Being a HOG (Hidden Object Games) enthusiast ever since I discovered their existence, I opted for the Collector's Edition of Darkarta: A Broken Heart's Quest, which includes the soundtrack and a bonus adventure (also offered as separate DLCs).
In Lewis Carroll's iconic novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel, Through the Looking-Glass, the eponymous young protagonist sneaks into and makes her way through a fantasy world populated with hybrid creatures, walking and talking chess pawns and playing cards following mathematically structured moves. Whether a piece of concealed social and political satire, a surreal coming-of-age allegory or simply a game of words, notions and numbers narrated in fairy tale form, Carroll's universe remains one of literature's richest, most fascinating puzzles. Nightmarishly sophisticated in its understated wittiness, it brings forth the dramatic contradictions in human society's extreme organization, the inherent "madness" governing virtually every aspect of our everyday life and interaction.
Not the (rather incomprehensible) recent remake, but Dario Argento's original 1970 masterpiece about a ballet student arriving at a dance academy which is actually a witch coven. Keepsake is a lovely vintage adeventure game that seems to be using an engine similar to the one another, older classic game, Sanitarium, was made with. Throughout the evolution of the plot, there are many winks at Argento's visionary thriller, although the general atmosphere and spirit are quite different.
A city (urbs in Latin, hence the adjective "urban") is a miniature universe, a unit mirroring a totality; a living, evolving microcosm with its own internal, intrinsic and intricate rules and laws, the mysteries and secrets that haunt it, the tales and legends that define it.
The first time (about a decade and a half ago) that I attempted to install Sins of the Fathers on my then Windows 98 SE PC, I was met with bitter disappointment; the game just refused to run properly, defying any and all workarounds. It was only in 2015 - thanks to its drastically revamped, 20 year anniversary edition distributed on Steam - that I finally got to play this legendary adventure, rightfully considered as a cornerstone in its genre.
A nice, atmospheric little game telling the story of a failed writer who finds himself locked in a wooden house in the forest, unable to remember his recent past. An exploration of his surroundings gives him some clues which make him doubt his own actions and motives. Serena seems to be his wife, who has disappeared under suspicious circumstances. But what exactly happened to her, and why?
Inspired by Beethoven's only opera, as also suggested by its title, The Fidelio Incident recounts a plane accident that ends up separating a young couple, Stanley and Leonore, in a vast snow-covered landscape littered with half-dead jellyfish and giant animal skeletons. During a desperate search for his beloved wife, Stanley's apparently lost memories gradually resurface, painting a not so rosy picture of his past...
A young couple, Victor and pregnant Alicia, move to a somewhat decrepit urban apartment building, only to find out that their elderly landlord, lonely and mysterious Mr. Morton, is spying on them and the other tenants through a sophisticated surveillance system. In an attempt to catch him red-handed, Victor stumbles upon an unimaginable discovery...
Aesthetically superb and intellectually challenging, The Room Two follows in the steps of equally gorgeous riddlefest The Room, this time with a hint of a story.
