fromFavorites: Midnight Calling-Arabella, Beyond the Invisible-Darkness Came, Medium Detective- Fright from the Past, Empress of the Deep- 1,2 & 3, Legacy-Mercy of the Gallows, Untold History-Descendant of the Sun, Dominic Crane 1 & 2.
Available at BFG since 2018. Review based on completed game and bonus game. Although the beginning starts off a little cartoonish as far as the resolution goes, the actual compositions are fantastic! The further you play, the more you find a balanced mix - cartoonish to more realistic, but all with great, spot-on perspectives.
MOSS, ROCKS, RIVERS & LAVA: Emerald moss in most scenes, sometimes carpets of it, sometimes a clump. Megalithic-sized rocks in the environment and huge castles. Water everywhere, streaming and winding. Twisting, ancient tree-trunks and logs. Lava spilling, fire crackling and portions of timbers glowing. Ferns, ivy and weeds! Ah, delightful. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND WEARING YOUR HEADPHONES AND TURNING UP THE ENVIRONMENTAL SOUND to capture all the accompanying sound effects which are really big in this game.
EVEN THE INDOORS is jam-packed with spot-on perspectives and details. Just about every scene is almost a computer game version of something that could be real! Just gorgeous. I did get quite the feeling, that many off these places were real! Including the castles AND the occasional, weird decorations...
The storyline is a little bit bloodthirsty in a few short scenes, but not too much is shown, and most of it is left up to your imagination.
HOPS - about 6-8 in main game. 3-4 in bonus.
PUZZLES – were fun. SOUNDS – 4 adjustments. Turn up the environmental sound on your headphones. You'll be swept away with the detail.
CHARACTERS: Minimal, intermittent interaction. I thought the characters were done well but felt the reading voices were aimed at a younger audience. So, I silenced the voices and read the dialogue, which helped build a different atmosphere.
BONUS game- The bonus game is very enjoyable.
This CE has lots to offer, from morphing objects to re-playable games. However, I would say that this game is so good, that the SE will be a great buy too!
fromFavorites: Beyond the Invisible-Darkness Came, Medium Detective- Fright from the Past, Empress of the Deep- 1,2 & 3, Legacy-Mercy of the Gallows, Untold History-Descendant of the Sun, Dominic Crane 1 & 2.
Available at BFG since 2018. Review based on completed game. Not a scary game, but moody and detailed. Quite often, I'm in the mood for a game... just like this!
Never gets really dark in content, so if you're looking for more of a fright, or just more of a sinister vibe, you won't get it here. Some relatively normal looking scenes are thrown in with ones of large, abandoned buildings and rooms. Outdoor scenes include background woods, and various gardens that were once alive and vibrant, but are now left overgrown and hide secrets. Great if you want a bit of solitude. You can almost feel the damp in the air!
6-8 HOPS. Fun puzzles. Great background music (more of a non-instrusive, atmosphere enhancer). 4 sound controls.
I hope the second one in the series is as good as this one!
Humans, Chimeras, Demons...OUTDOOR woodland settings at night
PostedJune 18, 2018
SparkleGlow100
fromFavorites: Beyond the Invisible-Darkness Came, Medium Detective- Fright from the Past, Empress of the Deep- 1,2 & 3, Legacy-Mercy of the Gallows, Untold History-Descendant of the Sun, Dominic Crane 1 & 2.
Available at BFG since 2018. Review based on completed game. I don't know much about the Chimeras series, because only this one and one another have caught my attention. The story is on the lighter side, more a mix of "magical/folklore" creatures (not intensely spooky or creepy or anything like that), but you can tell from my title, what the subject is.
GRAPHICS – Beautiful, clear, enjoyable, scenic settings in the evening. Outdoor scenes, and outdoor dwellings with lots of woodland.
HOPS: 12 – 14? Little and often - Sometimes a large wordlist, sometimes only 6-8 words. My only suggestion is to make the HOPS BIGGER. The windowed variety when they occur are just TINY!!
SOUND: Of the 4 sound settings, Environment and Effects were very good. I silenced Music and Voices, so I can't comment on those.
fromFavorites: Beyond the Invisible-Darkness Came, Medium Detective- Fright from the Past, Empress of the Deep- 1,2 & 3, Legacy-Mercy of the Gallows, Untold History-Descendant of the Sun, Dominic Crane 1 & 2.
