Recent reviews by Luci

This game was pretty so-so. I played it with a friend which made it more enjoyable than it seemed. Game was pretty rushed at the end. Knowing this was made by Happy Artist games, I'd say they improved vastly in their newer titles. This one in particular is much older so it wasn't as impressive.

PROs:
> Window mode!
> Quick-travel map with action notifications
> Somewhat cohesive hidden object scenes

CONs:
> Uncomfortable voice acting, mostly the shoemaker
> Thin plot, the ending was just a very large narrative cutscene
> Limited locations, while there is fast travel, a good 80% of the story takes place in the same house, and same rooms over and over on different times/days
> Sometimes I found myself lacking proper direction that I end up clicking everywhere

Despite its shortcomings, I see this particular game as a diamond in the rough, It has so much potential and I understand the disappointment that others might have experienced playing this game. It looks good, it looks really good, and starts off interesting. I could tell this product was a labor of love by the developers, unfortunately stunted by likely budget cuts hence the hurried conclusion and limited voice acting.

It had the potential to be a longer game, it seemed like it was planned to be a longer game. I greatly appreciated the additional lore via collectibles. The entire visual department of this game was phenomenal; Both HO scenes and puzzles were detailed, blended together satisfyingly. Even the normal backgrounds had so much to take in, it's almost a shame that the last chapter was so crammed, you hardly stayed in each room. Really, it's a pretty game. It can contend to the quality of art in more well-known HOG developers.

Honestly, I didn't mind that the voice acting disappeared because most of them were a little mediocre in my taste. It would have worked better in the game's favor if it had been scrapped altogether. It's fine, really. Had the game got full voice acting, it would only add to the polish the game already had.

Two negative aspects come to mind with me:
1. Some puzzles descriptions were too vague to fully understand what you need to do. (There's also an issue of some objects being mislabeled i.e. a milkshake being a cocktail but it was too far and few in between to be a hindrance.)

2. There was a bit of confusion where you had to push buttons/pull levers to see if you were correct in your solution. It turns out I'd already solved it, only that I failed to turn the mechanism on.

There's no map, but the map only really seemed necessary at the last chapter. That was the only one that stung a bit in the backtracking department for me.

Overall, I really liked this game. Yes, the plot is a bit cheesy, and the character archetypes have been done to death but the art direction blew me away, and there were some interesting new puzzles I hadn't come across before (Warning: Some will test your patience). It's mostly wishful thinking, but if they could come back to this (with a better budget) to fully realize the game they had in mind, it would be great. Maybe a collector's edition release.

A pretty short 2 hour run-of-the-mill HOG that doesn't seem to have anything new to the table. It works pretty well if you're just here for the gaming aspect of HOGs, I've encountered no bugs or issues others have voiced out. Fair warning though, both the puzzles and hidden object scene of this game pose no challenge which could equate to a very dull experience. There are maybe 1 or 2 puzzles that pass the time enough, but again it might fall into tediousness than actual difficulty. There are moments you could potentially miss an item (outside hidden scenes) because it's either not sparkling or just very hard to see.

I feel like the developers do stand a chance of creating something special, their visual department succeeds at a pretty good spot in comparison to other HOGs. Unfortunately, the lackluster storytelling and weak puzzle elements, make this game excessively mediocre. You can't even hate it or get frustrated, it's just very average.
I also won't forget to mention that the character models are pretty bad (both in motion and in graphic quality), and are arguably the most negative thing I could say about this game. It ruins the immersion. (But understandably animating is a huge pain in the butt and cost a lot of money and time to do.)

I do appreciate that the hidden object scenes reflect a semblance of cohesion. Most items are blended very well into the backdrop, almost looking hand-drawn into the scene. There was maybe one scene that was questionably poorer in quality than the rest. Heads up, I tend to play my HOGs in window mode (which I'm glad this game has btw) so I can't account how beautiful it continues to be in full screen.

