rainworm's Profile
Stat Summary
- Average Rating:4.5
- Helpful Votes:5,106
- Reviews Submitted:133
- First Review:October 4, 2012
- Most Recent Review:October 20, 2018
- Featured reviews0
Status:
Can you and your sister escape the deadly history of Reed Valley?
Overall rating
3
/
5
19 of 39 found this review helpful
Chaos Therapy
PostedJuly 7, 2018
Fun Factor
3
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
Storyline
1
/
5
After an accident, in which your parents were killed but your sister Faith survived, she is traumatized and suffers from nightmares. You believe, a hypnosis therapy could help her, so you two seek the well know specialist in Louisiana, Dr. Ryan.
We play as brother Matthew, who accompanies Faith to the hypnosis therapist. He asks us in and starts a first session with both of us,as he postulated, this would help our sister to easier access her memories.
This is, what we remember, when we wake up, as if from a dream, and are alone in the therapist’s house. It has changed in a strange way, your surroundings are more surreal now, Faith as well as the doctor are gone.
In the surrealistic surroundings the next scenes, consisting of puzzles and HOS suit well, but even after the third door, only hints at a tragedy in the doctor’s life are given and we go on, tapping through a maze. This way the demo ends.
Again the game is well made concerning visuals, effects and other features.
One thing is missing, at least for me: a conclusive story. We jump into a plot of searching for our sister in a chaotic world of a house, no hint is given as to: when will we find her? Is the therapist a criminal? Or whatever.
May be after the demo a story waits, though I don’t know. So try it and see for yourselves.
I recommend this game!
Can you escape the nightmares before it's too late?
Overall rating
5
/
5
56 of 82 found this review helpful
A nightmarish journey – not terrible but terrific!
PostedJuly 5, 2018
rainworm
fromBeware of dreamcatchers, be careful, whom you take a your psychotherapist.....
Skill Level:Expert
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
5
/
5
Storyline
5
/
5
In New York an unknown a disease breaks out, which affects the minds of those affected. They experience vivid nightmares, are drawn into strange and threatening worlds in their dreams.
News are reporting daily about new cases. One day, we receive a letter, in which we are invited to investigate a special artifact. Known for our interest in artifacts, that affect human minds, the writer is confident, we will be interested and able to help him.
His name is Ethan. Arriving at his place, we experience certain difficulties in entering the house. Ethan himself seems completely out of line and attacks us. It is a combined working of his nightmares together with a dreamcatcher, he got from his psychotherapist, the famous Naila Moore. She gave it to him as a cure, though since he has it, his nightmares are occurring daily and cause a constant rage.
The dreamcatcher is the key to Ethan’s nightmares and we use it to enter the strange aggressive world which took over Ethan’s mind. The nightmare world is a fantastic realm, where this world’s laws are not valid.. Ethan is kept prisoner in the chaos of his fears and a traumatic event of his childhood. .
News are reporting daily about new cases. One day, we receive a letter, in which we are invited to investigate a special artifact. Known for our interest in artifacts, that affect human minds, the writer is confident, we will be interested and able to help him.
His name is Ethan. Arriving at his place, we experience certain difficulties in entering the house. Ethan himself seems completely out of line and attacks us. It is a combined working of his nightmares together with a dreamcatcher, he got from his psychotherapist, the famous Naila Moore. She gave it to him as a cure, though since he has it, his nightmares are occurring daily and cause a constant rage.
The dreamcatcher is the key to Ethan’s nightmares and we use it to enter the strange aggressive world which took over Ethan’s mind. The nightmare world is a fantastic realm, where this world’s laws are not valid.. Ethan is kept prisoner in the chaos of his fears and a traumatic event of his childhood. .
What is Naila Moore’s role in this? It was the dreamcatcher, which worsened Ethan’s nightmare attacks. When we meet Naila, she denies knowing Ethan as well as using a dreamcatcher as a cure for a treatment of nightmares, due to childhood trauma. But we find patient cards for the thief and for Ethan.
So we have a ‘thriller’ and a fantasy game in one package! The nightmares, we will enter not only Ethan’s but others too, present a fantastic realm, in which we act as the one, who helps the imprisoned person to escape and clarify the cause for the nightmare. On the other hand there is somebody behind the new nightmarish illness and it is up to us, to end this.
The game is well designed, both worlds presented with great graphics, suiting music and collectables/morphs are the cream on the cake for those, who love them. HOS and puzzles are both creative, puzzles even with easy/hard option! Plot enfolds fast and the stories within are interesting and enjoyable.
I recommend this game!
Can you escape a madman on the Island of Fog?
Overall rating
5
/
5
61 of 94 found this review helpful
Horror in the fog....
PostedJune 30, 2018
rainworm
fromAdmit, I'm a fan of the Tales of Terror - no gadgets, no superfluous effects.......!