Available at BFG since 2017. Review based on completed game. A fun game and nice for a change.
A game with a superhero vibe. Starts off a bit busy and really a bit too much going on. It felt a bit cartoonish but light-hearted, so it seemed to go together.
After I left the introductory scenes, the game seemed to get better, and kept getting better, the more I played it - not just the story, but the graphics too. If it had been consistently good from the beginning, it would easily have been a 5.
fromFavorites: Beyond the Invisible-Darkness Came, Medium Detective- Fright from the Past, Empress of the Deep- 1,2 & 3, Legacy-Mercy of the Gallows, Untold History-Descendant of the Sun, Dominic Crane 1 & 2.
Available at BFG since 2018 Review based on completed game and bonus game.
****Musty, dusty books, moths fluttering around outdoor lamps and old meters and gauges in all sorts of old forgotten rooms. **** Great mix of varied scenes – you never spend too long in any one place. Find your way around the edges of a city, an abandoned amusement park, harbor-setting, laboratories and warehouses. There's all sorts of electronic equipment to fix and find everywhere. ****Ambient and very relaxing music – sort of electronic-spacey sounding. ****Artfully told storyline. Characters done convincingly. Mild and infrequent violence. Not a spooky game.
GRAPHICS: Excellent. Great mix of real objects mixed in with enough artwork done on them to make them look...well, like art! Spacious and well-constructed in most scenes. HOPS: All really enjoyable. About 10 or 12 in the main game and 4 in the Bonus. Mainly equipment. There is a match-3 you can switch over to.
PUZZLES: Many were a lot of fun. SOUNDS – 4 adjustments: Each important category has its own control. CHARACTERS: Regular but intermittent interaction.
COLLECTOR'S EDITIONS: This had so many extra things that I enjoyed in the game itself. There are the 3 following categories to collect for:
**Plain jigsaw shape **Morphing objects **Items for a collection.
In addition, the BONUS game is EQUALLY enjoyable to the main game!
Rich with detail and atmosphere, with stunning graphics and scenes
PostedMay 14, 2018
SparkleGlow100
fromFavorites: Beyond the Invisible-Darkness Came, Medium Detective- Fright from the Past, Empress of the Deep- 1,2 & 3, Legacy-Mercy of the Gallows, Untold History-Descendant of the Sun, Dominic Crane 1 & 2.
Available at BFG since 2018. Review based on completed game.
I heartily recommend this game, the Standard Edition. If you have a high-resolution computer, you will be blown away by the quality, depth and detail of the graphics. They've used a great blend, incorporating real items into the scenes. I know a lot of games say they're HD, but even if they are, you can only get as much detail as was put in, in the first place. And this one had a lot!
Don't let the picture of the giant rat from the CE game-picture put you off! It did me, until I read some of the positive reviews and tried it out. I'd also put it down to being a kids' game because of that rat! Only the bonus game of the Collector's Edition version of this game seems to be more formulated for for kids... that's where the rat must be, because I never saw it in the main game!
What you'll get here is stunningly detailed, atmospheric and sophisticated. The make-up of the scenes makes me believe they actually went there and took photos, because the structure of the scenes are so detailed, with natural looking perspectives. In parts it was like a homage to the original "House of 1000 doors: Family Secrets." Just the feel of it, and some little reminders here and there.
I was constantly waiting to be disappointed, except it never happened! Just scene after scene of enjoyment. ¾ of the way through I opened a door to discover...something that I thought was the turning point of fun for me. I was very disappointed. But I went back to it after a break and realized that, that part was not of any significance or duration and I continued to enjoy the last quarter in utter joy!
All the usual number of HOPS and puzzles. Interaction with characters is minimal, a little more at the beginning to set the story, and then it peters off, to you exploring great scenes!
fromFavorites: Beyond the Invisible-Darkness Came, Medium Detective- Fright from the Past, Empress of the Deep- 1,2 & 3, Legacy-Mercy of the Gallows, Untold History-Descendant of the Sun, Dominic Crane 1 & 2.
