Timeless 2: The Lost Castle

Timeless: The Lost Castle
by Boolat Entertainment - February, 2013

Series links:  Timeless: The Forgotten Town, Timeless 2: The Lost Castle

Available at:
Big Fish for PC and Mac
Steam



Every night you’ve been haunted by visions of a man in a red hood, pleading for you to save an innocent soul. You pack your bags for Europe, but soon you’ll find yourself headed for a different destination, stranded aboard a flying ship. In the distance, an ancient castle among the snowy mountains holds the key to releasing a young girl’s spirit, but it also contains an ancient evil sleeping just under its foundations. Follow in the footsteps of the Man in Red and uncover his secrets in Timeless: The Lost Castle, a mysterious Hidden-Object Puzzle Adventure game.

• Three levels of difficulty
  
• Explore a snow-covered castle
  
• Unmask the Man in Red
  
• A story of betrayal and redemption
  

Click images to enlarge

Buy It On Sale ***

BASED ON COMPLETED GAME

How we got involved in this mess is never explained, but we find ourselves on a deserted blimp as it’s about to self-destruct. A guy in a red hood tells us we must SAVE A LITTLE GIRL, which I’m in favour of, but his behaviour is odd, and I just can’t trust him. On the ground, we’re left to fend for ourselves in a strange MEDIEVAL CASTLE on a snow capped peak. Despite repeat appearances from the other characters, the story does not really occupy the mind. That’s left for the gameplay.

Plenty of both HOs and PUZZLES in this one. I would think there was something for everyone. HOs are two types, LIST by words and by silhouette. The games are not very hard, although I did have to use the DIRECTIONAL HINT quite a bit to find out what to do next. It was not very obvious. Also, this is a geographically large game, with NO MAP, and inventory is often overflowing as you wander about trying to find that puzzle where the widget was needed.

With NO WALKTHROUGH, and actions I would have called a mini-game or puzzle have no skip option, it was touch and go for a while whether I’d be able to finish one puzzle. Also, SKIP is quite slow even on Casual. So, while not being particularly hard, it still was a challenge.

This is not a long game, and there is nothing that makes it stand out, but it’s not a bad little game. Picked up on sale, it’s not a bad buy.

I recommend this game!

Timeless 2: The Lost Castle (IHOG)

Options include separate sliders for Sound, Music and Ambients, Full-screen and Custom Cursor.  Choice of Casual, Normal or Expert Mode, which can be changed at any time.  The task bar does not collapse.

Story:

A masked man clad in red invades your dreams with pleas for help to save an innocent young girl.  You board the next flight to Europe, only to be spirited away by the mysterious stranger in-flight!  The next thing you know you're in a locked cabin, and the girl's spirit tells you that her body is trapped in a magical sphere.  With a scream for help, she disappears, leaving you to find a way out... for both of you!


I really like the Journal in this one.  It expands on the story beautifully, with plenty of pictures to make it visually interesting.  It documents the clues we find, yet it doesn't give unsolicited hints.  Beauty!

Gameplay:

We have a nice amount of adventuring which is balanced well with HOS and mini-games. 

There is no MAP, and the final game area is pretty large, so it's easy to forget which way you need to go.  Luckily, directional HINTS are available!  I was able to complete the game without one, but here is a handy walkthrough in case you need it!

Hidden Object Scenes bounce between lightly-interactive lists and silhouettes. I'm not as into finding items like I used to be, so I was happy to see that there's no misclick penalty when playing in Casual Mode.


The Mini-games were interesting, but there were a couple of potions that we had to do, and there was no skip available.  This wouldn't have been a problem, except that the first recipe called for a "translucent liquid", when what we actually needed was a semi-transparent liquid. *rolls eyes* The hint was absolutely no help here, as it was pointing at the wrong liquid. :p

Sights and Sounds:

There are no voiceovers, but the rest of the sound work was really nice.  Graphically, there were some lovely scenes, and the overall effect was immersive.  The character design was a bit cartoony compared to the backgrounds, but it still worked well.


Verdict:

I really liked playing The Lost Castle.  There were a couple of twists and turns that I wasn't expecting, something that I absolutely love!  The gameplay was fun, the minis interesting, and the artwork was surprisingly good for a game under 250MB in size!  There are no bells and whistles, no extra content since this is not a CE, but it's still a good four hours of solid enjoyment.  Recommended!