Reviews

• 

  annemarie11967

  Nov 23, 2021

  I don't know why they call it House of Snark bundle instead of House of a Thousand Doors bundle. House of Snark, not so great, House of a Thousand Doors totally makes it worth it. Snark is what caught my eye because I'm a big fan of snarky personalities. This is not what it is, though. The use snark like I would use snipe, like a snipe hunt. The snark is something they are looking for, a creature that's never been seen. The character is a spoiled bratty rich girl playing pranks, so that didn't interest me. I played one. It's a little different in that every scene is like a big hidden object scene and you have to find things to use to move on in the game. I've played the second Snark game and it's better than the first. Better story, better gameplay. Still not great but good and an okay way to pass the time. Thousand Doors is a great series. It has a great story, characters, and gameplay. It's logical for the most part. The puzzles and mini games are good, I had to use a hint a few times to get the last HO occasionally. Sometimes instead of hidden object you have to place objects in the scene correctly. The series gets much wider in scope. The first one you help individuals in the house. By the last one you are travelling to different cultures, time periods and planets to save the world. The games are plenty long and have bonus chapters. Buy this for the Thousand Doors (three games) and play the Snark games when there's nothing on sale and you are really bored.
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  jennyandjohnhilton

  Aug 15, 2022

  Another winning bundle. Six varied games in two series. The games are great for casual play, a relaxing way to wind down at the end of a busy day. It's a pity it has one game in common with one of their other sets, but at this price, even if you have the other bundles as I do, 5 (new to me) games ranks as very good value. All of them have replay value.
• 