Overall, it's...doable. It's been a while since I played a HOG so this was a good refresher course.

A fairly short point and click adventure roughly 4-5 hours in length. Kind of bummed Steam failed to record my time for it but I pretty much finished it in one sitting. I really enjoy adventures like this, set in modern times exploring ancient folklore. It falls with Broken Sword and Gabriel Knight.

GRAPHICS: The locations are absolutely beautiful. I found them very pretty to look at despite being outdated. It's probably the game's biggest selling point. Sadly, each location only has limited actions to what you can do. Most of them are hardly utilized, you have to wonder why they made it an option to go there in the first place. Overall, the world is very, very small with not a lot of npcs. Most of the gameplay is backtracking to Sylvie's home and the site, and every other place is only touched upon once.

GAMEPLAY: A pretty standard point and click. I really appreciate Sylvie putting back items you'd only need once but I'm sure people see this a backtracking gripe. There were some instances where items and hotspots were placed out of view (and they're very small), luckily, the interface offers a hotspot viewer on the bottom right corner. That being said, you also have to right click things in your inventory to activate some actions that Sylvie does not do automatically so you have to be thorough when you pick items up and checking to make sure you can't do anything with them that way.

There's a lack of direction in what to do or what to need. Some event scenes are not triggered automatically, which makes you wonder "why am I doing this puzzle" or "why do I need this" or "why am I still here". Sylvie doesn't help in telling you what her next course of action is. If she does, it usually doesn't help you figure out how to get to that point.

Unfortunately there's no fast travel, double clicking directions does make Sylvie run but otherwise you have to wait for her to walk from scene to scene. There's also a problem of being unable to click out of dialogue you've already seen.

My biggest interface gripe is that there are areas that are no longer necessary but they remain present, it makes you suspicious that you missed something or you need to go back there again but no, you don't have to. They're just leftover ghosts.

PLOT: To be honest, the story was engaging at first but then the ending fell extremely flat. Maybe the devs had to cut it short, the climax being really rushed. Most of the exposition is done in writing, a lot of writing.

While it succeeds in visuals compared to a number of outdated HOGs, its buggy gameplay and lackluster plot pushes it back to the mediocre section of the HO spectrum.

Do I recommend it? I guess so, but mostly with a warning tag that this game will cause a bout of frustration. While it boasts itself as a sequel to the first Sacra Terra game, there's almost little to no correlation to the original plotline. You can't call it a continuation when all it provides from the previous title is a single recurring character. The whole story is new, tossing out the original cult trope for a love story involving demons and saving ghost couples. Not to mention time travel and dimension travel. I didn't mind the concept if not for how shallow 2 of the 4 'love stories' are with only the first and last being remotely interesting. There was potential and you blew it.

Quality of HO scenes follow the same weak middle, where some of them are convoluted junkpiles of poorly rendered stockphoto items. The Egyptian section was basically an embarrassing absolute disaster of a game level. And clearly the devs were extremely unenthused about the HO scenes considering how uninspired they were in what to make us look for. It's always the same cycle of gloves, feather, bell, arrow, bug and what have you in EVERY scene. I'm not kidding.

I definitely have to mention the really godawful hitbox on the items. It's very tight, you have to click a number of times for it to register. And god even the examine hotspots on the maps were irritating. It was hard to figure out what you missed since the cursor hardly changes unless you hover over it properly. While the fast travel and action notifier are always a saving grace in HOGs, it was rendered useless by being so confused as to what you missed on the map. Please for the love of god, at least add a bit of sparkle or increase the hitbox.

Overall, I don't know. It's mostly playable but it's tragically unremarkable. My last braincells were shattered by this rotating puzzle at the bonus chapter. Half my life was spent on trying to solve it. I really liked the first game, this was a bit of a disappointment in the direction it went. The visuals were definitely an upgrade but it couldn't compensate for everything else. Definitely don't buy at the price it's asking for, wait til it's maybe half off at the very least.

