Haunted Halls 4: Nightmare Dwellers

Haunted Halls: Nightmare Dwellers
by ERS Games - November, 2013

Series links: Haunted Halls 1: Green Hills Sanitarium. Haunted Halls 2: Fears From Childhood, Haunted Halls 3: Revenge of Doctor Blackmore, Haunted Halls 4: Nightmare Dwellers

Available at:
Big Fish as Collector's Edition / Standard Edition



Race to uncover an ancient secret in Haunted Halls: Nightmare Dwellers! The night started out like any other. A local collector was complaining about paranormal activity in her mansion, and the authorities called you to get to the bottom of things. But it turns out that the pit of bizarre activity was bottomless. Now you find yourself lost in a living nightmare brimming with strange creatures, comatose colleagues, and mysterious tentacles reaching out around every corner! Can you find the source of the happenings and destroy it before it's too late? Find out in this thrilling Hidden Object adventure game!

The Collector’s Edition includes:

• Travel into the mind of the villain in the bonus game
  
• Replayable mini-games and hidden-object puzzles
  
• Exciting screensavers, wallpapers, and concept art
  
• An available Strategy Guide
  

For the Standard Edition

• Walkthrough
  
• Strategy Guide (Big Fish)
  

Click images to enlarge
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Dr Blackmore’s Back! In Our Dreams?

   

BASED ON DEMO

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

Oh man... I am so weirded out by this game! In the best of all possible ways of course. It’s bad enough that Dr Blackmore is apparently alive and strutting his tentacles, now he has a fond ‘admirer’! Who has lured us into her extremely creepy home, captured our fellow investigator, and left us to fend for ourselves among a zooful of insane animals.

This has always been an excellent and creepy series, but it went ballistic for this game. As well as the signature aspects of the series, the betentacled doctor, the electronic gadgets and a uniquely surreal game world, ERS has introduced blatant magic for the first time. I literally could write a treatise on all this game has going for it, even after just one hour of playing it, but I’ll spare you.

HIGHPOINTS IN BRIEF (as I noticed them)

*perhaps the most dramatic opening of any ERS game

*highly customizable – many choices on all types of options

*ERS signature art, but much lighter than any other game of theirs I’ve seen. Combines beauty and creepy very cleverly

*lip sync’d voiceover

*cute guy as our partner

*an awesome level of weirdness in the story and gameplay (E.g., put the frog in the vase and feed him a chilli pepper to melt the wax.)

*special secret service goggles designed to see supernatural activity. Associated with a mini-game to reveal a game tip

*choice to play the hard or the easy version of INDIVIDUAL puzzles, inside the game, as well as fully customisable difficulty level from the menu

*many more puzzles/mini-games than HOPs. Only HOP I did was a find and use silhouette HOP, visited twice

*(but there’s sure to be more, because) I didn’t get to the halfway point of the demo (according to the SG) before my hour was up

*there are oodles of animals, but they are for the most part not very friendly. Those that are, are not very cute. I didn’t even like the cat

*good interactive map, journal, directional hint

*more bling! than you can count

CE BLING!
*bonus chapter: seeing into the enemy’s mind (Dr Blackmore’s? Cuz that would be really scary).

*accessible SG (this actually didn’t look all that useful to me, it was light on information).

*excellent interface in keeping with the game for accessing wallpapers, videos, concepts, screensavers, music, replayable puzzles and mini-games.

*achievements in a dream room in a night time sky.

*collections – 5 vials each of 4 different potions.

*zoo – collection of all the animals you come across in the game.

*hamster (who thinks he’s a merchant).

BOTTOM LINE

Truly a stupendous game, particularly if you are a fan of the series. If you don’t know the series, your enjoyment of this game won’t suffer, but you’ll be wanting the previous games before the bundle sale is up!!

I Recommend This Game!


Bonus Content Review

  

BASED ON COMPLETED GAME

BONUS CHAPTER

It was okay. Not as long as the admittedly over-long main game, and the story is not as developed as I’d like, but not boring. The story is an (unneeded) epilogue that leads straight from the main one. It is very unoriginal, its premise based entirely on another game we all know, and it does only a superficial version of it. Nowhere near as creepy as the plot deserved. But, maybe, a little touch of humour in it, which I may be imagining, or may be the justification for plagiarising that other game, because it could be a send up of it.Some of the locations are new, but not all. All the puzzles and HOPs were new, but nothing outstanding.

STRATEGY GUIDE

GALLERY

Wallpapers, glorified screenshots x8
Concept art x10 (some of these would make good wallpapers, and they are saveable)
Screen savers x3
Movies x7
Music x4
Replayable puzzles x 18
Replayable HOPs x 11

ACHIEVEMENTS

Approximately 20,nothing totally unpredictable, but a beautiful dreamland of their own to present them in.