  Vic=HKC=

  Jul 31, 2016

  [b]Welcome to the Club[/b] The story is simple. You're on the trail of a mysterious creature. However, the end is kinda disappointing though very humourous. Indeed, the whole universe is using some humour and irony. Kira herself can make some hilarious comments. But I must say that the story isn't really the positive point. I will say that the gameplay isn't quite the standard one for the genre: each object is shown in your inventory but is in pieces and your goal is to find them. Those in red are those that aren't revealed or hidden. Sometimes, an action elsewhere will unlock them. Once the item is glued back, you can use it only in the scene. Some objects can be carried over but it's generally the animal key unlocking the mirror leading to another part of the world. Some parts of these items are very hard to spot or tiny to see, that's why I didn't really like at first that gameplay. After a while, you get used to it. Besides, while the gameplay isn't something I would recommend, the idea to have a second mirror leading to an inversed room is also nice. Some actions done there will be reflected in the real world room and the contrary is also possible. That's probably what is saving Snark Busters from being frustrating like hell. The puzzles themselves are easy, which is probably balancing the fact of these parts of items hard to find. The graphics are done in a humourous carton style, which means that the humans aren't even realistic (women are shaped like an hourglass). The steampunk universe is also very respected in the clothes. The worlds are also varied out there: from the desert to an appartement and passing by the beach and an underwater lab, you bet that the beginning in your room isn't as adventurous as the other locations (though your own garden is also nice). The soundtrack is also nice, though I must say that I didn't really pay attention to it. I'm quite mixed about this game: the story is kinda disappointing and I'm not receptive to the gameplay. However, I really enjoyed myself, just for the news given by the TV about Kira's disappearance and for the challenge to see other locations. I played it in second, because I've done House of 1000 Doors just before, just for the sake of remembering and improving a little my review of the stand-alone version on Steam. I realized that the Snark Busters are the ones affected by the achievements, even the one hour straight of play. It's disappointing to see that House of 1000 Doors didn't get at least some achievements but hey, I can go without them. [b]All Revved up[/b] The second game of the trilogy switches from Kira to Jack. Like her, Jack is quite amusing himself and is also stalked by the journalist who is the one providing news from the real world. But contrary to Kira (which makes an appearance), Jack is way more sure of himself and isn't going through mirrors to catch the beast but to open doors that will allow him to ride the car. The story is, as in the first game, very short and not really important. The gameplay didn't change a bit from what I've described for the first game. Given the fact that I'm used now to it, it's less frustrating to play this game. However, I'm still not found of it as the items are really hard to find. The graphics didn't change at all. The soundtrack is also very fitting and in that same style of comedy. Like for the first one, I'm mixed about the game but less. While I'm used to the gameplay, the story isn't still developed but is saved by the comedy and the journalist that is really trying to find out what's happening. And I've another complaint: the first game was well-translated, here, every accentuated letter aren't recognized, meaning that there is an encoding problem somewhere. [b]High Society[/b] The last Snark Busters is perhaps the one with an improved gameplay and with a story that has nothing to do with the rest. Elizabeth isn't on a quest to find the Snark, like Kira and Jack. She's trying to prove her fiancé's innocence and contrary to the rest of the trilogy, she's only travelling through mirrors to get pictures of the duchess in the next location (where she could have lost her jewel). Besides, you're meeting ghosts in these alternate rooms, ghosts that will give you these precious pictures. And these pictures are part of the gameplay: each time, you come back to your laboratory to develop them (which is a minigame in itself, already present in the previous game with Jack). It's the clue to your next location. And for that, you take a taxi. See, no mirror to unlock to travel elsewhere, just mirrors inside the location to go forward. And instead of travelling all around the world, you're staying in the neighboorhood somewhere. The gamplay improved in the sense that now, it's easier to find missing objects. They're more obvious. Besides, it's a wheel of items in the scene which is shown, like in Behind the Refletion 2 in the Hidden Object Bundle 5-in-1 and if I remember well, Fairy Tales Mysteries 2: The Beanstalk. However, contrary the previous game, the items in red, unavailable, can be found in other scenes. Items can be carried over now, though your inventory is reduced to two items. Some puzzles are still present though. The style didn't change at all from the previous game. While the soundtrack is still nice, the news are voiced now. Elizabeth herself is speaking though the majority of the dialogues with the ghosts are written and without any voice. The problem with accents are still present for languages using them like French, which is hard to read after a while. Snark Busters: High Society isn't my favorite at all. It's not a question of gameplay there but more a question of story. The Snark isn't even in the center of the game. After a while, you can feel yourself lost in the story as you don't always the genious spark of "Oh yeah, there is a bottle in that chest, if I cut it, I can make a funnel!". [b]Family Secrets[/b] Read [url=http://steamcommunity.com/id/vicrabb/recommended/286500/]my review[/url] [b]Zoroaster[/b] Read [url=http://steamcommunity.com/id/vicrabb/recommended/302120]my review[/url] [b]Serpent Flame[/b] With this story, House of 1000 Doors is now touching to time travel and to other entities/planets. However, while I loved the storyline (prevent similar fates in the past), I found it a little odd to find Kate in modern clothes (when she was clearly from the '50 in the previous games and during this era too) in a modern world, as if being one of the allies of the House of 1000 Doors make you immortal. The rest is well done. And for the bonus chapter, you're in Raphael's mind (the man that brought you to the mansion). The gameplay is still similar to the previous game: find items, use them, solve puzzles and clear hidden objects scenes (with hidden objects in them that you can find either by moving something or by repairing them - albeit there is another type of scenes, where you have to replace items). I loved the graphics - even if I'm kind of disappointed to see their liberties with Ancient Rome. I love the contrast with the darkness of the manor and the brightful landscapes. Besides, you get also to know more about Raphael's ancestors in the end. And the soundtrack was really great and fitting. It wasn't the same track as in the previous games. This game is as good as the previous ones, though now more oriented to apocalypse and time travelling. [b]Conclusion[/b] The conclusion is simple: it's the first time that I'm kinda hesitating to recommend you an Alawar bundle (if you make an expection of the Farming one that I didn't purchase). I mean, House of 1000 Doors is really a must-have series BUT you can find two opus as stand-alones or in a bundle. Snark Busters is perhaps good but not as good as the other games proposed, given the gameplay. I had to cut down many portions of this review because of character limit but in the end, this bundle is worthy!
• 

  KatFrog

  Nov 27, 2016

  This is a wonderful bundle for anyone who likes to solve puzzles. The main type of puzzles are "find the hidden objects" types, but all six games have other games for you to play. The first three games deal with traveling betweeen the regular and backwards (mirror) worlds while you chase after the legendary Snark. The last three games focus on the House of 1,000 Doors and the adventures that one Katherine Reed has with it. You need to play the last three games in order for them to make the most sense. In the first game, the main character learns about the House. In the second game, she saves the House and its inhabitants from fire. In the third game, Kat and the House save the world from destruction! Overall, I enjoyed playing this bundle and I look forward to playing more games like these.
• 