Review based on completed game. A 2018 game with all the usual options available. I played it from start to finish.
How cool is this game? Very. The characters feature a lot and thank goodness they're likeable and pretty much know their way around their neighborhood. Stick around and you'll be safe...maybe. The mountains of the city ARE the tall buildings; the sounds might not be birds and water features, but we have the humming and buzzing of the city as it breathes (well, you know what I mean!).
WHAT I LIKED: 1. Cityscapes, 2. Cool, street-wise characters, 3. Moonlit, rainy city, with glowing fluorescent lights, 4. Warehouses and railway depos, 5. Lots of metals, large glass windows, 6. Lots of spacious areas.
Plenty of HOPS - Enjoyable to play. The puzzles were varied and quite unusual from say a couple of years ago.
The music was so good I turned it up!
WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE: Right after the demo, and lasting around 30 mins, there is a lull in the story. It's a bit of an outlier – and not in sync with the atmosphere of the city. I was relieved when the story reverted back to the city-based story.
fromFavorites: Beyond the Invisible-Darkness Came, Medium Detective- Fright from the Past, Empress of the Deep- 1,2 & 3, Legacy-Mercy of the Gallows, Untold History-Descendant of the Sun, Dominic Crane 1 & 2.
YUMMY! I love all the background water: the pools and the sea. Waves crashing, birds tweeting and the fun music, are nice too. My only wish is that the music was on a separate control so that I could still get the other sounds when I'm done with the cha-cha-cha/rhumba.
I also can't get enough of the explosion sounds and funny squelching...which must be the melon!
Relaxing. Just what I needed. Not particularly challenging. Just right. A gradual introduction to more and more obstacles to overcome. Other reviews have gone into detail with this part, but basically there are 3 challenge levels which is good.
There are no annoying "clue" arrows if you fail to make an immediate decision. I'm playing in "limited moves." I'm not sure if you get clues in relaxed mode or not.
DO PLAY this game if you want fantastic detail in the incredibly detailed style of a few years ago and play 18-20 HOPS
PostedApril 14, 2018
SparkleGlow100
fromFavorites: Beyond the Invisible-Darkness Came, Medium Detective- Fright from the Past, Empress of the Deep- 1,2 & 3, Legacy-Mercy of the Gallows, Untold History-Descendant of the Sun, Dominic Crane 1 & 2.
Available at BFG since 2012. Review based on completed game.
(Don't play this game if you want a map/ locking inventory bar/voiceovers!!)
The graphics are SUPERB. Real items have been used in many places and altered slightly using digital art to look game-excellent. I mean, the 3 screenshots on the download page for this game say everything.
The game is divided into 2 main chapters. Each chapter has many areas, inside and outside to explore. Once you move on to the second, main part of the story, you will no longer be able to return/ roam freely in the first.
GRAPHICS - Widescreen or Fullscreen. Fullscreen looks better on my computer, to intensify the detail.
HOPS: Wordlists: 18-20, beautiful to look at – serene and detailed.
PUZZLES: All skippable. In difficult, takes about a minute. SOUNDS - with 2 adjustments: Music/Sound
MAP: NO JOURNAL: YES, and many times it is where your clues and codes will be stored. DIFFICULTY SETTINGS – 2 –NOT interchangeable. If you choose the hardest setting, you won't get any sparkly hints. The hint takes longer to recharge in this setting but if you just use the hint to take you to the room/area, and then make an educated guess, it will save your hint.
HINT: Guides and leads. INVENTORY – NOT lockable CHARACTERS: Minimal interaction. There are no voice-overs. You read.
fromFavorites: Beyond the Invisible-Darkness Came, Medium Detective- Fright from the Past, Empress of the Deep- 1,2 & 3, Legacy-Mercy of the Gallows, Untold History-Descendant of the Sun, Dominic Crane 1 & 2.
Where are the stunning compositions we once saw from the original Blue Tea Games? Where are the serene and stunning landscapes? Where are the mysterious buildings, palaces, gardens, or woods that call to you to investigate them? Those games where it's so exhilarating just to be there and you're eager to find out what's around each corner, and in every nook and cranny? Blue Tea Games might have been involved to some extent but apart from some of the style/look of certain elements, it doesn't match up to their previous work.