Any puzzle enthusiast that likes “find the object” kind of themes, will know who Artifex Mundi is. They have published their lion-share of puzzle games over the years and still continue to do so. And thus, bring forth Path of Sin: Greed. In this new adventure, Cordelia Games puts you in the shoes of 2 investigators, hired to investigate an alleged suicide on a remote island. Of course, things quickly take a turn for the worst though as you travel down the rabbit hole. It is up to you to uncover the real truth of what has been going on. Through puzzles and deductions, you will have to piece together what really is going on here! So if you are feeling up for this challenge and are prepared to become a real puzzlestigator? Read on! Because this is my review of Path of Sin: Greed.
- Amazing artwork: Bravo! Arts department. You guys did an amazing job into bringing this story to life. Each different room has its own unique features that make it stand apart from the previous one. Be it a dark and damp cave, or a thrashed surveillance room. The amount of fine detail truly is amazing and can only be applauded. I don’t know how long it took to create each and every room? But you can truly say that it is an artist ‘s work! I hope that their passion and attention to detail never fades and that it will continue to be seen in their future games!
- Interesting story: At times, these puzzle games tend to have a cheesy and corny story. But not Path of Sin: Greed. It throws in some plot twists here and there. Although some of these will make you roll your eyes and sigh “Of course…”. Let this not discourage you though! The overall storyline still remains a solid one and will leave you yearning to uncover the truth as to what really happened! Heck, you’ll maybe even feel like a detective yourself, at the end of it! Detective Adonis… Huh… Sounds pretty damn nice, if I say so myself!
- Challenging puzzles: Some of the puzzles that you’ll have to crack, aren’t really straight forward and will require time for you to crack. Though others are pretty straight forward and practically auto-completes itself (more on this late). The fact remains that there are some pretty challenging puzzles out there. Like, finding 2 pieces of a broken statue. Where could they be? Sometimes you’ll actually have to backtrack to already visited “find the items” rooms. All the while getting 0 hints that you actually had to backtrack to one of these rooms. It was purely by chance that I clicked one of these rooms while I was struggling to find a certain item. Darn rascally designers!
- Extra story: Once you complete the main story mode, you’ll be granted access to a locked-off section. This continues the story of one of the protagonists. Which I absolutely liked. This is pure fan service and a standing ovation to every puzzle enthusiast who completed their main storyline. This is the fruit of your labor. Not a lot of games out there does this kind of stuff. Unlocking an entire side story which has the same amount of polish as the main one. As a matter of fact, they wouldn’t even have needed to do so. But I’m glad they did! Pure fan service at it’s best guys!
- Voiced Characters: Across the entire board, the voice actors used in Path of Sin: Greed are doing a good job into portraying their characters. Unfortunately, some of the voice actors sound like they were using a broken microphone. Either by having a very cloudy and muffled voice. Or by clicks and pops during the conversation. And I thought, hey, maybe this is just a bug. But when it only happened with the same character over and over again. I knew. This guy? Was phoning it in over Skype! Pity, since the rest of the crew does it’s best into sounding believable. Though sometimes tacky at best…
- A bit too straightforward: Overal, the difficulty is okay. But when you’re in the flow of things, and you are gaining objects at a rapid-fire speed? You’ll feel like things click together a bit too fast. Detracting from the core element of what you are supposed to do. Investigate. On countless occasions, you’ll find an item and will be like. Oh okay, that goes there. And upon doing so? A new item will be given, which goes into the next piece. There’s a set stream for you to travel along. It’s just a bit disappointing that the game pushes you along that line, almost spoon-feeding you what to do next. And that was even on the Hard difficulty.
- Colors blend a bit too much: Though I previously stated that this game’s artwork is amazing. Sometimes it’s a bit too amazing. The colors tend to mix and match the exact same color as the background that the object is in front of. Making it basically chameleon itself! I actually had to use one of the hints to find a pair of shoes. Damnit… You could’ve at least screwed around with the hue so that it stood out a tiny bit more. It actually was because of the hinted outline that I saw these god damned shoes. Bleurgh… Other then that, some objects aren’t really obvious as to what they are. Just like the screenshot that I used for the What is Bad section. There IS a balloon that you have to find in this one. Pretty sure that you’ll have a hard time discerning the balloon.
CONCLUSION
Score: 75%
Path of Sin: Greed surprised me quite a bit. Not only is the story quite enjoyable and lengthy. The artwork department did a tremendous job of bringing the story to life. Also, the extra story-line that gets unlocked after completing the main story-line brings that extra piece of value that we all know and love. This is true dedication to the players and not our wallet. Something that I can only endorse and hope other developers do the same! Just, if you are going to use voice actors, be sure that the quality is the same for every character.
Developer: Cordelia Games Publisher: Artifex Mundi
Played on: Xbox One X Also available on: PC and Mobile
Alexis spent 5 hours exploring these puzzles.
Achievement difficulty for 1000 Gamerscore: 8 hours, depending on how quick you are in finding items.
Perfect for: Puzzle enthusiasts!
Xbox Game Store link: Click here