But first, let's begin with the Daily Deal.
Hallowed Legends: Samhain follows the protagonist investigating the disappearance of her [former?] lover, Robert. Robert once had a prestigious journalism career, and now he's gone to pursue other endeavours, such as looking into supernatural things. It's up to you, then, to find him and make sure he's okay. Your first destination is outside of a small village, where you must enter a creepy castle and find details.
Gameplay is nice, it's a pleasant blend of hidden object and puzzle fun. The hidden object scenes help you find useful things for your inventory to interact with the map screens, and the puzzle portions of the game are what let you get into building entrances or locked boxes where key points of the game lie.
The graphics are nice, but there's something about them that just doesn't appeal to me. I'm very picky about my Hidden Object games, even though most of their formats are the same, the story is something that I really need to be into to get one. It's for the more intensive casual player, because the puzzles are often linked to one another, there's no distinct 'level' system. Most times, stories that involve some kind of mystery you need to solve as you go get annoying, so I avoid them. If I know the 'bad guy', it makes it a bit easier. I don't think I'll end up purchasing this one.
And now for today's random Hidden Object new try, it was something that caught my eye when I saw it on Game Splash.
Phenomenon: City of Cyan is actually a delightful little Hidden Object game, centred around a young woman trying to find her mother. Her mother was a researcher at some kind of science institution, where a big accident happened, causing a giant cyan tornado that consumed the souls of everyone in the town. The only person who was protected is the character you end up playing, because of the pendant her mother put over her neck while she was sleeping. The pendant is obviously some kind of protection emblem which keeps the mysterious force from taking over you while you play.
Gameplay in Phenomenon is the same as your basic Hidden Object/Puzzle game, where you play the hidden object scenes to get useful things and solve puzzles on the map to get things going. One REALLY neat thing I enjoyed about Phenomenon is the fact that you can replay any cutscene in the game through the diary, so if you miss something because, for example, a housemate is loud, you'll be able to catch up and review the scenes before you move on.
All in all, I actually enjoy this game A LOT. I was surprised at how the plot moved, the characters are drawn wonderfully well, and the gameplay is a bit simpler to follow than other Hidden Object games in the beginning, which made it super easy to get into. As soon as I get my hands on a freebie from my punch card, I'm buying it, unless there's a Collector's Edition I can get my hands on.
In the meantime, I'm pondering reviewing the structure of each week's postings, as I forgot almost completely about online games! o: How could I? So, I'm going to double-check how my weekly postings are and make adjustments starting Monday. :)
Happy Easter! Tomorrow's blog entry may be short and sweet, since it's also my birthday. :D
~Dexie
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