Hidden Objects enthusiasts rejoice! Artifex Mundi brings us their follow-up game to Tower of Darkness, Stories of forgotten past. Here you take upon yourself the role of the local alchemist that is requested to solve a (what seems) straightforward murder case, per demand by the king. But it’s not as easy it looks, as you uncover more then you bargained for. Unravel the game’s secrets and discover the truth. In a game filled to the brim with intricate puzzles, gorgeous artwork and some awkwardness, Queen’s quest 2 will take you upon a magical journey. Are you brave enough to discover what lies beyond the horizon? Then let’s go and discover what these magical lands hold for us! Grab your magnifying glass, don upon yourself your finest cloak and load up your backpack, because we’ll be gone for a while!
This is posted with our old review template, our new one starts next week March 11
What is good?
- Artstyle: One of the first things that you’ll notice when playing the game, is how intricately detailed the environments are! And that is because this game is hand drawn! Believe you me, they’ve got some amazing artists out there. Every scene you’ll be staring at looks like they could’ve been pulled out of an art gallery or storybook. They look so fresh, new and serene. Got to give props where props are due, and this surely is one of their fortes! Really looking forward into seeing more of these guys!
- Puzzles and minigames: You won’t be having many downtime moments with Queen’s Quest 2. There’s more than enough for you to go around! There’re all sorts of crazy stuff for you to discover. You’ve got your mix and match objectives, where one object will help you attain the next and so forth, then there are the classic hidden objects. But you’ve also got your detective puzzles, where you need to use your tools to uncover the truth or brew a potion to help you get to the next screen. This is a welcomed addition as it mixes up the stock constantly, which is a really good thing! As otherwise, you risk the chance of it becoming stale.
- Nice story: Story-wise, it starts simple. The king has called upon your skills and talents to uncover the mystery behind who killed a certain person in this fairytale world. But things quickly go awry and you are called upon again to reveal the entire truth about the who’s and what’s that asked for the events to play out as they have. You’ll meet all sorts of crazy and cute animals as well as people. They will give you bits and bobs for you to stitch together and find out the truth! To be honest I didn’t think a game of this genre would have such an intriguing story and I quite enjoyed it to be honest!
- Soundscape: And how do you give that perfect finishing touch to such a beautiful and fantastical world? With some nice whimsical music of course! Not only will you be immersed by some well-drawn landscapes you’ll also be bathed in the soft tunes of magical music. Queen’s Quest 2 is the perfect combination of art and music, which will bring you a zen feeling like no other!
Mixed feelings.
- Skip function: This is just a minor gripe that I had here. The skipping function. You actually got the option to skip an entire puzzle if you want. I don’t really get why they put it in as most of ‘m can be solved by literally clicking everywhere if you are out of options, or use the matching minigame. I guess it’s there for getting a few achievements if you missed one, and want to replay the entire game. But otherwise, it’s an unnecessary option that didn’t need to be implemented. I’d rather have had it that they would’ve exorcized some its demons (more on that later).
- Oversimplified… Sometimes: Some puzzles are just made way to easy. Your screen already is dominated by all kinds of hud elements, so you know nothing will be hidden behind those. That leaves an already smaller field to find objects in. This isn’t helped by the fact that most of them are then clustered close to each other! So, if you’ve got to find a lot of items? You’ll lose the effect of this being a hidden objects’ game and think that this is just a point and click adventure… I mean, we’re here to find them! That’s the entire purpose for it being a hidden objects game in the first place. It’s allowed to make it a challenge from time to time… Well, thank god then that it’s not all of them or this would be on the “what is bad” section.
What is bad?
- Begone demons!!!: My god what did I just watch? Someone get me the holy water and a crucifix because these people are possessed by the devil and need an exorcism, or at least a good doctor… This fact felt so gut-wrenching! They put so much detail into hand drawing everything, and then mess it up by adding animation to the facial features! The way it moves and looks is so awkward that it feels out of place. Please, just make it static! It took away that lovely feeling of being in a cute fairytale, and replaced it with the sort of dread that I’d be losing my soul any second to Beelzebub if I stared at those lifeless moving faces for too long… Sheesh…
Queen’s Quest 2: Stories of forgotten past – 69/100
Artifex Mundi brings us a beautifully detailed world filled with minigames and puzzles, accompanied by a relaxing soundtrack. But they might want to tweak those facial animations because those are the stuff of nightmares! Nothing more can be said here I think! This is a fun little hidden objects game that will please everyone. It’s not too hard, nor too easy. Heck, it even gives you a skip function if you really can’t figure out a puzzle! A pity in a way as this kind of breaks the puzzles down to just throw away things that you don’t need to bother with. I’d recommend this to any puzzle fan, or if you just want to play something that could relax a weary mind, or if you need to break away from all those violent games. So, there you have it people! This is Queen’s Quest 2! Now if you’d excuse me, I need to try out if that flying spell really works… see you in the next review!