Finding Hope

Finding Hope
by Golden Bough Games

Available at:
Big Fish for PC
GameHouse
iWin



Restore  a beautiful farmhouse and follow the story of Hope, a young woman  raising a family during happy times and hardship. Look for missing items  and place them back in the rooms to restore her home to its former  beauty. As you help Hope you’ll meet her husband Jack and their son  Nate, and follow their lives through lean times, prosperity, war, and  peace. Dive into Finding Hope, a fun Hidden Object game!

• Fantastic gameplay
  
• Realistic environments
  
• Restore Hope's home!
  

Click images to enlarge
   

Finding Hope (IHOG-lite)

We are examining the memories of a woman who struggled through the Great Depression, refreshing these memories via a series of photographs and interaction.

Calling this game a HOG with light interaction isn't exactly accurate, so I will explain:  This is a story-driven hidden object game, with EVERY object you gather being not only pertinent to the story, but used, as well.  Story, hidden object scene (collecting items), placing items where they belong, then seeing the beautiful results.  Repeat.

You don't have to guess where the items belong, but the game doesn't hold your hand, either.  The items will briefly "morph" into view, letting you know where to put everything.  Very well done, and I love the fact that we use everything we collect   

The graphics are crisp and well done, and the hidden object scenes are especially nice.  No forks in the clouds, no out-of-time objects such as microwaves... Everything is relevant to the story, with nary a strangely-placed object to be seen.  The scenes are naturally cluttered, but nothing overwhelming.

One little tidbit to be aware of:  If you leave the game mid-hidden object scene, you will have to start the scene over, so be sure to find that last item before hitting the EXIT button!

I like the music used - it is pleasant, and if it's being repeated, I haven't noticed :P  I wasn't as impressed with the sound effects, but lucky me, there is the option to adjust the music and the sound effects separately.

Hints are refillable, and they take a long time to load, but they do accumulate.

This is not an exciting story - it is one of struggle and ultimately, of triumph.  The story was lovingly researched and written, and it shows.  Being story-driven, those who do not like a lot of story in their games, and/or are looking for an exhilarating adventure will not likely enjoy this game.

The rest of you, give the demo at least 30 minutes to see how you like it.  It took me about that long to get "in stride" with the game, and I'm glad I stuck it out.  I currently have 22 minutes left of my demo, and the story is sucking me in more and more.

Review by Cordia, Nov. 2, 2010

This little gem of a game was released by Golden Bough Games, who also did Keys to Manhattan. It was released in early to mid September of this year. The lead developer of Finding Hope, Mike Ahn, asked for some feedback on his game, and so I tried it. I probably wouldn’t have played it at all otherwise because it’s a fairly straight Hidden Object Game (with some interesting mini-games in between) and the story is set in the Depression-era US, which is not a subject that usually captures my attention. That being said, I found it surprisingly engaging. I have not purchased or played this game all the way through, so this review is only based on the demo period.

The story is based around an older woman (in the present day), Hope, who is going through her photo album. As she reminisces about the photos, we get drawn into the stories. The first story centers around how she felt after getting married, right in the thick of the Depression, and the hardships she faced, and how she went about facing and solving her problems.

The graphics are muted but very clear. As I recall, the scenes are all period appropriate and are artistically appropriate. It is not timed, and I don’t remember it having a penalty for clicking too much, but there may have been something minor. Those don’t tend to bother me, so I don’t always remember if I get a wobbly cursor sometimes. I didn’t have to use hints often, but they were available.

The scenes to search are not junk piles. The rooms are somewhat messy, but no eyeballs on the ceiling and no elephants in the attic or anything that seemed out of place. The colors are not particularly bright or flashy, but they suit the time period. I found the story to be interesting but a little flawed, as I read that the stories all seemed quite depressing. Given that it’s set during the Great
Depression, though, this is mostly reasonable. Mike admitted that he wasn’t able to translate the whole story into the game, as it was not cost effective or viable. This left the game without a lot of levity and focused on the stories that he thought were the most important to painting a portrait of this woman. Because of that limitation, Hope’s stories are mostly of overcoming hardships. I feel that this is inspiring in its own rights, though.

This game does not force modern ideals of how a woman “should” be into the story, for which I give Golden Boughs many kudos. To me, this makes Hope seem like a real woman. Yes, things were different then, and there was a different world view about what was acceptable. Some may condemn Hope as being a weak female character, but I think she’s amazing. Just because there were different values then does not make it worse (or better!) than today’s world view. It was not the same world then, but Hope is worth admiring, and so is Golden Boughs for taking this risk.

You probably won’t like this game if:

• You speed through games. To me, this game is more of an overall
  experience, but if the story doesn’t speak to you, then you probably
  won’t enjoy this game or its length.
  
• You hate the hidden object aspect of these games and prefer more
  adventure oriented games. Even then, you might consider trying this one
  out if the story hooks you at all.
  

Too long; did not read: It won’t appeal to everyone, but I really appreciated how much the developer cared about telling this story, his dedication to showing integrity towards the time period, and I found the game to be charming and a real emotional investment.