Return of the Obra Dinn

I’ve significantly increased my consumption of questionable substances in the hope of inducing severe memory loss. This would let me experience the game again as if it were completely new.

I may be just shy of a decade too late in writing this, but I don't expect Lucas Pope - creator of Papers Please, Moida Mansion, Mars After Midnight and, of course, Return of the Obra Dinn (among several others) - will ever be inclined to milk something for what it's worth, but this cow is most certainly in distress and in dire need of milking.
Return of the Obra Dinn is a painstakingly-crafted mostly-solo effort, such that the only thing that Mr. Pope didn't do himself were all the voices and the localizations. Everything else in this game is made by his hand and touched by his gifts. It is a meticulously-planned work of investigation and deduction and the only reason why I think nobody else has really tried to clone it is because it is simply too difficult to execute without the brilliant mind that Pope appears to possess. All of his games that I've played thus far have thoroughly drawn me in and if you follow that same rabbit hole, you will understand that Pope cannot simply be satisfied with doing the same thing over again. That doesn't mean I don't wish that he would reconsider it in this case, even if it was just only the once.
To describe much of the game in any order of magnitude would be to ruin its surprises. Suffice to say that at the very surface of it, a long-lost tall ship has returned after a mysterious five-year absence, empty of its crew except for some long-dead remains, and you - being a 19th century insurance claims investigator - are tasked with finding out what happened to every single person that was aboard the ship when it left port. That's 60 souls to account for and all you have is a list of names, some drawings, and a very magical pocket watch that transports you to moments of death aboard the ship.
The beauty of this game is that if you are doing what you're supposed to do, it is entirely solvable without help. Nobody would blame you if you ask for some or decide to look something up, but there is such an immense satisfaction to figuring it out. Every three entries you get right - who a person is, how they died, and who, if anyone, killed them - will lock in, naturally eliminating them from future choices. These moments give you such a massive hit of dopamine because you know in your heart that you've worked hard to figure out the answers simply by being a passive observer to events that occurred long before you set foot on the ship. That means you looked, you listened, and you paid attention to everything, leaving not a single scene's secrets undiscovered. And to be clear, I don't mean secrets like things hidden in flaps or doors, but secrets that are out in the open if only you'll look in their direction. It's incredible.
Admittedly I've sat on this game for a long time. My first go at it, I was overwhelmed and felt lost, thinking there was no way my idiot monke brain could figure this game out and so I played simpler fare that involved mostly dodge-rolling and swearing, but something about Obra Dinn's 1-bit presentation and the pedigree of its auteur made me come back and ignore my doubts, pushing forward even if the task felt impossible for me. To my delight, it wasn't impossible. I may have taken longer than other people, but I did it, and I did it without help. I did it the hard way, going back and forth, crawling and re-crawling through everything to make sure that I was seeing everything I needed to see, but by Merlin's beard, I did it and I am actually proud of it. Granted, I did get lucky with a few guesses, but they were educated guesses! Never once did I just put something in blindly; there was always a reason, even if - to me - the reasoning wasn't exactly sound.
This game deserves all of its hype and yes, it absolutely deserves a proper sequel. I doubt we'll ever see that manifest as Pope must exercise his creativity in the most ecclectic ways, but quite simply, this game was a stunningly good time while it lasted.

I felt profoundly empty after closing this game for the final time. Part of me remains, still, on the Obra Dinn.
9/10 masterpiece. A blind playthrough is going to be some of the most fun you've had in months.

A ship-wide logic puzzle in a very attractive package. I can't play a lot of games (health reasons) but this was perfect. Great mystery with intuitive controls - I'm late to the party but I absolutely love it.

I wish I could play this for the first time again. Challenging detective mystery/puzzle game that isn't frustrating. I love the way the story is revealed through each death you investigate. Beautifully immersive black and white graphics, amazing soudtrack— nothing's been able to top this.

There aren't words for this game. You just buy it, play it, and love it. Don't look anything up. Don't even watch the trailer if you can help it. This game is an experience. I would give anything to be able to experience it for the first time again.

This game was so good that my wife, upon finishing it, forced me to play it while she watched.
Only downside is it's a once-per-life game.