If you can overlook the unattractive NPCs, the game itself was pretty fun to play. It's a nice little treat, more junk food than anything. I don't think I'd fully tack on the Hidden Object label on this one, although there were very short HO scenes present in the gameplay.

If anything to categorize this game, it's definitely a Fetchquest. There's a joy to it, there's definitely something fun about being able to pick up a lot of items in game as you please, amassing a treasure of miscellaneous objects, and slowly watching them decrease from your inventory as you give them away (earning money too) until you're left with the final pieces.

It's definitely a flawed game. If you're aiming to play this, I'd recommend having a notepad or pen and paper ready to use. The map and taskbook do not indicate which npcs are located where and when you have 123 tasks to do, it's easy to forget and navigate where each person lives. Trust me. It was hell. You can also consult a couple posts on Big Fish forums for the task list and NPC location if you can't be buggered to write on your own.

There is a quicktravel system in a game but it's useless unless you know where to go (which is almost always the case, haha). Occassionally, some NPCs will consist of either a very easy and short HO scene or some kind of minigame. Those minigames don't take more than 3 minutes to do, so if you're not into HO or puzzles, you'll be fine.

Overall, nice timewaster. Pretty pricey for its retail, I would have said $3-5 is a good number. Either pick it up when it's in a bundle or it's on a heavy discount.

Oof, this one is a bit complicated. Maybe a notch above 'meh'. I had a lot of issues that kept me from enjoying the game. It had potential, it really did. Not that it mattered but I have to mention that the game has a male protag which is rare in the genre.

PROS:
> The graphics look nice! The HO scenes were actually pretty okay! Hardly any stockphoto items so it was very easy on the eyes.
> Windowed mode allowed!
> A very handy-dandy zoom in mouse scroll for tired eyes!
> A very handy-dandy fast travel map with action indicators!
> Plenty of puzzles, and not as much HO scenes (well, I consider this a pro for me to be honest). Some of the puzzles were unique in that I haven't seen in other HO scenes.
> A very interesting ending haha!

CONS:
> Painstaking lack of flavor text/descriptors. A lot of items and actions had no text to tell you what to find or to do. It was frustrating and you'd be resigned to using the hint button to determine what to do next. Not even the action indicator on the map worked perfectly. You'll still end up having to seek help and I was on casual for christsakes. Even the puzzle information was way too vague in some.
> Some item logic/puzzles are poorly designed i.e. a key that opens a box with another key in it. Uh? What was the point of this again? An arrow tied to a rope is apparently a fishing hook? That's not how it works.
> Protag's voice actor is clearly paid by the minute. He reads his lines so dead and fast. Some voices are better and some are even worse.
> Somewhat abyssmal hit box for some small items in HO scenes. And that piano puzzle. I hated it. Why did you think that was fun?

I can't put this in either pro or con because it might just be me, but I found the plot a bit convoluted and contrived. The diary we kept wasn't the best source of information about it either; It's mostly things the protag had said aloud. My willing suspension of disbelief died near the end with that "boss fight". That teetered way too close to silly town. It did have interesting plot points especially with the hobo, the mystery started off really good too.

Overall, it was okay. The quality of visuals really made it positive for me. For the price point? You'd definitely get bang for buck. It's about 5-6 hours of gameplay, which I think matches how much you'll spend on it. The plot is definitely taste-based, for some it could be difficult to swallow.

My thumbs up here counts as a very resounding "meh". I'm not about to tell anyone about this game but people are welcome to try it. I can understand most of the complaints (especially repetition of locations) but was personally not bothered enough to quit playing by the issues. Definitely a lot of flaws though. The slow interface and odd sound choices were mild hindrances.

A few puzzles that are okay, but only if you've got time. If you're looking for a quick burn game, then the puzzles will drive you insane. As will the tedious backtracking, backchecking of areas you've already seen before. They did add a few twists to the limited area by altering its appearance with, say darkness for example.