  Xander77

  Feb 21, 2017

  This a review for House of 1000 Doors - Serpents Flame. This is the HOG series that started this review / my interest in HOGs in general. Palm of Zoroaster was a major improvement over Family Buisiness, and I was genuinely hoping Serpents would make for a major improvement over both, which... eh. You have to step through the House portals into 4 "epochs", in order to defeat 4 snakes and harvest their elements. The first epoch, Aztechs / Maya is the best - you're cooperating with a genuinely active NPC, and actually get to awaken and kill the serpent in a pretty metal sequence. However, every other NPC is just a standard "I'll wait here until you bring me a random item, which I will exchange for an equally random one you'll need to progress" bystander, and you don't really interact with the other snakes in a meaningful fashion (even the well drawn Roman one). [url=https://youtu.be/SBM6SLZ6Y58]Everyone loves to talk at you[/url], but they say little that's interesting in any way (WELCOME, CHILD OF BLUE PLANET aside). Also, the periods just aren't as pretty and interesting looking as they were in Palm. Periods are ALMOST but not quite entirely self-contained, which is more annoying than either alternative. You can just about solve everything in medieval France with the help of objects found in France, until you have to backtrack into the house at the last second, to use a lever found in the cathedral catacombs on a set of drawers in the house bedroom and bring back some backgammon pieces. The way some but not all items are arbitrarily kept or thrown away when transitioning between time periods is also baffling. When you first travel to Aztechland, your hacksaw gets discarded by the heroine... and a few screens later you'll have to recover a... hacksaw. Same function, some icon. The puzzles are only so-so. Often, the puzzle consists of recovering a set of instructions, then following them to the letter. Or of moving all the objects in a cluttered mess aside to recover the one object you need. Time wasters. The one unique House elements present in HOS' - once you find a word, it disappears and is replaced by another word you have to find - is discarded. Now you still have to find an inordinately large amount of objects, but just clicking around the screen will get a bunch of them. The final area has you investigating alien structures from the Great Flood era, and... neither the structures nor the puzzles make any sense. There's a bit with "construct a machine using the wrong perspective" (the last screenshot) that I firmly believe can only be solved by trial and error. The game is really slow about transitions, and it intentionally disables your map / screen transition button while writing important new information in the journal I never once looked at. And why the hell does medieval France have modern bowling pins and crate-signs? Get it together, game. [b]Overall verdict[/b]: Meh.
• 

  Brigby, Basement Rat

  Jun 8, 2017

  This review is for Snark Busters: All Revved up. I've been through the House of 1000 Doors just fine. Went through Snark Busters Welcome to the Club just fine. I got to one spot in All Revved up and absolutely cannot pass it. Not because it's a difficult puzzle, it won't let me DO the puzzle. If you've played it you know. The T-Rex life size skeleton, you have to position him a certain way. It won't let me. I've used the "HINT" button a million times, it points in the same spot and won't let me do a thing. I've ran through, checked every inch of every other room I can and nothing. I've restarted the game and it's disappointing because these stupid point and click/hidden object games are my life.
• 

  MirandaKym

  Sep 29, 2017

  Highly recommended. This bundle contains 3 Snark hidden object games and 3 House of 1,000 Doors games. I almost didn't buy this because I already own the first two House of 1,000 Doors and I knew nothing about the Snark games. But let me tell you, this bundle is worth every cent. I found all 3 Snark games extremely enjoyable and the third House of 1,000 Doors lives up to the greatness of its predecessors. I'm feeling too lazy to give a detailed review but I will say that this bundle should be in every hidden object fan's library.
• 

  ArcaneM37

  Mar 4, 2018

  Great set of games! The Snark trilogy was different, and a lot of fun. I just wish it were voiced. I also wish these games were sold as a bundle but delivered seperately, that would allow for seperate acheivements and cards and avoid paying for duplicates.
• 

  NS Plover

  Jul 9, 2018

  I picked this up during the Steam summer sale for a very reasonable price (less than one of the 1000 Doors games and it includes the collector edition of all three). The real reason I purchased the bundle was to have House of 1000 Doors: Serpent Flame Collector's Edition - which I completely enjoyed playing. If you like HOGS, the House of 1000 doors series is really good - this bundle is a great way to get them. I had previously played one of the Snark games on a tablet and was more than a bit worried that the graphics would be poor - but they were fine and I had no gameplay issues with any of the three snarks (windows 10). Like another reviewer, I wish they had more voice acting - but they are fun HOGS that have a quirky and amusing style.
• 

