Grim Tales 2: The Legacy

Grim Tales: The Legacy
by Elephant Games

Series links:  Grim Tales 1: The Bride, Grim Tales 2: The Legacy, Grim Tales 3: The Wishes, Grim Tales 4: The Stone Queen, Grim Tales 5: Bloody Mary, Grim Tales 6: The Vengeance, Grim Tales 7: Color of Fright, Grim Tales 8: The Final Suspect, Grim Tales 9: Threads of Destiny, Grim Tales 10: The Heir, Grim Tales 11: Crimson Hollow, Grim Tales 12: Graywitch, Grim Tales 13: The White Lady

Available at:
Big Fish for PC as Collector's Edition  / Standard Edition
Big Fish for Mac as Collector'sEdition  / Standard Edition
iWin
Steam as Collector's Edition




After being invited to the Christening of your sister’s son, you arrive to find a deserted estate in Grim Tales: The Legacy! After getting married to the love of her life, it seems like a happy ending is right around the corner for your sister. However, all is not well. The sounds of ravenous beasts echo through the halls of the once great estate and your sister is missing! Use your Hidden Object talents to track down her family and save them in Grim Tales: The Legacy!

Collector’s Edition includes:

• Bonus gameplay
  
• Intergrated strategy guide
  
• Stunning soundtrack
  

Click images to enlarge
   

Save Your Newborn Nephew From The Family Curse

  

BASED ON COMPLETED GAME

Compared to the original Grim Tales, this game is so good it was almost a disappointment. It is so much more complex and sensational, and I was hoping for another quiet night in. *grin*

In ‘The Legacy’ we follow on from the STORY in the previous game, ‘The Bride’. Invited to the christening of our nephew, we discover on arrival that once again all is not well. Using a similar technique to that used last time, we use photos to immerse ourselves in our sister’s memories and attempt to prevent the catastrophe that has occurred. To aid us we have the ghost of Gray’s grandfather, though you might remember that sort of thing didn’t end so well last time!

The GRAPHICS are spectacular. Beautifully drawn HO scenes and other locations, literally dozens of them, making creative use of different lighting, provide us with a delightful journey through the very complicated castle. Luckily, we have a INTERACTIVE JUMP MAP and very HELPFUL HINTS. There is NO JOURNAL.

The SOUND was also exceptional. In particular, some of the music was first class, and I loved the environmental noises. With the exception of the squeaky chandelier in the Knight’s Hall. It nearly drove me nuts. The voiceovers were rare, and very well done.

The GAMEPLAY is much more DIFFICULT than in the first game, in part simply because of the size and complexity of the game. But the PUZZLES, of which there are MANY, are also more DIFFICULT. Some also tested your patience by being fairly time consuming.

Unlike ‘The Bride’, ‘The Legacy’ feels like an Elephant game. It has some of that sense of grandeur and spectacle that I have come to associate with their games.

So, despite my tongue-in-cheek opening lines, I enjoyed this game thoroughly, and recommend it highly.

I Recommend This Game!

Grim Tales 2: The Legacy (IHOG)

Abandon logic all ye who enter here.

Options include separate sliders for Music, Environment, SFX and Voices, a slider for Brightness and Custom Cursor.  Choice of three difficulties, which can be changed at any time.

Story:

This story continues the story that started in the first game, GT: The Bride.  Your sister has invited you to come visit her home -- a bona fide castle -- to finally meet and be present for her son's christening. When you arrive, the castle is deserted and wolves are on the prowl.  Once again we will be entering Luisa's memories to learn what has transpired.


There is no Journal, and at least once there is a mini-game that requires you to remember something from another room.

Gameplay:

We have a MAP, which is kind of interactive.  You can insta-transport, and it does show your location and areas where there's something to do, but not necessarily something you can do RIGHT NOW.  If you hover your cursor over a location, you will get a Task List for that specific site, but even if there's something to do there, if it's not on the task list, it won't show up as an active location.  Ugh.

There are no directional HINTS, and you will instead get a popup with text telling you exactly where you need to go and what you need to do, making it only semi-useful.

Hidden Object Scenes are all standard find-by-list with no interaction. Items are well-hidden, but at least there is no misclick penalty when you are in Casual mode.


If you read my reviews with any frequency, you know that I really have a problem with being asked to do things that don't make sense.  Ah, game logic, how do I loathe thee?  Let me count the ways.  The ridiculousness in this game was over the top, and really set my teeth on edge right from the beginning.  Eventually I just let it go and went with the absurdity, and even managed to enjoy myself later in the game.

The Mini-games range from fun to pretty challenging.

Sights and Sounds:

The anachronisms were a little jarring.  As discordant as... well... paraphrasing Dante and Elizabeth Barrett Browning in the same review! lol~

Visually the game is nice... Not my favorite style, but there are a few really pretty scenes.


The soundtrack is good, and the few voiceovers present in the game were done well (as best I can remember!)

CE Content:

• Integrated Strategy Guide
  
• Bonus Chapter
  
• 8 Wallpapers
  
• 8 Concept Art
  
• 5 Music Tracks (can be saved)
  

Bonus Chapter:

The extra chapter has us entering the memories of another member of the Gray family in order to fix an issue from the past.  It was a decent length, and I think I enjoyed it more than the main story.

Verdict:

I was seriously annoyed by the logic in this title, but that doesn't make it a bad game... It's simply a pet peeve of mine.  It didn't help that there are also some localization errors (grammar, etc.) that were jumping out at me.  There are no Steam or in-game achievements that would have made it more enjoyable (for me).

The game took me almost 4.5 hours to complete, despite rapid-clicking in the HOS and skipping multiple mini-games.  I would recommend this game for those who enjoy the genre and fans of the series.