Bravery in Obduction

One additional note about our play-through of Obduction. In Alicia's review she mentioned the navigation:

"No precise navigation necessary *cough* URU *cough* we are back to the controls that don't let you walk off a cliff."

She's right. There are walls and rivers and cliff edges that keep you on the path, and you don't need to worry about falling into the abyss or walking into a giant deadly spinning gear--the game assumes your character is smart enough not to do something like that, and it doesn't let you go too far in a dangerous direction.

While these barriers are exactly what you would expect from a computer game, Alicia and I commented several times that the character was not acting the way we would if we were actually transported to an alien planet. Specifically, I would feel far less comfortable running at top speed down broken stone steps beside a sheer drop (we did this a lot in one of the worlds). On the other hand, I would have no compunctions about climbing over a boulder or wading a shallow stream in order to reach another path that obviously connects to where I want to go (something our character resolutely refused to consider).

Still, if I were actually there in person, I suspect that I would be less willing to trust the ancient, possibly sabotaged machinery that dots the alien landscape. I also wouldn't be confident that the puzzles were solvable. I guess I'm glad that I can make a computer character do the running and teleporting for me, even if I wish they had rock climbing experience.