COLLECTIONS
I am really beginning to dislike these sort. You collect vials of potion, which is to my mind not nearly as much fun as finding frogs or butterflies. On top of that, they are used to allegedly alter the mood of your hamster (wait a minute, I’ll get to him!). As far as I could see, it made very little difference and was totally pointless anyway. And you have nuts you can just feed him, why would you want to dose him with essence of anger?

HAMSTER
He’s sweet enough, this unfortunate dealer (aka merchant) became the victim of much reviling because ERS’s translator didn’t specify what he deals in, and so everyone jumped on the idea that it must be illegal substances. Really, there are very few countries so unfortunate that the populace would jump to such conclusions! It never even occurred to me.

ZOO
Another seemingly pointless extra, although I usually do like these sort of things. But there’s just not much to this one.

CONCLUSION
It rates slightly better than okay, because the bonus game, though superficial story-wise, still was a good play, and I like replayable HOPs.

OH (and emphasis on OH) I'm sorry to report but the Rabbit is still on my no go list better known as no demo/buy list. They have been there since October of last year and will remain there until I see them drop the arrogant so full of themselves attitude with the face book page with the ugly man pointing at you FOR FANS ONLY. You MUST "LIKE" them to know of their upcoming games. Oh and the crowning of king and queen I guess if you submit enough       reviews for them? Now I'm not saying other developers don't do this but this is the first I've seen it. Are they kidding me?  And if I did come across this from another developer well I wouldn't demo/buy from them either.

So sorry no review here just a comment. My problem with them isn't their games so much though I will have to agree with some others. Seems to be the same ole same ole thing as I can even tell just by the graphics without knowing the name of the game even who the developer is.

I do keep checking though to see if they've dropped the arrogant so full of themselves face book page. Once they do I'll go back to at least demoing their games. In the meantime a HUGE NO GO for me.

So thanks Big Fish and Rabbit for saving me some downloading space/time and more important money! 

I laughed out loud several times playing this game, it's completely absurd and over-the-top.  If you think you're going into a dark and scary game (which ERS doesn't seem to do anymore) then you'll be very disappointed but if you're looking for an LSD laced ride through the funhouse, this is worth a look.

 so that's why it all seemed so whacky! Forgot to take my LSD!  

Why do so many people on the BFG forums get so irate over the dumbest things?  Someone's having a fit over the hamster claiming to be a dealer because, apparently, that can only mean he's a drug dealer.

How exhausting that must be to find insult everywhere you look.

Totally ludicrous! I just don't get people like that. It's like getting worked up about the cat being distracted by a wind-up mouse!! Or that time when a person was being murdered by strangulation inside the lit window of a house (I forget which game it was), which they interpreted as being a person holding a crucifix upside down! I mean even if it was what they thought they saw - its okay to play games full of deaths, murderers, demons and ghosts, but pick on their personal icons - nah they scream for the censors!

The one that got me more than any other though, was the furor over the US flag being depicted upside down. It wasn't part of some like, attack or whatever, it was just sitting in a HO junk pile. GIVE ME A BREAK! 

Well what I'd like to know is why there is always such a huge uproar every time this developer releases a game? I don't see all this when other developers release a game as I see Blam! was in the forums and may or may not still be there I don't know but out of all the developers this one seems to cause the most uproar! I've seen people say they don't like some of the games released by Blam! or even other developers.

Also if the game is listed as a HOG on the main page when people go to download it well I don't understand all this "Too many HOG's." Well HELLO it's listed as a HOG that's what I would expect to find. This would be like if the game was listed as a puzzle game and I complain about too many puzzles! I think some people just like to have something to bitch about. 

Even I would have to say though the majority of what Big Fish releases is HOGs but if the selection is such a huge disappointment for people well speak with your wallet and don't support the site then.

Yup, there has been quite a few developers in the forums lately. The Eipix guys were too a few weeks back.

Yes, the "too many HOs" is one of my pet hates too, for the same reason. I feel like leaving the link to the adventure genre to direct the fools to where they'll find what they want.

Today, however, no ones talking at all - maybe, now it is daylight in the US, but even for Nevertales I don't expect much of an audience, SE purchases must be so low. Almost nobody says anything or even visits if it's a SE game.

Oh my gosh, I read all that yesterday over there.

I guess people can read whatever they want into a game. Honestly, some of the things they've posted they saw, I didn't see when I played.
But I'm not looking for "bad" things to bitch about, either. 
If a person is so offended by something in a game, then don't buy it.
Me, I just play for fun & relaxation.
If I would happen to be offended for whatever reason (and that almost never happens), I wouldn't buy it. Simple, really.

I've seen a thread escalate totally out-of-control because one person had a negative comment (more of an opinion) & soon, umpteen people have jumped on that person. The back & forth starts, topics are forgotten, and words turn nasty.
No wonder BFG got rid of CCC.
If it keeps up, they'll get rid of the game forums, too.

