Order of the Rose

Order of the Rose
by Gestalt Games - June, 2013

Available at:
Big Fish for PC



Take on the role of a homicide detective as you track down an enigmatic killer who leaves cryptic puzzles on the bodies of the victims. How are the victims related? Where will the killer strike next? At the heart of this mystery lies the Order of the Rose and an artifact that can change the world. This killer is unpredictable and if you’re not careful, you’ll end up as the next victim. Follow the clues and remember to keep your wits about you in Order of the Rose, a thrilling Hidden-Object Puzzle Adventure game.

• Investigate realistic crime scenes.
  
• Solve challenging puzzles.
  
• Uncover the secrets of the Order of the Rose!
  
• Strategy Guide
  
• Walkthrough (Big Fish)
  

Click images to enlarge

SLIGHTLY BETTER THAN AVERAGE, AVERAGE GAME ***

BASED ON DEMO

PARENTS NOTE: This game includes drug references and recently dead corpses.

This game is WORTH A LOOK. It can’t compete with some of the spectacular games we’ve seen lately, but it’s a reasonably good stand alone SE game. And it is quite different in style to most HO Adventures. (Very few PUZZLES)

You start with your arrival at the CRIME SCENE of the murder of a famous fashion model. This is your first HOS. No exciting introductory CUTSCENES, BACKSTORY or OTHER PREPARATION. One thing I must OBJECT to immediately, why was this model living in a derelict building? Do we really need grunge that badly?

The police officer who greeted you leaves you in charge, and from that moment you’re free to explore the scene on your own. There are NO VOICEOVERS, and NO DIALOGUE. After the first HOS, you are confronted immediately with a number of other ones, and searching the LOCATIONS for MULTIPLES OF. HO SCENES, which you will visit twice, are all LISTS, little or no interaction. Outside the HOS, there is a lot of EXPERIMENTAL CLICKING required on bottles, cushions, etc. that move and may or may not reveal a wanted item.

None of this really amounts to ADVENTURE-style gaming however. You are confined to a small set of scenes until you get what you need to move on to the next chapter. On CASUAL mode, the game will guide you with SPARKLES for HOS, and GLOWING POINTS OF LIGHT for those items that must be COLLECTED outside them. The HINT button will instruct you if you are in the right location, otherwise it’s that unhelpful “there is nothing here” response. You also have a JOURNAL which keeps CLUES & TASKS. So even if you’re not good with adventure, you can manage.

Once you’ve got all you need to move on, you are transported to the next chapter’s LOCATION, where the same procedure follows.

The GRAPHICS are a LITTLE ROUGH, but I quite enjoyed them, even if they were mostly ugly scenes. Hidden Objects were sometimes very hard to spot because the HOS was too dark, or they were partially hidden. The PUZZLES were varied in DIFFICULTY, but SKIP was QUICK.
The MUSIC is PLEASANT, but REPETITIOUS.

There is an INTRIGUING BAD GUY. We, being the investigator, no nothing about him yet. But he is already showing a knowledge of Latin, a penchant for leaving CRYPTIC MESSAGES, and all the usual signs of a VERY INTELLIGENT PSYCHOTIC KILLER.

In all, okay. Nothing to write to Mother about, but of interest to HO fans in particular, who could do without all that extra work, or those who enjoy a good MURDER MYSTERY.

I recommend this game!