History VideoGame / Obduction

* AlreadyUndoneForYou: Justified- all the worlds you explore were preparing for a battle, and thus configured everything into the position that made it hardest to get around, for defensive purposes.

* BenevolentPrecursors: Josef notes that whoever's responsible for engineering the trees, they made sure that those who get abducted have a renewable source of water in their new home. Farley goes even further, suggesting that every seed grabbed someone shortly before they were about to be wounded or killed. [[spoiler: The game's BadEnding implies she's right, with its glimpses of a ruined, dust-covered Earth. The GoodEnding makes it far clearer with all four of the regions in the game placed on a beautiful green planet without the domes keeping them in.]] However, there's an alternate theory that this generally benevolent process is entirely natural and not caused by a specific intelligence. The truth is not known.

* BenevolentPrecursors: Josef notes that whoever's responsible for engineering the trees, they made sure that those who get abducted have a renewable source of water in their new home. Farley goes even further, suggesting that every seed grabbed someone shortly before they were about to be wounded or killed. [[spoiler: The game's BadEnding implies she's right, with its glimpses of a ruined, dust-covered Earth. The GoodEnding makes it far clearer with all four of the regions in the game placed on a beautiful green planet without the domes keeping them in.]]

* SpannerInTheWorks: [[spoiler: C.W. has a plan in place to use the teleportation technology to return everyone home. Unfortunately the BenevolentPrecursors had [[HomeworldEvacuation a good reason]] for displacing the spheres from their respective planets. Following through with the battery plan short-circuits the Precursors' original plan and presumably ends up screwing over every character in the game.]]

* There is also a ''VideoGame/{{Myst}}'' book in Farley's vault. Instead of opening the front cover, the player opens the back... and most of the pages are cut away to hide video equipment for the linking panel. This is a shoutout to a fan who made a ''Myst'' book replica containing a computer that actually plays all five ''Myst'' games through a touchscreen where the book's panel would be.

* TheGreys: The Mofang have this body type, though their skin is red.

* ShoutOut: The white farmhouse is a possible one to ''VideoGame/{{Zork}}''
** There is also a ''VideoGame/{{Myst}}'' book in Farley's vault. Instead of opening the front cover, the player opens the back... [[spoiler: [[DoingInTheWizard and most of the pages are cut away to hide video equipment for the linking panel]].]]

* WorldTree: Each of the four alien world spheres has a tree at the center. These are the sources for the seeds used to travel between spheres, and are connected to the spheres themselves and to each other.

* AlternativeCalendar: Because Soria, the planet that Hunrath is marooned on, has no distinct seasons, the citizens use a system of just counting the number of days since they've been trapped there. For some reason, they chose to mark the election of Karl Hunrath as mayor as their zero point, so the calendar is divided into "BH" and "AH" units. The player arrives sometime in the 17150s AH.

* RedHerring: The [[spoiler: "Box of Infinite Complexity", a device in Kaptar with dozens of buttons and switches, lights with apparently randomly changing patterns, and instructions in Russian. It serves no use to the player whatsover. You do get an achievement for destroying it, though.]]
* RiddleOfTheAges: Many mysteries in the setting are never fully answered, most notably the ultimate source of the swapper trees, and whether they are part of a natural process or created by some intelligence. Many details of Hunrath's history, both recent and distant, are left unexplained as well.

* GenocideDilemma: Happens in the backstory. [[spoiler: The Mofang decide that they'll be better off without humans to compete with and decide to wipe out the inhabitants of Hunrath. The Hunrathians, learning this from a few sympathizers, decide to make a preemptive strike and kill off the Mofang. From Farleys' journals, it's clear there are severe misgivings on both sides about this scenario. In the end, Mofang extinction seems certain; there are a few defectors who were saved along with the humans, but not enough to repopulate their race.]]

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: [[spoiler: The Hunrathians defeat the Mofang with the help of a few Mofang defectors, who use the weapons intended for use against Hunrath against their own creators.]]

* SceneryPorn

It was released August 24, 2016 on PC with Oculus Rift compatibility, with a Mac version forthcoming.

** Cecil in general could get his plans moving along a lot quicker if he spent a few minutes explaining to the player what is going on, or where everyone has gone, or what any of the machinery ''that he built'' does, or the codes to any of the doors, or at least the location of the codes to any of the doors. Though maybe it's the player's fault [[HeroicMime for not asking]].

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/obduction_logo.jpeg]]

* FeaturelessProtagonist: Played with; the player character has no in-game model or reflection and their appearance is not referenced in any way, but there is an option for a generic male or female shadow.

* ClosedCircle: Literally; Hunrath and its adjacent worlds are locked inside force-field domes. Attempting to leave one of these domes only transports the traveler to the point on the opposite side. Though the player is capable of travelling between these domes, the system of four worlds is sealed off from the rest of the universe.

* AlternativeCalendar: Because Soria, the planet that Hunrath is marooned on, has no distinct seasons, the citizens use a system of just counting the number of days since they've been trapped there. For some reason, they chose to mark the election of Karl Hunrath as mayor as their zero point, so the calendar is divided into "BH" and "AH" units. The player arrives in the 18,000s AH.

* BeautifulVoid: Naturally.

** Each of the four worlds has an associated color that is based on the predominant color in its palette: yellow for Hunrath/Earth, red for Soria, green for Maray, blue for Kaptar. These are seen when an ambassador seed is preparing to swap, as well as within the [[spoiler: caves that connect the Trees]].

* DiegeticSwitch: Farley has a music box that plays her own {{leitmotif}}.

* OntologicalMystery: You're on an alien planet. There's a farmhouse. That's all you're given.

* PoorCommunicationKills: Cecil [[spoiler: assumes the rest of the townfolk were killed, rather than just ask the player character, who has seen that they're all alive in HumanPopsicle form. This hastens his resolve to complete the plan to swap Hunrath to earth when the trees mature, which proves to be a bad idea.]]

** Villein technology is light gray with blue energy signatures, whereas Mofang tech is darker and more angular with red signatures. This is related to their biology, these being the colors their eyes are best adapted to see.