Fans of Return of the Obra Dinn, rejoice — there’s a new epic puzzle adventure coming to town. TR-49, the latest title from game studio inkle, is marketed on storefronts in a series of cryptic fragments: “A World War II computer. An archive of lost books. A world-changing secret. Narrative deduction meets audio drama.”
Full disclosure: I got a review code for TR-49, so I’ve gotten to play the whole thing already. And let me just say… You should be wishlisting this on Steam. Stay tuned for my full review when the game releases on January 21, 2026.
The game’s official trailer dropped earlier this week:
inkle also released “a pinboard” that you can “play” right now in a web browser. It functions as a sort of preview experience for the Bletchley Park inspirations. For the uninitiated, Bletchley Park was the home for code-breaking and encryption for Allied forces during World War II.
The pinboard features covers reminiscent of Penguin Classics and torn pages, complete with red strings to draw connections. It’s a fun preview activity, and while it is not indicative of the actual video game, it does begin to introduce you to the world and vibes coming in just a few weeks in TR-49.
If it looks like inkle has created books simply for including them as dressage in a video game, you’re right. There are few studios that treasure the nuanced relationship between words and video games, and perhaps none so committed as inkle.
inkle, an indie studio based in the United Kingdom, creates brilliant, story-driven games at what seems from the outside like a breakneck pace. Over the past dozen years, they’ve created as many games, including their 2014 award-winning hit 80 Days and 2021’s delightfully murderous Overboard!
But what’s more, they’ve also created tools that enable other people to begin building interactive fiction through “ink” (later called “inklewriter”), a development tool that the studio has made free and open source. This, in turn, empowers more writers to take to games; Citizen Sleeper creator Jump Over the Age credits it with empowering them to dive into development.
Readers, gamers, puzzlers, and adventurers, stay tuned for January 21, 2026. I sure will be.
TR-49, developed by inkle Studios, is scheduled to release on January 21, 2026, for PC, Mac, and iOS. You can pre-order on the App Store or wishlist on Steam.
Amanda Tien (she/her or they) loves video games where she can pet dogs, solve mysteries, punch bad guys, play as a cool lady, and/or have a good cry. She started writing with The Punished Backlog in 2020 and became an Editor in 2022. Amanda also does a lot of the site's graphic designs and podcast editing. Amanda's work has been published in Unwinnable Monthly, Poets.org, Salt Hill Journal, Aster(ix) Journal, and more. She holds an MFA in Fiction from the University of Pittsburgh. Learn more about her writing, visual art, graphic design, and marketing work at www.amandatien.com.
