This company Artifex Mundi really have hit the nail on the head at creating these puzzle indie games, they are incredibly at it. The first game took me a while to get into but eventually I was hooked on it, so inevitably I couldn’t wait to play the next one.
The games that Artifex create are always horror/evil related as they always feature a dark and mysterious setting, this game is the same, however not just a spinoff of the old one with a different storyline, this game felt new and adventurous, with me eagerly waiting to play the storyline and try and solve the puzzles that were thrown at me, this time using as little hints as possible, the game still features the click to move and the click to find the objects, however it is still surprisingly fun.
The game is set in a creepy and mysterious forest with top class animation and truly amazing sounds, where you were in your horse drawn carriage heading to a wedding where a wild bear attacks your horse drawn carriage causing you to go off track and then again at the wedding where it creates havoc scaring the people and wrecking the beautiful wedding, where your sister is kidnapped and you need to team up with your sisters almost husband (fiancé).You have to help your sister to get back and finally be united with her husband to be, it is her wedding day and it becomes so tragic instead of being so beautiful. It is so close to the them being together when this all happens, thus leading you on a chase to try catch the bear and free your sister, while solving puzzles and finding clues, with your extremely cute little kitten as a side kick eventually leading to The Abyss where you sister lays. This is a big dark part of the forest where it seems like it never ends.
This game has a really good pace to it, it doesn’t feel too rushed or too slow, you can play the game faster if you feel you want to or you can take it slow and sit and think about how to solve the puzzles. The puzzles have a similar setup to the previous game, where you need to find the pieces or make the pictures align or cut your way through things using pieces of tools you’ve collected, but they all have different outcomes. Artifex has taken such simple ideas and conveyed them so brilliantly through these 2 games. The puzzles don’t become boring or monotonous at all, I mean they carry more adventure and less copy paste effect than let’s say, the new far cry or something similar to that, so id give the puzzles a very solid 5/5.
The music for this game is soothing yet simple, easing your overheating brain from thinking, the artists and composers have gone to town with it and they have come back with a ton of good stuff. The sound effects are also really well done, the waterfall for example sounds like someone has opened a hole in the wall letting the water out, in other words exactly what it should sound like. The one thing I’m not so happy with is that amongst all the beautiful sounds there is always one repetitive mechanism making a highly infuriating noise, yes the whole point is to solve the puzzle and fix the mechanism however the sound is extremely frustrating and almost becomes like a torture after a while.
The graphics and animations are done flawlessly, the colours are vivid and they stand out, Artifex really have used a vast array of colours for this. They have slacked on any of the animations. They look very crisp and clean, I would definitely say an improvement.
Overall this game is rather entertaining to play, no matter how skilled you are. It can be challenging and it can be a great game to play by yourself or with family and friends as it’s suited for almost all ages. The gameplay is flawless with no glitches or bugs and it’s a game I found myself coming back to over and over. Its definitely a game I’m going to be keeping.
Great game Artifex Mundi, you guys keep improving!
Keep up the good work.
Thanks to Artifex Mundi for allowing us to review such a great game!