloomingdale Ave, Chicago, IL

Gamespace is pleased to present Return of the Obra Dinn (2018) by Lucas Pope as part of the multi-site exhibition titled The Plot Thickens: Storytelling in Gaming. In this striking monochrome detective game, you assume the role of an insurance investigator for the East India Company aboard the mysteriously returned merchant ship Obra Dinn, whose crew and passengers are all missing or dead. Players use a unique pocket-watch to revisit frozen moments of death and reconstruct the identity and fate of sixty individuals aboard. The game’s tragic plot is revealed through detective work, resulting in successful and innovative experiment in narrative. Its dithered visual aesthetic hearkens back to early Macintosh adventure games such as The Dark Castle and Uninvited, conceptually connecting Return of the Obra Dinn’s look and genre with these earlier titles.

Presented at venues across Michigan and Illinois, Plot Thickens explores different approaches to narrative and storytelling in games. It is organized by Chicago Gamespace and West Shore Community College and curated by Jonathan Kinkley and Eden Ünlüata-Foley.