One huge gripe is towards the last 3 anagrams is that they thought it would be challenging/clever to remove the handy hint system altogether. I had to look up a walkthrough for the last bit since there were already too many rooms that I have to squint at to find hidden symbols. I don't have that kind of time.

An idea I did like was the concept of choosing your own ending based on how you solved certain puzzles. Multiple endings for puzzles was fun. The ending you get is pretty obvious since you're given choosing "light" answers and "dark" answers. I'm guessing that mix-and-matching solutions will result in the limbo/middleground ending.

Overall, it gets itself a wiggly hand gesture of mediocrity from me. For a game that's from 2014, it reflects too much on the problems you'd encounter in games from the early 90s. Despite the nostalgia, those issues should honestly remain in the past.

P.S. It's 1.4 GB in size, which is huge for what it's worth especially with its square-shaped resolution. Just something to think about when getting this game apart from its retail price.

Sweet little gem of a game. I didn't think I'd enjoy it as much as I did, given the reviews and clearly questionable graphic quality. I had fun, there were glaring problems but not ones that potentially ruined my enjoyment for this game. That being said, this isn't a hidden object game as we all know it; it's more or less a puzzle game with adventure elements.

It was relaxing to make potions in the first 3-4 tasks but then it suddenly got very heavy. I feel that the moon sequences weren't quite my cup of tea since it involved navigating maps (and with a timer). The limited inventory was meant to be a challenge but it winded up being more cluttered and irritating on occasion. The last few bits of tasks were fun to do too. The minigames weren't anything to write home about but I had no problem with them either.

The biggest flaw though, is likely the lack of clarity. You will find yourself lost at what to do without seeking a guide after task 4 or 5 or 6, I forget. Honestly, I had to grab a walkthrough especially during one part involving cooking. The minigames always require an in-game guide you MUST bring lest you can't 'solve' the minigame. Without a guide for it, you will lose a lot of time. Another flaw is dead ends, you can die from random things in this game, so it is recommended you save often to avoid this and of course, in likelihood of the game bugging out.

Personally, I've had zero inventory glitches in my playthrough save for a couple things returning to their original spots, which was more a mild bother than anything else. Overall, not bad. I'd say it's worth giving a try if you had it from a bundle.

It pains me to downvote any game that isn't broken, but considering the question is "Do you recommend this game?" Then I sadly have to say no. It has a lot of flaws that stop it from being satisfying to play. I could mention a few good things, I was surprised there were a few puzzles, some good ideas with the Hidden Object scenes like the UV and the camera. I thought they were fun. The narrative was so-so, none more cheesier than other HOs I've played.

Unfortunately, it came with a lot of negative aspects. We can excuse outdated graphics had the HO scenes been done well. Initially, it was tolerable, the first HO scene was okay. By the second scene, it was horrendous. All the objects were made to be true to real-world proportions which is a really bad idea once you put it into gameplay. It made things difficult, by the last HO scene, it was maddening. SD cards being the size of an sd card? Camera batteries? Those tiny things into a small resolution game? Awful, just awful. The same goes for long thin objects like knives, arrows, and canes. Don't get me started on looking for Alphabet letters.

There was also moment it asked me to look for pages, notes, and letters in a library covered in open books and papers. The mini hidden items search were a lot more fun to do. Each HO scene also contained drawers and places to open for more items, but pray you could even find them because they have zero prompts/symbols for what cupboards and doors you could open. You just have to click every corner of the game like a madman or use the hint button for everything.

And finally, the church scenes. Why would anyone think people have enough ample knowledge of Catholic ideology to even begin looking for the objects it asked for? The Vatican? Emperor Constantine??? At that point, I stopped caring about finding objects carefully, I just clicked everywhere. I was done. I just dreaded every HO scene. I wouldn't wish that experience on anyone else. For its price, you can honestly find something better to spend your time and money on.