Return of the Obra Dinn review: Detective on deck

You're the insurance man sent to evaluate an early-1800s ghost ship that's just limped into port without any of its crew or passengers alive. You have little to go on but deductive reasoning - and a magic pocketwatch that grants glimpses of the moment each poor soul on board met their death.

Using a ship manifest listing the crew plus an artist's sketch, your maritime detective must identify everyone and their fate - which includes events such as love stories to gruesome deaths to mutiny to a monstrous kraken. It's essentially a giant jigsaw or visual sudoku, using a reverse chronology from the denouement to the inception.

You comb the dialogue for clues, scrutinise the death scenes - moments preserved in pixelated freeze-frame through which you yourself can freely move - and piece together identities from scraps (accents, uniforms, words, resemblances, etc). Guesswork won't cut it - if anything, Obra Dinn overwhelms the player with permutations and the interface isn't clearly explained. But, much like an enthralling jigsaw, filling in the blanks gets fractionally easier with every satisfying deduction.

The Outer Worlds

(XO/PS4/PC) ★★★★ Age: 18+

The founders of the original epic role-player Fallout return with a colourful remix of the formula, a satirical space opera in which frontiers people survive under the yoke of an avaricious corporation.

While recycling the tropes of many similar single-player RPGs - perks, slow-mo marksmanship, endless loot - Outer Worlds distinguishes itself with sharp, dark humour and convincing characters. Perhaps too much familiarity breeds occasional ennui - you'll find significant traces of BioShock alongside great dollops of Fallout, - but cribbing from best is no tragedy.

Yet the ability to specialise (into hacking, persuasion, intimidation, etc) is smartly realised to the point where you might never need to fire a bullet in what is notionally a shooter.