Mechanics questions

[palecur]

I feel like I'd enjoy this a lot more if the base mechanics of how to interact were at all clear. Find corpse, activate compass to enter the death flashback: So far, so straightforward. Zoom and tab to look at the illustration: Also legit.

But there are three things that are completely baffling and are not explained anywhere:

* Sometimes the compass just wiggles a lot, and then a white smoke or sparkletrail moves around. What's that for and what makes it happen?
* Sometimes the colors invert and we enter a different scene from either the present-day Obra Dinn or the death flashback scene. What makes that happen and what do I do there?
* Sometimes there's a spiraling star-wipe just like the star-wipe that triggers when you use the compass, but it happens after a random amount of time in the death flashback, but not every time. What makes that happen and what does it mean?

I get that the entire game is a big logic puzzle that unravels a story as you go, but basic UI questions like this are really getting in the way of my ability to focus on that puzzle.

[Rattlehead]

Took me a while to figure out, and I'm not sure I'm absolutely correct on all this, but...

The compass wiggling and the "smoke trail" is when you find a body WITHIN a death memory. Lots of bodies aren't present on the ship anymore, but the smoke trail places them back on the ship so you can do your thing with them. Some bodies are only accessible from within the death scenes of others.

Not sure about the colors inverting. The whole art style, while cool, is a bit confusing to me. But, I do think there's only two "states": The real world, and the world inside death scenes.

I think what happens is, you start a death scene with the stopwatch and it only gives you a certain amount of time. Then it does the "star wipe" and opens the book to add the new entry. Once you exit the book screen, I think you're still in the death scene.

I've only been playing a few hours, but I'm starting to get more comfortable with it.

[mockdog1]

When bodies begin to pile up, stand near one until the watch appears. If you've seen the flashback for that corpse, the watch cover will open & display the time of death. If you haven't seen the flashback, the watch remains closed.

[x_equals_speed]

When you find a body within a vision the compass will react, clicking now fills the compass with smoke.

When you're no longer in the vision your movement controls will be disabled until you click again. Doing so releases the smoke which you need to follow to the correct location, at which point it'll turn into the body and be a valid target for looking at its memory.

I think that the colour inversion happens after getting the smoke but before releasing it, but I'm not 100% sure.

[x_equals_speed]

Oh also after viewing a death memory that contains a body you've not previous got the game will allow you to click at which point the body will be highlighted, even through walls, so you can go and get your smoke on.

[palecur]

Thanks everyone, that's helpful!