Skill Level:Expert
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
5
/
5
It all began 4 years ago in a house on the hill, now the 4th tale of terror will lead us onto another property, where terror is waiting for us!
We play as an investigative journalist on oour way to the mysterious ‘island of fog’. But something goes wrong and our boat crashes. Then we wake up - in a hospital bed in a living room, We have a drip in our arm and an elderly man tells us that we are safe here and only here. Nice to hear, only we are tied to the bed with an ankle restraint! Once the man has left the room, we begin our escape. From a note, found in our search of the room, we learn, a secret passage leads out of the room behind the fireplace. It was written by some other ‘prisoner’, who apparently has made it out here succussfully.
Step by step we see more of the building, which seems more an old castle than a house, with staff, which has of course the order to not let us escape. The castle-like mansion will not be the only obstacle, when out on the island, the fog lurks with more problems to solve……
We play as an investigative journalist on oour way to the mysterious ‘island of fog’. But something goes wrong and our boat crashes. Then we wake up - in a hospital bed in a living room, We have a drip in our arm and an elderly man tells us that we are safe here and only here. Nice to hear, only we are tied to the bed with an ankle restraint! Once the man has left the room, we begin our escape. From a note, found in our search of the room, we learn, a secret passage leads out of the room behind the fireplace. It was written by some other ‘prisoner’, who apparently has made it out here succussfully.
Step by step we see more of the building, which seems more an old castle than a house, with staff, which has of course the order to not let us escape. The castle-like mansion will not be the only obstacle, when out on the island, the fog lurks with more problems to solve……
Puzzles offer often a hard/normal option, HOS are variable but not exactly creative. The story is not new, but an exciting variation of an escape with many obstacles. Gratefully I see, no amulets, dreamcatchers or other gadgets seem to be used in the game.
Visually the game reminds me of old games, there are no special effects, suspense is created by situations, more an exciting story, than an adventure with all finesses. That's where the appeal lies for me.
Visually the game reminds me of old games, there are no special effects, suspense is created by situations, more an exciting story, than an adventure with all finesses. That's where the appeal lies for me.
I recommend this game!
Can you keep the past from destroying the present?
Overall rating
3
/
5
20 of 36 found this review helpful
Hopping from one HOP into the next......
PostedJune 21, 2018
Fun Factor
2
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
2
/
5
Back to the roots, to a family, which occupied their fans in the beginning of the decade: the Dalimars. We met them in the Ravenhearst games. And I felt taken back to the days, when I despaired in finding the well hidden objects in the HOPs of Return to Ravenhearst or tried to solve the multi-step puzzles in yet another Ravenhearst event. Some of the HOPs very much remind me of the very first Ravenhearst game and I wonder, if some have been taken from there?
The introduction shows us an old and abandoned looking building with an old man, seeking for somebody. Then we receive our letter, the order for us as the master detective: we shall investigate a remote estate, called Hotel Victory. Strange events, intrigues are rumored to take place there and all clues hint at a man, believed to be long dead: Victor Dalimar.
Our first task: get into the Hotel Victory. This is fairly easy – but after entering, we are confronted with other challenges. You get a map, not the usual one. The rooms and floors have to be unlocked. You do this via HOPs and/or puzzles. The HOPs are the good old lists with objects, cleverly hidden and all have minigames within. Puzzles as such are mostly multistep puzzles and we meet the famous superpuzzles.
Of course, all this can be made even more challenging with the choice of your game mode: we have an easy/relaxed mode without timing. Choosing this one, you at once are told, you are a coward, should take another one including more challenge! There are a middle mode and a hard mode. To be honest, I chose the easy one and sneak through the hotel - stress free! This is not the mode, fans of the Ravenhearst classics will take, but each at their own.
It is a real ‘back to the roots’, the ‘glorious’ past game but as we love vintage styles in fashion once in a while, there will be those, who love the game.
Recommend to try it....you may or may not like, what you play!
Recommend to try it....you may or may not like, what you play!
I recommend this game!
Can you discover the truth about the Queen’s disappearance and save the kingdom?
Overall rating
3
/
5
30 of 49 found this review helpful
.....and here the princess comes again
PostedJune 16, 2018
Fun Factor
1
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
2
/
5
Storyline
2
/
5
In the 11th installment of the series we play as Princess of the Kingdom again and our task won’t be much different from those before. The kingdom has an old enemy: the Wolf Leader and her forest spirits. Every 10 years, when a green moon rises, they are free to move and leave the forest. Last time their attack was successful and the queen disappeared. Your father, the king, could be saved my his advisor Malgar, who is your fiance by now. The instrument against the forest spirits is a magic ring, which is now yours.
