I don't use sound. Maybe I should have on this one. I played the demo for 13 minutes and got nowhere; just kept being sent back to beginning. There were things to do (fix a ladder, e.g.) but no hints to tell you where to go or where to find something to use. Very frustrating!!
I'm not into story lines; I usually just scan them for something that might be important. And I can't judge the sound quality because I don't usually have the sound on either! But the visuals are great. I just love HOS. They are not too difficult to find; just moderately. I only used a couple of hints. The game moves along quickly and I really didn't need the story line or sound to make sense of it.
Very easy. The grammar and spelling leave a lot to be desired. Almost finished in the 60-minute trial. Recommend this game for beginners. Cursor was hard to pinpoint sometimes.