  Mindcrime

  Oct 11, 2018

  So far, I've played only one game -- "House of 1000 Doors: Family Secrets Collector's Edition", and I thoroughly enjoyed the 11 or so hours it took to complete it (about 8.5 hours for the main game and about 2.5 hours for the bonus chapter). Even though I've played only one of the six games in this bundle, I still feel qualified to recommend this bundle because of the simple fact that the price of this bundle ($11.99) is less than the combined price of the two House of 1000 Doors games available on Steam ($9.99 each), so you're basically getting 6 games for the price of 1.2 (or, put another way, you're basically getting 4.8 games for free), assuming the three Snark Busters games and the last House of 1000 Doors game would also be priced at $9.99 if they were available on Steam. Similarly, the sale price of this bundle is less than the combined sale prices of the two House of 1000 Doors games available on Steam. It should also be noted that the three House of 1000 Doors games in this bundle are Collector's Edition. Compare that to, for example, "Hidden Object Bundle 4 in 1", which has "House of 1,000 Doors: The Palm of Zoroaster" base game only (not Collector's Edition). Because I hadn't played any Hidden Object games before purchasing this, and I wasn't sure if I would like them or not, I purchased this bundle when it was on sale. Having thoroughly enjoyed the one game I have played, and fully expecting to enjoy the remaining games, I couldn't be happier with this purchase. Even at full price, it's a great value for what you get.
• 

  auraexplorer

  Jan 28, 2019

  This House of Snark 6-in-1 bundle is a great deal! You get 2 different hidden-object game series, Snark Busters and House of 1000 Doors with 3 games per series. Some of the games differ in their puzzle mechanics to keep it interesting! Each game took roughly 4-5 hours to play through, but with 6 titles in the bundle I felt like I got a lot of game time. If you enjoy hidden-object games with a supernatural bent, then this bundle is for you. Specifically, if you like ghost stories, you'll enjoy the House of Doors series and if you like a bit of steampunk, then the contraptions around the city of Nodnol portrayed in Snark Busters might be of interest to you. The achievements apply only to the Snark Busters series and are fairly straightforward to collect. I found if I didn't get them all in one game, I was able to pick up the rest in the next game. Snark Busters: Welcome to the Club In both Snark Busters 1 & 2, many of the HO scenes involved finding pieces to put together items. I found this rather challenging at times (or perhaps frustrating and bordering on infuriating depending on the time of night). However, I liked the protagonist of the story a lot, the steampunk vibe, and the trashy media journalism. I kind of wished they had continued it where it had left off... Snark Busters 2: All Revved Up I didn't like the new main character, but I did enjoy the story. This one felt as if it were quite short though. I continued to enjoy the art style of the series. Snark Busters: High Society They gave the HO scenes a bit of a different take this time. The mystery element in the story also appealed to me as the story was more than just about catching the Snark, but piecing together a chain of events. House of 1000 Doors: Family Secrets This series is very much set around mediums assisting ghosts. All 3 games follow the same protagonist, novelist Kate. She gets to know the occupants of the house and assists in setting the trapped souls of ghosts free from their tragic settings and often reuniting them with a loved one. House of 1000 Doors: Palm of Zoroaster This is the only game so far I have in duplicate in another of Alawar's HOG bundles. I'm reviewing it here, as it made more sense to play it along with the other games in the series. In this game, the House is acting strangely and you get to visit ancient lands. I really liked that each portal was vastly different in setting from the last. The bonus chapter, however, was almost more interesting than the main storyline itself... House of 1000 Doors: Serpent Flame I personally didn't enjoy the story as much (an apocalypse caused by giant snakes was a bit too much for me), but this time around they had many more animated cut scenes, which was cool. I also enjoyed exploring the world through the eyes of another character in the bonus chapter and learning a little more about the House of 1000 Doors itself.
• 

  JoeCool

  Feb 2, 2019

  I felt this was worth the cost at $12, but I do believe I got this in a bundle somewhere. At full price it's still only $2 per game. I finished 4 games in 16 hours, so they clock in around 4 hours each on average. The 1000 Doors games are decent, but there isn't much in terms of story. It's mostly just navigate from one puzzle to the next. At least that's how Palm of Zoroaster is (the one I just finished prior to writing this). I finished all 3 of the 1000 Doors games. They have maps with quick navigation so that was nice. The artwork was nice, the mini game objectives varied, and the hidden objects well scattered but rarely unreasonble to detect. I liked them well enough. I only played the first Snark Buster game. I am a fan of steampunk, so I definitely wanted to play these, but I found the first game in that series to be far less engaging than the 1000 Doors games. It's been a long time since I played it now, but I think the traveling was a chore and the story a snoozer. If I didn't have a tremendous backlog, I'd probably hit them up, but I'm skipping them for now.
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  singer.2012

  Mar 7, 2019

  Games do not work in the bundle I got. Very disappointed.
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  Frankinspook