When the green moon rises this time, your fiance asks for the ring to defend the kingdom. Bringing it to the fortress, where he and your father reside, will have a surprising outcome. You meet a woman in front of the gates, she is attacked by forest spirits but with your ring you can save her. On opening the gates, she shows her true face: she steals your appearance and enters the fortress as you. What have you done? You let in the worst enemy! But it is not too late, you need your appearance back and fight the enemy
Visually stunning, with good special effects the ‘Lost Queen’ offers at least something for the eye. HOPs are variable, puzzles not too challenging and we have lanterns as collectables and wolf paws as morphs, The story is not new at all. A green moon, spirits, fighting the evil…
Those, who love the series, are offered another enjoyable sequence, though for me it is a variation of the never ending princess tale.
Try for yourself.
I recommend this game!
Can you navigate new realms to stop an evil conqueror in time?
Overall rating
5
/
5
67 of 85 found this review helpful
Walk through the Gates
PostedJune 14, 2018
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
5
/
5
Storyline
5
/
5
Introducing the new Labyrinth, we are led into an arena, a scene, reminding me of both, Ancient Rome as well as a medieval tournament: two gladiators, clothed as knights of fire and ice, ready for the fight and cheered by a crowd and a grim looking ruler.
It is a new adventure with your sister, both of you are seekers and the British Library has called for your service in order to find and investigate a book (The Gates). The library is impressive but there are strange rumors as well: a librarian is said to have vanished there and some say, he is still within the place. On finding the book and handing it to Margaret, she cuts herself at a sharp edge, a drop of blood hits a page – and she sinks into an opening portal, as if the book had inhaled her into its world.
As in the ‘dangerous game’, we need to go after her and are prepared for our journey in the next step: we will enter not one but three worlds, who are ruled by Aspir, a wizard and tyrant of this realm. They are the world of order, the world of chaos and the arena.
It is a new adventure with your sister, both of you are seekers and the British Library has called for your service in order to find and investigate a book (The Gates). The library is impressive but there are strange rumors as well: a librarian is said to have vanished there and some say, he is still within the place. On finding the book and handing it to Margaret, she cuts herself at a sharp edge, a drop of blood hits a page – and she sinks into an opening portal, as if the book had inhaled her into its world.
As in the ‘dangerous game’, we need to go after her and are prepared for our journey in the next step: we will enter not one but three worlds, who are ruled by Aspir, a wizard and tyrant of this realm. They are the world of order, the world of chaos and the arena.
Your fantastic journey will take you to all of these, you will meet rebels, who try to overthrow the tyranny of Aspir and will help you. It is a longer game with 5 chapters and the bonus chapter, many collectables, smooth gameplay with a bit more to and fro and a story which caught my interest, as it puts together all sorts of fantasy world elements with the idea of parallel worlds. Puzzles with easy/hard option and HOP scenes are mostly logically placed and bring progress in the game. Your task book has a notes section, where you can learn about previous games, who is who as well as the task section, showing, what to do next.
All in all a very enjoyable game in a good series!
I recommend this game!
Journey to the past to save your parents from a deadly killer.
Overall rating
4
/
5
22 of 37 found this review helpful
...... a time machine
PostedJune 9, 2018
rainworm
fromBeware of changing the past, you wouldn't like the consequences
Skill Level:Expert
Fun Factor
4
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
4
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
Storyline
4
/
5
A dangerous artifact from Uncle Anderson’s house is stolen, It could change the past, thereby the present and is now in the wrong hands. Alexandra surprised the thief, when he was attacking her uncle and got away with the artifact. But after realizing, it was the time machine, which he took, and realizing the dangerous potential of this item for many people, including her own family, she takes her chance and goes after him into the past.
You play as Alexandra, since the end of the ‘Revived Book’, the keeper of antiques, including artifacts, that can be dangerous to the public. In the inroduction of the game, we meet her as little girl with her parents in a car, on her way to a festival, when suddenly a man appears on the road and provokes an accident. But we are left in the dark so far. In the first scene we are grown up, standing in front of our uncle’s house and try to be let in. The door robot won’t let us without identifying ourselves as authorized person. Finally inside, we meet our uncle, as well as the strange burglar. The first scene is cleverly used to show all the technical equipment, we can use in the game, e.g. the keeper’s device. It enables us to identify and analyse artifacts, deactivate and even follow them. By making use of the ‘following function’, we go back to the year 1985, when the thief, a William Kutcher, designed the artifact but didn’t get the award, he had hoped for. But he now wants to take revenge by using it and changing the past.
It is a relatively fast paced game with a lot of collectables (puzzle pieces, morphs and special collectables) and a rich scenery. Many HOPs are on our way, but most are very well designed, creative and bring us forward in the game. Puzzles are more or less on the easy side.
