Dark City: Vienna (2019)
I continued with the Dark City hidden-object game series by playing its third instalment, Dark City: Vienna, released in 2019. The Vienna Opera House has gained a ghost of its own, one that leaves threatening messages and its fiery emblem wherever it goes. The ghost clearly seems to have a serious grudge. Our detective is called in to investigate the case, which ultimately leads to the dark secrets of a toxic workplace. The premise is intriguing, but the story has its gaps. In terms of both audiovisual presentation and gameplay, the third entry is very similar to the first two games in the series.
Dark City: Munich (2018)
I played the second instalment of the Dark City series immediately after finishing the first one. The Munich-set sequel was released at the end of 2018 and centres on the hunt for a werewolf during Oktoberfest. The similarities to the first game are obvious. However, the case itself is new and distinct, and it actually takes an unexpected turn when our otherwise realistic detective witnesses something unbelievable. Compared to the more grounded drama of the first game, this pushes the series much further towards fantasy. The storytelling is also more experimental, and the villain is more convincing. In terms of gameplay, the foundations remain the same, the graphics feel cut from the same cloth, and the soundtrack is so similar that I even wondered whether parts of it had been recycled. Nevertheless, the differences were enough to make the sequel well worth playing.
Dark City: London (2017)
I returned to hidden object adventures with the Dark City series, which visits famous cities while drawing on local history and legends. Dark City: London, released in 2017, is the first instalment in the series. It is a promising beginning visually, atmospherically and mechanically, but its detective story painfully leaves some important questions unanswered. The game represents an early form of modern HOPA design (Hidden Object Puzzle Adventure), combining an adventure-game style narrative and inventory-based progression with hidden object scenes and mini-games. Compared to newer entries, it is fairly straightforward and contains less content.
Deja Vu Collector's Edition (2020)
While browsing the Adventure Games category on Big Fish Games, I came across a hidden-object adventure that looked somewhat different from the usual mainstream fare — Deja Vu. First I noticed the retro-realistic visual style, and then the promise of a journey through the remnants of the former Soviet Union. On Steam, the game’s description is downright confrontational: the mainstream hidden-object scene is dragged through the mud while promising a “different” experience. In practice, the gameplay does not deviate from the usual formula — the familiar hidden-object and puzzle sequences are embedded within an adventure-style narrative and inventory tasks. Yet the setting carves out its own thematic space: places frozen somewhere in the 1980s, unfashionable people, and systemic corruption. I couldn’t help thinking of Adam Wolfe, another atypical hidden-object title I have reviewed earlier on Samooja. Deja Vu does not reach the same level, but it remains a curious title worth a look.
Mystery Case Files: Rewind Collector's Edition (2018)
I do not know why it took me this long to discover Rewind, the seventeenth entry in the Mystery Case Files series. I have not played the series in order, but rather followed a vague sense of attraction. Perhaps the game’s visual image did not appeal to me, and the Big Fish Games description does little to explain what the game is really about. The title and the players, however, do tell the truth: this is a journey into memories. Rewind rewinds backwards in more than one sense. Mechanically, it combines elements from the first four entries in the series, from the era of pure hidden object games before adventure elements began to intrude. It also brings together characters from earlier games, with the old adversary Charles Dalimar once again looming in the background – although the central figure this time is his son Victor. Victor has meddled with the settings of a time machine and scrambled the timelines. The player’s task is to return characters torn from their own timelines back where they belong. Silly as it sounds, I enjoyed it.
Adam Wolfe Complete Edition (2016)
The 2016 hidden-object adventure Adam Wolfe separates itself from the mainstream of the genre in a convincing way. The title character, Adam Wolfe, is a private detective clad in a black leather jacket, specialising in paranormal cases. His attitude, however, is grounded and level-headed — not exactly sceptical, as he considers demons real enough to shoot. Adam is a striking, conflicted character, and his four-episode story is fairly complex — and far from happy. The game succeeds in welding hidden-object tasks into the storyline exceptionally well. It is both radical and mature.
Antiquarium (2023)
Released in mid-September 2023, the hidden object game Antiquarium combines an old-school game structure with AI-assisted visuals in an intriguing way. The player takes a job in an antique shop, where the work consists not only of serving customers but also of searching for lost — or rather scattered — decorative objects, accompanied by assorted words of wisdom attached to them. There are six different task types, which always repeat in the same fixed sequence. The visuals also repeat themselves quite heavily — or perhaps it would be more accurate to say they vary versions of the same motifs — but in a curiously compelling way. The vagueness produced by AI felt to me fantastical and suitably challenging.
Victorian Mysteries: The Yellow Room (2012)
The third and final entry in the Victorian Mysteries trilogy, The Yellow Room, was released in 2012. It already resembles modern hidden object games quite closely: traditional search scenes give way to adventure-game-like inventory tasks and puzzle-oriented mini-games. The game is based on Gaston Leroux’s 1907 locked-room mystery Le mystère de la chambre jaune (The Mystery of the Yellow Room). Compared to its predecessors, The Yellow Room succeeds better at conveying the original story. The player acts as the assistant to master detective Rouletabille, Sainclair, who also serves as the narrator in the novel.
Victorian Mysteries: Woman in White (2010)
The second entry in the Victorian Mysteries game series, released in 2010, Woman in White expands the formula from pure hidden object scenes and mechanical mini-games toward a more fully fledged adventure game. The focus is now narrative, and the inventory has multiple slots. This game, too, is based on Wilkie Collins’ novel of the same name. Instead of solving a theft, the player unravels the mystery of the woman in white in all its twists. My overall experience was rather lukewarm. The Victorian setting failed to charm me, and the hidden object scenes were overly easy. Audiovisually, however, the second game is clearly more polished than the first.
Mystery Masterpiece: The Moonstone (2009)
The Victorian Mysteries trilogy, released between 2009 and 2012, follows in the footsteps of the long-running hidden object staple Mystery Case Files. Instead of original backstories, however, The Moonstone, Woman in White, and The Yellow Room draw directly from literature — specifically from pioneering detective classics by Wilkie Collins and Gaston Leroux. I was interested in these games precisely as literary adaptations. As hidden object, puzzle, or adventure games, there is nothing particularly distinctive about their mechanics. I hesitate to call them good, but they are certainly playable and easy enough, and the historical character of both the games and their stories appealed to me. In this blog post I focus on the first game and will return to the other two later in their own articles.