The demo of the game started off so well. But soon after it devolved into a boring go-through-the-portal-into-another-world-and-find-stuff game, one with gigantic plot holes. It draaagged. I had to force myself to finish the main game, and I bailed halfway through the bonus chapter because I just didn't care anymore.
I won't bore you with details. My review is late, so by now you know what it's about.
Opinion: if you like point and click adventures and dry British humor, then you may like this. It's amusing and entertaining in the beginning, but for me, it got old fast. It started boring me around 20 minutes into the demo and I had to bail.
Try it, you may like it. The artwork is well done, the point-and-click experience is smooth, the VOs are well-acted. It has a nostalgic feel - right down to the spinning hourglass of old.
It's one of those games that's hit or miss depending on the player.
As a long time DP fan ever since Briar Rose, I can say that they tried to stick to the overall tone and tradition of DP games with this one. The story line is interesting, multi-layered, and tragic. In true DP fashion, all of the backstory that allows the player to understand the subtleties and nuances of the story, unfold through collecting the parables.
The morphing objects are clever and well-done. Parable tokens aren't too easy but aren't difficult to spot either. (I hate missing even 1 parable piece because I want the ENTIRE story.) The puzzles are fun, although they could be a bit more challenging. There is PLENTY of back and forth and running around all over the place in a complicated network of a huge castle and estate - lots of working of the memory going on, which I like.
I thought we were done with Eipix in DP games when the Salt Princess came out ... but they're back again. Sigh. Eipix's hand becomes apparent in the FROGs and the quality of the animation. It isn't terrible this time, but for die-hard Blue Tea DP fans like myself, it is obvious. The FROGs don't have that lightning strike they were putting in there for a while, thank God, but they aren't quite Blue Tea. Not bad, just missing something and with off sound effects. The animation/artwork is a little too cartoonish in places. Blue Tea artwork is more beautiful dreamy Rubens/baroque. In a true BT DP game you want a screenshot of every scene because they are so gorgeous. But when Eipix mixes in the Blue Tea, you get that kids' Japanese anime feel around the edges. Not unattractive, but not quite as beautiful either. They tried not to be too heavy-handed with the Eipix additions, but we see it and it does affect the feel of the game play. (Personally, I'd rather Eipix stay out of DP all together.)
The Bonus Chapter is a continuation of the story, bringing back a minor character from the main game as the protagonist. It's pretty short, only 2 chapters. It doesn't necessarily add anything to the story, rather it clears up a dangling mystery from the main game. It does, however, present a new and mysterious villain that we may see in future games.
Overall, I enjoyed this addition to the series very much. It should appeal to fans of the original purely Blue Tea Dark Parables games as well as the folks who started the game when Eipix was at the helm.
Completed Game and Bonus Chapter I love the Vermillion Watch series. This is just an OK addition that could have been an excellent addition:
The Good: *The graphics, VOs, etc are excellent. Visually superb. *The story line is different and interesting. *The change of setting and the French branch of VW is great. *Most of the chapters move along at a great pace *My favorite character in the whole game is the fortune-teller with the handprint birthmark. Her back story is so interesting that I think she deserves her own game.
The Bad: *The middle chapter at the Eiffel Tower is TEDIOUS - so uninspiring and illogical that I clicked the hint button through the whole thing. *Too many HOs towards the end of the game. Snooze. (I'm a puzzle person, so you may not agree.)
The Extra: *Collectible swirly things are easy to find, but you can go back at the end of the game if you miss any. *The Bonus Chapter is cool but not necessary to tie up loose ends from the main game. It's a sequel following a minor character's problem. The main game comes to a firm conclusion.
Overall, I like the game but was a little disappointed because the eiffel tower chapter was so humdrum to me. Bare in mind that you, the player, get to choose the order of chapters that you experience. I recommend - the cemetery, notre dame, then the eiffel tower.
I should've listened to my own indecision and gotten this one as an SE. The demo was so cool and reminded me so much of LadyHawke, a movie that I LOVED as a teen, that I wanted to soldier on no matter what the other reviewers said.... to my disappointment. Sigh. I'll learn one of these days, lol.
It's a visually gorgeous game but after the demo the common sense just disappears - someone leaves a diamond ring on a shelf outside their front door so you can conveniently cut a pane from their back window... where is the "yeah, right" emoji?
After the demo, it's very short and the story gets choppy with sudden shifts in perspective that aren't always clear. The resolution of the story line leaves a few holes in the plot and, honestly, the backstory of the villain was more interesting than the main characters. That was a story I would've wanted to play through.
If you buy CEs for the Bonus Game then you aren't missing much with this one. It's a prequel that tells the story of how the amulet (plenty of other reviewers have explained this) fell into the main characters' hands. You could skip it and wait for the SE.
Overall, it was an OK game. The demo made one think it would be spectacular and nostalgic for LadyHawke fans but it turned into another cookie-cutter game with lapses in logic.
I was bored from the beginning of the game through the entire demo. Collins, the helper character, was truly annoying. From reading the reviews I thought he might've been funny and interesting like Captain Louis from Secrets of Great Queens, but no. Complete miss. I wasn't that fond of the first game in this series, but thought I'd give this one a try. No. It just put the nail in the coffin. I'll pass on this series from now on.
