Nightfall Mysteries 2: Asylum Conspiracy

Nightfall Mysteries: Asylum Conspiracy
by Vast Studios - July, 2010

Series links: Nightfall Mysteries 1: Curse of the Opera, Nightfall Mysteries 2: Asylum Conspiracy, Nightfall Mysteries 3: Black Heart, Nightfall Mysteries 4: Haunted by the Past

Available at:
Big Fish for PC and Mac
iWin  




Help Christine explore the spooky Ashburg Asylum and find her missing grandfather in this dark Hidden Object game! Travel to the eerie grounds of Ashburg and work your way through spine-chilling locations. Solve unique puzzles to progress deeper into the asylum, and closer to Christine’s grandfather. Meet interesting characters, unravel a mystery, and uncover an evil plot in Nightfall Mysteries: Asylum Conspiracy!

• Enthralling storyline
  
• Gorgeous graphics
  
• Explore Ashburg Asylum!
  
• Walkthrough
  
• Strategy Guide (Big Fish)
  

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Nightfall Mysteries 2: Asylum Conspiracy (IHOG)
(prequel to Nightfall Mysteries 1: Curse of the Opera)

This is an older game, hence it does not have difficulty modes, and the tutorial is not optional. We do have separate sliders for music and sound, plus options for full-screen, voice-overs, and custom cursor. On the plus side, the sparkles are not frequent or in-your-face bright, and the hint button refills quickly.

Our journal contains Clues (notes and puzzle clues, no new parts to the story), a Task List, a MAP (no jump-to option, but it does show active areas),and a section that allows us to listen to Audio Tapes that we collect during gameplay. The story progresses through a combination of short cutscenes and these tapes, which are very well voiced-over, by the way

HINTS are refillable, and during hidden object scenes, you can find a specific item by clicking on the name of the hidden object before clicking the hint button, or you can just click and it will show you a random object. Using a hint during the adventure portion will give you a text-hint telling you what to do next (can you tell I'd rather have an actual HINT, not the exact answer?) NOTE: There is a misclick penalty, and if you activate it, you can't use the hint button until you find an object.

The hidden object scenes aren't terribly challenging (NOT complaining!) There are some items that are really well-placed, something that I definitely appreciate... Not tiny, not dark, just well-hidden We do revisit scenes, and the to-find lists are randomized, so expect to find some items more than once.

The mini-games are skippable.

This prequel to Curse of the Opera really delivers, giving us a very different -- but just as creepy -- environment to explore. The audio tapes are excellent additions to the story, and as a really nice bonus, if you miss any during regular gameplay, you can go back in the asylum to find the final tape(s) and listen to it!

This game is a light adventure and heavy on the hidden object scenes, all tied together by a story that was both creepy and in ways unexpected. There is a fair bit of to-ing and fro-ing, but it is very intuitive. It was really interesting to see the way these characters developed, and I'm installing Nightfall Mysteries 3: Black Heart right now. This was was definitely a nice addition, and I'm hoping Black Heart will be just as good.