Yes, I much prefer here. Smaller group so you actually get to know and value each other... large groups tend to foster antagonism and bullying I think.

So true, JustTheFacts. That's why we generally stayed in the D&E thread over there. I was afraid to venture out of it!
I know I would've been banned, sooner or later.

Can you believe we were actually able to have different opinions, express them, and NOT jump on each other in the process?!!  
That was unheard of for such a long-running thread, based on games (with a little bit of whatnot thrown in).

Speaking of off-topic, what are we talking about here? Oh, Haunted Halls 4.

Well, for me, I decided awhile back that I wouldn't be buying any more ERS CEs.
After playing Redemption Cemetery 2, which was amazingly short...the final straw was Twilight Phenomenon 1, which was amazingly bad!
(Strictly MO, of course!)

Even though they are not as spectacular and impressive as Elephant or Eipix games, I still cannot resist buying every game ERS puts out. It is partly loyalty, because I so loved their Dark Tales, and Redemption Cemetery. But more than that, I find myself liking the characters almost without exception and just the feel of games. 

As for their more recent stuff, I think they've gone nuts with all the features we asked them for, and it's our own fault we have got them. But I actually like the way they've changed the games to include more bling!, I love the little extras that make each game more fun to play. So much so, that I've had to put myself on rations, because I can't keep buying CEs just for the cute companions and pretty collectibles! Awwww!   

Off to bed now, see you lovely people at your tomorrow morning!

Goodnight, JustTheFacts!

Hmm...to tell the truth (I'm whispering now), I'm getting just a tad bit tired of EG. 

There, I said it, it's all out in the open.

And please, if you're gonna throw things at me, make them soft things!

snapnhiss wrote:Why do so many people on the BFG forums get so irate over the dumbest things?  Someone's having a fit over the hamster claiming to be a dealer because, apparently, that can only mean he's a drug dealer.

How exhausting that must be to find insult everywhere you look.

I must say. I LOVED your post on that discussion:

So now we're arguing over the livelihood of a cartoon hamster. Super.

JustTheFacts wrote:Yup, there has been quite a few developers in the forums lately. The Eipix guys were too a few weeks back.

Yes, the "too many HOs" is one of my pet hates too, for the same reason. I feel like leaving the link to the adventure genre to direct the fools to where they'll find what they want.

Today, however, no ones talking at all - maybe, now it is daylight in the US, but even for Nevertales I don't expect much of an audience, SE purchases must be so low. Almost nobody says anything or even visits if it's a SE game.

Most of my games that I download are from the main page where the starred reviews are but I will say when I've done a search for games as I have clicked on the "adventure" genre and well Big Fish has HOGS mixed in with those. I know why they do it though because they think they are increasing sales. So if the person is using the genre and searching that way then I could see a complaint of too many HOGS. I mean they clicked on adventure not HOGS but if they are downloading from the main page as I said before and the game says it's a HOG well I don't get all the bitching about it being a HOG!

I'm WAY too behind on my game-playing to be sick of a particular gaming company's style   I do have to say that my favorite devs are smaller companies, though -- MagicIndie (Brink of Consciousness) and Mad Head (Rite of Passage, Nevertales) top my list, though I have to say that I absolutely adore Alawar Five-BN (Forbidden Secrets: Alien Town, Sacra Terra, Stray Souls, House of 1000 Doors, etc.) games, too.  Oh, and Chimeras: Tune of Revenge by EG was AWESOME!

Yup, I absolutely love all those games!! Someone suggested I was a game tramp, I love everything, and maybe they're right! I sure do love the games we've had this year from both the big "E" companies (Elephant, ERS and Eipix) and my new favourite, Mad Head!

I've seen people complaining about Elephant nearly as shrilly as they do about ERS.  I can understand the ERS unhappiness, they've been very uneven but Elephant?  NEVER!  That Christmas game they did last year was magnificent.

Sportygal2009 wrote:

snapnhiss wrote:Why do so many people on the BFG forums get so irate over the dumbest things?  Someone's having a fit over the hamster claiming to be a dealer because, apparently, that can only mean he's a drug dealer.

How exhausting that must be to find insult everywhere you look.

I must say. I LOVED your post on that discussion:

So now we're arguing over the livelihood of a cartoon hamster. Super.

Thanks!  I should go check, I'm probably in hot water (again) for that comment.

Well,  as usual,  I missed it.     The original poster deleted their post,  though it did make for a good word
discussion about what different words mean in different languages.
The last HH game I refused to even DL, as I refused to rescue the dumb boyfriend again.
But my curiosity has been peaked by comments on this one.
I don't care about some drug dealing hamster (hey, he's trying to make a living and support his growing
family), but I will not rescue doofus head again.

Nope, no rescuing that stupid fool again - we've got ourselves a new idiot to save!