Reviews

• 

  Falcon

  Jan 1, 2017

  Story - fairly standard for HOG's, nothing special here. You can probably guess the plot just from the title of the game. Graphics - nothing amazing, but very crisp and clear. There are also special animated touches (like a cat statue whose eyes periodically open and watch you), that really add to the atmosphere. Sound - the music was strangely addictive in this game. There are some voice animations, but not much, as you don't interact with very many people. HOP's - a really nice variety here. You have your standard list based ones (with some interaction of objects to find what you are looking for), and some where you take the objects you removed from one HOP and put them into a different HOP. There are also some that involved making something. For example, you need a book whose pages have all been torn out. After you find all the pages, you need to use a string from your inventory to bind them together, then as you close the book, you discover all the gold letters on the cover have fallen off, so you have to find those. In the end, you really feel like you reconstructed this book. All HOP items were properly named, and not too difficult to find. I never had to use a hint to locate something. Puzzles/minigames - this is where the game really shines! It is absolutely packed with puzzles and minigames, of a tremendous variety and originality. A great many of these puzzles/games I have not seen in HOG's before. Most of them take a lot of thought to puzzle through, but I never got frustrated, and I never had to use a hint or strategy guide, making them just the right level of difficulty. Features - The game does have a hint system and a built in strategy guide, but I never used either, so I can't comment on these. There is no map (and thus no indication of areas with stuff left to do, or instant travel), but I found I didn't really miss the map all that much. There is a decent sized bonus chapter at the end, with all new content. There are 3 different difficulty levels. Game length - Playing at the advanced difficulty level, the main game took around 6 hours, and the bonus chapter took around 2 hours. This makes the game almost twice as long as your average HOG. If you use hints and/or a strategy guide, it will, of course, be considerably shorter. Overall - one of the best HOG's I have played, since I love puzzles and minigames, as well as interesting interactive HOP's.
• 

  maxcorps

  Jan 13, 2017

  Just finished it. It's good, don't get me wrong. Large variety of puzzles and such. Just the hit detector was a bit off and I would find myself clicking on things more then once. Also some of the stuff is not as intuative at it should be. If the game had a map feature like most modern games I would highly recommend it. As is I would say buy it if it's on sale. Or if your just a hard core HOG addict like I tend to be.
• 

  lady_lephise

  Jul 25, 2019

  Definitely recommend! Pros .Immersive atmosphere .Clearly rendered artwork/graphics/scenes .Three difficulty modes (but no custom) .Lockable toolbar .Very complex adventure play .Various types of hidden object scene puzzles .Moderate to highly challenging mini-puzzles .Interactive elements in scenes .Good length .Strategy guide .Bonus chapter Cons .Music/sounds did not blend well with the experience, sometimes breaking it .No mini-map so no fast travel .Lots of backtracking in adventure play .Toolbar at top of screen .No indication when objects in correct position for possible use .Repeating hidden object scenes Final words (8/10): I found this game to be a challenging but enjoyable experience. The story is very basic but solid and coherent; no surprises but no stupidity either. The artwork, scene movement and interactive elements combine to create a nicely forbidding atmosphere. I really appreciated that the item placement in the hidden object scenes made sense. My only real complaint is having repeating hidden object scenes in a game without a map as every time I ran out of things to do, I would have to to go back and check each hidden object scene to see if they had reactivated.
• 

  wrb41977

  Oct 9, 2019

  So, you are having a strange dream. A witch is cursing a kingdom, and all sorts of dark things are happening… and then suddenly, you are pulled into that medieval land by a magician, who tells you that you are their only hope. And if you wish to return to your time, you’ll have to defeat the witch. Nice… HO scenes are challenging, minigames fun, and the plot is… adequate. Would suggest getting in the bundle.