There is a drawback in an otherwise attractive gameplay: the ‘Loading’ screens between the scenes. The developer should indeed work on this technical detail, as it keeps lowering the overall quality. But still, a very enjoyable game.
I recommend this game!
Become the Red Queen and save Chessland!
Overall rating
4
/
5
25 of 43 found this review helpful
start as a pawn on a strange and hostile chess board!
PostedJune 7, 2018
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
Storyline
4
/
5
Your life was ordinary, you had a home, a daughter, a cat – then you looked into the mirror and it broke into thousand shards. Then you find yourself in Chessworld, where the Red King informs you about your mission: you have to make your way to the Red Castle to be the Red Queen. You will start as a pawn and with proving yourself in battle, you will advance step by step to be Queen. You are chosen because of an old prophesy, that an ‘Alicia’ would come and defeat the Red King’s opponent, the White Queen, whom he otherwise cannot overcome.
A fantasy game, another variation of Alice in Wonderland, the characters moved on a chessboard, where a pawn can metamorph into a queen. Of course not all the rules of the royal game apply here, though our Alice will have to overcome a lot of obstacles to reach the castle. And: before advancing to a new rank, you have to solve a chess puzzle. The game has more HO scenes than puzzles, a pity, but most HOPs are creative. Visuals are great, the scenery is full of details.
A fantasy game, another variation of Alice in Wonderland, the characters moved on a chessboard, where a pawn can metamorph into a queen. Of course not all the rules of the royal game apply here, though our Alice will have to overcome a lot of obstacles to reach the castle. And: before advancing to a new rank, you have to solve a chess puzzle. The game has more HO scenes than puzzles, a pity, but most HOPs are creative. Visuals are great, the scenery is full of details.
It is not the first trip into the Wonderland world, the series had an event in Shadowland before. That was a monumental dark fantasy, here we have more lite entertainment, when we let our Alice progress over the chessboard. She cannot leave Chessworld, but she will be victorious, as in these fantasies, the hero will always win.
I recommend this game!
Can you defeat a foe with an ice-cold soul?
Overall rating
5
/
5
34 of 54 found this review helpful
Llsten to Mr Hett's story......
PostedJune 2, 2018
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
5
/
5
Storyline
5
/
5
As other games of the series, the Frozen Soul is a hybrid between fantasy and sci-fi, in my impression, both elements are more woven into each other here. A human and an elf are using technology of the 20th century, described as old, to achieve goals but we have elven fae magic as well in use – an altogether new idea to blow the dust from cliché fantasy/sci-fi features.
The introduction shows Mr. Hett. He tells children the story of how people of the past failed in their environment and destroyed it. When life was almost impossible, the elves came and restored what had been destroyed. Piece by piece, we will learn, mankind lives in a dictatorship in which an elite of men, the so-called society, is in charge. It rules with an iron hand and uses high technology and supernatural means to keep the people quiet and prevent rebellion.
We meet Mr. Hett again, as a leader of the rebels. He is speaking to his followers and calls them to resistance, when a supernatural snowstorm breaks up the congregation. But the mission is clear: they want to put an end to the tyranny by liberating the imprisoned Elven Queen. As the elves once saved mankind, she seems the only one, able to overcome the hostile forces. The human girl Tara and young elf Lennart are chosen to locate and free her. However, the logic of two, having the same enemy, form a natural alliance against him, won’t come true that easily: After her long captivity, the Elven Queen is obsessed with vengeance.
Impressing graphics of a postapocalyptic and a fantasy world forms the scenery for a fast paced game. We have many puzzles, variable in design and challenge but all fun to play! HOS are presented in varied styles as well, everyone spiced with a morph. Morphs and collectables are of course in all scenes.
For me the best in the series so far!
I recommend this game!
You'll die in three days if you can't uncover the truth!
Overall rating
5
/
5
70 of 103 found this review helpful
Where does route 39 lead us?
PostedMay 31, 2018
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
5
/
5
Storyline
5
/
5
Starting like a normal event, we find ourselves in a secluded mansion, where a strange elderly lady won’t let us go without fulfilling certain tasks. In the park in front of the mansion gates we find a lot of abandoned cars, find left items of other young men, apparently having stepped into the same trap. And it seems to a trap. Our hitchhiker has vanished, we have understood, she was not real after all, but we cannot just leave. In the mansion an elderly lady watches our steps. The other unlucky ones have received the same message, we did, after the girl disapeared: You will die in 3 days. In the course of time, we learn, this message is meant, as the period, we have left, gets shorter…..
The minds behind the Grim Tales and Haunted Hotel series are telling us a haunting tale with an exciting story, a palette of HOS variations and many puzzles. Fast paced game, you have a lot to do. And you need to have in mind clock, ticking down the days of life you are still granted. Wonderful start in a new series!
I recommend this game!