Complete dangerous missions amid dazzling landscapes of prehistoric Earth and alien worlds. Can you complete these thrilling puzzles in order to return home?
I haven't left a review in quite a while, but this game deserved one. It was very different and really fun. There are some laugh out loud moments near the end at the ridiculousness, but overall it is great. It's a sci-fi time travel fantasy with lots to do.
There are loads of puzzles of all different types. There is a bonus area after the game ends with 5 different types of extra puzzles! Really cool ones.... Did I mention that there are plenty of puzzles - and they're all different?! Lol.
The HO lovers aren't left out, either. The HOs are very well done and you can replay them after the game is over. There are also additional HOs as part of the bonus content. The best part is the folks like me, who can take or leave the HOs, have the option of skipping them entirely when we get tired of them.
The story line was way out there, far-fetched but well executed and very entertaining. It kept my interest throughout and didn't have many eye-rollingly illogical moments.
The artwork is fantabulous! As a part of the bonus puzzles, you get a plethora of jigsaws with the absolutely gorgeous scenery from the game. My favorites are the ancient Egyptian scenes.
I find this game to be well worth the cost. There is so much to do and it's packed with so many extras, that it would rate as an excellent CE with a bonus chapter.
Highly recommend this game if you want something different and like puzzles.
My 2 cents: I was looking forward to trying this. I haven't been enthused about a LOTW game in a while. I was hyped by all the great reviews and it being an editor's choice BUT I just couldn't get into it. I played through the entire demo but was left with a sense of blahness that I couldn't shake. It was very boring to me. All of the elements were there - interesting premise, gorgeous scenery, cliched but cool bad guy, ok puzzles - but the overall effect was lackluster. It felt as if the devs did just enough to make me take notice, but not enough to keep my interest. I deleted, but you may like it. Try the demo.
I loved the first two VW games. The last one was meh, but this one is awesome! I love a good story line and lots of puzzles. This game has both. If you like a good story with a twist at the end, then you'll like this game. The "good guys" and "bad guys" are all flip-flopped in this game. The main characters are twisted versions of classic fiction characters that you'll love to see.
After the opening scenes of VW games you have the choice of which locations to investigate based on the clues that you find. So you, the player, control the order in which the story unfolds for you. (My advice: The Tower, The Estate, Then Gray's Manor.) As a plot-centered player I also like the "Last time on Vermillion Watch..." opening simply because this series is a bit cumulative and I like the reminder. Members of the VW introduced in previous games make an appearance to help out in certain places (you get to choose which member's help you want) and a major character from the last VW is also a main character in the bonus chapter.
There are PLENTY of puzzles. A nice mix of different types in varying degrees of difficulty. Some are great, others not-so-great, depending on your puzzle preference. But there is something in here for everyone's taste.... I only tolerate HOs unless they're interactive or DP frogs. The HOs in this game are mostly junk piles, some silhouettes - meh. There are morphing objects in the HOs.
Another thing in this game's favor is that there aren't any momentous eye-rolling moments. No ridiculous laps in logic that make you scream. (Well, maybe just one, lol.) No zippers to replace and not one well and bucket scenario! Excellent!
On the down side, there IS some confusion. Like others, I used the hint button much more than I usually do, simply because I wasn't sure of what the developers were looking for. BUT I was playing with the blackbar tips off. Once I turned them back on I was fine.
Of course, the artwork is gorgeous and the VO actors were great. There was only one really annoying voice in the bonus chapter. Collectibles are wolf paws that are fairly easy to find. The usual CE bling is there. I especially like the character book.
The bonus chapter is a sequel that brings in characters from previous games to right a moral/social wrong that's left dangling in the main game. Animal lovers will like it. It's a good story, but it doesn't affect the main game which wraps up pretty well.
It got a little tedious in the middle before I turned the black bar tips back on, but overall I enjoyed myself playing this game. I liked the challenge of figuring out things done differently and I loved the ending.
I played the demo. Loved it. Read all the great reviews and bought it right away... complete disappointment.
The big draw for this game is the story. It has a great premise. It has a dynamite set-up with a cliffhanger at the end of the demo that leaves you on the seat of your pants... then it just falls apart. The demo is the best part of the game.
You go into the game as a Count trying to get your fiance back after both of you are turned into vampires. She's stolen from you by the king of the vampires because marriage to her is supposed to, in some way, make him the most powerful vampire ever. Add in the vampire hunting society that makes you a member and the prophecy you're supposed to fulfill... great set-up, right? You think you're going to find out what makes her so special? What power will the big bad get? How will you have to destroy him? How will you fulfill the prophecy? Tag-team vampire fighting with the order? ... But after the demo, it turns into just another gotta-rescue-my-fiance game.
Mild spoiler alert: Apparently, vampirism comes from a serum that a mad scientist made to cure a plague (wow, a simple formula can bestow immortality and magic) and the big bad guy most powerful vampire is just a spurned spoiled brat, nothing special. The answers to the exciting questions posed in the set-up are nonsensical...and the voice-over acting is cringe-worthy.
On the plus side, the game is gorgeous. The collectible glass figurines are pretty and challenging to find, but not impossible. The puzzles are good, if a bit easy.
The bonus chapter is a sequel. More of the same nonsense, but it continues the story. If you want to know what happens to the main characters and the bad guys that slipped away, then you'll want to get the CE. If you don't care, then the SE is fine.