shirogammon's Profile
Stat Summary
- Average Rating:3
- Helpful Votes:0
- Reviews Submitted:2
- First Review:February 7, 2025
- Most Recent Review:February 7, 2025
- Featured reviews0
shirogammon's Review History
Are mysteries too big for adults? Leave it to the youth.
Overall rating
2
/
5
Solid mechanics suffering from story problems!
PostedFebruary 7, 2025
shirogammon
fromWA, United States
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Hidden Object
Fun Factor
2
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
2
/
5
This is, to be fair, only based on the demo of the game so far! I'm unlikely to buy the full game, despite the cliffhanger demo ending.
Really wasn't a fan of the story in this one, and not just because (as other people have already pointed out) the accents are distractingly bad. It all feels pretty heavy-handed, and not super interesting in terms of the mystery. I felt a little cheated getting to the end of the demo, as it felt like a few too many red herrings happening for that early in the plot. Honestly, most of my reactions to plot beats was surprise that adults were just letting all of this happen! I also really dislike the way they've implemented the dialogue choices in this one compared to some of their other games, as they do literally mark which options will get you the "good" endings. So, there's not really a reason to not pick the options for points unless you're a completionist and want to see all the possible path endings!
I do like the way this developer does HOPs broadly speaking, and the puzzles in this one were mostly fun. As I've seen in their other games as well, sometimes the difficulty levels are way too varied for my taste. This developer does include a difficulty toggle in the puzzles themselves though, so mileage may vary there. The mechanics and difficulty level of the game itself were enjoyable, so my rating is primarily based on the story and dialogue tree mechanic.
If you like the story by the end of the demo, and don't mind them making it obvious which choices you're supposed to be making, it's not a terrible game! The Collector's Edition bonuses are pretty standard, and I do like the way this developer handles collectibles in general. I'd say worth this versus a standard version would be worth it if you like the story and like completing collectibles, but otherwise springing for a standard edition when one comes out might be a better bet.
I don't recommend this game.
When the veil between two worlds is thin, lost souls seek your help… or your life.
Overall rating
4
/
5
Recommend for fans of ghostly adventures!
PostedFebruary 7, 2025
shirogammon
fromWA, United States
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Hidden Object
Fun Factor
4
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
Storyline
4
/
5
Solid amount of gameplay! I got a good four or so hours out of this one (including the bonus game), and I burn through HOP games pretty quickly. The story was overall fairly interesting, though some of the twists felt a little obvious in advance. I haven't played the other games in this series, but I can see based on the story as is why some reviews are complaining about the narrative being a little trite. If this is your entry point to the series as well, I don't think that'll be a major issue though! Pretty average story for the ghost investigator genre, so if you like them normally this is a great pick.
The characters were really likeable, and the graphics are great. Really beautiful environment design! I don't normally like the dialogue options this developer uses in their games, but I thought it worked fairly well here as there isn't a serious "game over" system as some of their other recent games have. It also tends to keep you within 4-5 rooms at a time, so you aren't usually backtracking a crazy amount per chapter.
My biggest frustration with this game (and the reason for my challenge rating) is with the puzzles. The HOP scenes are pretty standard and fairly fun, but the difficulty levels of the puzzles varied pretty widely. Most of them were fairly satisfying, but there were a few that mechanically were really annoying to deal with. A few basically start you over at the beginning of them if you get part wrong, which made them extremely annoying to do if you don't want to give in to the skip button. I do like the difficulty options for the puzzles though, as it makes it a little more accessible if you get stuck and don't have the strategy guide to help you. The Match-3 alternative option for the HOP scenes is also nice to have in the game for those that prefer that kind of gameplay, though I only tried it once or twice to see what it was like.
The bonus collectibles were also pretty cool -- I really liked the boudoir feature in particular, though the way they did morphing objects and added a little extra ghostly narrative to the game was neat too. The rest of the bonus content is fairly standard for a Collector's Edition (concept art, wallpapers, music, etc.), and the bonus game is around an hour long. It ends a little abruptly for my taste, but the gameplay itself was the same in terms of quality.
If you find yourself really liking the story and collectibles by the end of the trial period, I'd recommend the Collector's Edition! I got it in a BOGO deal personally, and if I hadn't i probably would've just waited to get a standard edition of the game instead. I did have a good time playing though!
I recommend this game!