  May 25, 2019

  A very good bundle of fun hidden object games. I love the Snark Busters trilogy! The only problem I have had with this bundle is with Snark Busters: High Society. I was able to play through it once, but when I tried a second time some time later it crashed and now will not open at all for me. I've seen a couple others who have had the same issue with a few games in this bundle. Emailing or trying to open a discussion was no help at all as I received the same copy and pasted response that I had already tried to no avail. Then no response at all after saying it did not work. That in itself is incredibly frustrating. I clicked that I would recommend this bundle, but if there are these reoccurring issues not being resolved I can't 100% recommend it. Just keep in mind that this may happen to you when deciding whether or not to buy this bundle.
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  noodlerabbit

  Jun 29, 2019

  So far reviews are for: [b]House of 1000 Doors: The Palm of Zoroaster[/b] Excellent engaging game, loved every minute, 3 puzzles I skipped because I didn't have the patience to do them. The bonus content adds at least another 1 hour to the game which turns it into 4-5 hours total. Unsure if achievements are bugged as I didn't get any - may only be for the Snark selection.
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  guybahir

  Aug 20, 2019

  These are good games for a good price. You should know that the games are actually bundled, as in, your 6 games don't appear separately, but as choices under a single menu, and that's how Steam reads them, in case this is important to you. To be fair, they did create achievements+cards for the bundle as a whole, so that's something at least. That out of the way, this bundle has two different franchise sets in it, with the first three games of each, the first franchise being Snark Busters, the second House of 1000 Doors, and they're very different in both style and gameplay, though I personally enjoy both. Snark is a lighthearted steampunk world in which there's, supposedly, a creature called a Snark that some people try to hunt, though it doesn't actually appear in the games and is mostly besides the point. The Snark world has an in-built bizarro world that you access via mirrors, and some actions taken on one side of the mirror affect things on the other side. I, personally, really enjoyed this aspect, though I can imagine it might get a bit confusing. To cut down on the confusion, the items you need to use a room are only available there, and their fragments are found there, which brings me to the basics of Snark games, which is that it's overwhelmingly a fragmented object game, or, more accurately, lots of them, with a few easy puzzles/minigames thrown in. And when I say fragmented, I mean FRAGMENTED. As in, it's like all the items you need have exploded and scattered throughout each room/scene. It takes a minute to get used to it, but it's a lot of mindless, lighthearted fun, if you're into that sort of thing. The third game is the exception, in that each object or machine you need to fix has a wheel of items that are required to achieve that goal, and you click and drag them into that wheel, which conveniently pops up once you click on an item you've found (as well as showing you a gray image of the items you still need). The third game it also different in that it has more of a narrative to it with an actual overall goal. It's a significant improvement over the first two in terms of UI (the second game, for instance, stretches out if you want to play full screen, as if wide screen computers are a new invention or something, so that was annoying, and fixed in game 3), but I found the less farcical atmosphere, without the silly music, to be slightly less fun, but that's a personal thing. House of 1000 Doors is entirely different, in terms of atmosphere, gameplay, and overall style. It's basically a mainstream hidden object/adventure game, with everything one comes to expect of the genre. The basic premise is there's a house that appears out of nowhere, and it has doors in it that are portals to different times and places, where you go around and try to fix what's bothering a restless ghost, which in turn affects the house and its residents. There are several of those tasks in each game, each including A LOT of standard hidden object scenes (as in, there's a list, you need to find items on it) as well as the standard variety of min-games/puzzles, and you do also have to collect items all over the place, which makes the interactive map very useful, especially later in the game when you've got a half dozen locks/puzzles/mini-games with parts missing and can't possibly remember which screw/bolt/figurine/fragment goes where). The doors to any particular time/place close once you've finished fixing what needed fixing, which cuts down on backtracking a little bit, though, since the games have collectible items, it means you can't go back if you missed one. The art is fine, the cut-scenes are mostly good, and the voice acting ranges from good to hilariously bad, but you can always skip if it bothers you. I've had no bugs. Overall, it's very good value for money, if you like casual adventure HOG/FROG, and don't mind having your games bundled.
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  ioannis michailidis

  Mar 31, 2020

  All games in the pack is fun and quite easy. Nice bundle to pass your free time :-)
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  Willibald

  Apr 30, 2020

  I don't like it. Not worth commenting.
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  HIPPYCHICKLOVINLADY

  Jun 16, 2020

  love it my favorite of all my games thank you very much for making
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  ladyg0726

  Oct 12, 2020

  This game is quite enjoyable. It is suited for everyone from the novice to the expert. The mini games are engaging and easy to navigate. I enjoy the premise and the idea that one has to find morphing objects. The more that one finds, the more one is able to play the bonus chapter after the game ends. I like it so much, I have it on multiple platforms including BigFish and ShockWave. Steam is my preferred platform however.