Antique Shop 2: Journey of the Lost Souls

Antique Shop: Journey of the Lost Souls
by Koolhausgames (publisher) - May, 2014

Series links: Antique Shop 1: Book of Souls, Antique Shop 2: Journey of the Lost Souls

Available at:
Big Fish as Standard Edition only
GameHouse as Platinum Edition / Standard Edition
iWin as Platinum Edition / Standard Edition



Collect cherished objects for the lost souls and free them from the pages of the unusual book in Antique Shop – Journey of the Lost Souls Platinum Edition, a unique hidden object adventure that unfolds as a novel.

Like your favorite period novel, this hidden object game has it all. Indulge in high adventure, deep intrigue, dark mystery, suspense, and even romance. Read the novel or enjoy the story as it unfolds within the game. Travel to exotic locations and search for artifacts to unlock the mystery of a powerful and peculiar book. By freeing the souls of previous owners of the book, you also save yourself.

• Interact with the devious Book of Souls.
  
• Use special functions to search scenes in different ways.
  
• Accumulate key objects and free the trapped souls.
  
• Explore exotic locations.
  

Click images to enlarge
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Classic iHOG Meets Modern Expectations****

BASED ON DEMO

IMPRESSIONS
This is not a Hidden Object Puzzle Adventure (HOPA) like that which we see most often here, but a purely Hidden Object game, with some dressing up with puzzles and story for added entertainment. So it doesn’t start off with a spectacular car wreck or wild and stormy weather, but a simple story of a woman who has found a magic book in the Antique Shop, left to her by her Uncle.

The game looks quite good. Nicely done art, I thought, along realism lines. Many items are far too small, however, and too many scenes are of the outside – always difficult to search. The music is classy, and relaxing. The cursor is a major drag – literally and figuratively. The drag was the worst I’ve ever encountered, but there is a slider to correct it. Unfortunately, even at maximum correction, mine still lagged a little. There is the choice also of a system cursor.

The game is also not widescreen, but does have panels of appropriate wallpaper – that clashed, for my tastes.

This is a direct sequel, and I must say that if story was really important in this game, the back history was not handled all that well. But story is just for decoration. The game doesn’t follow a coherent logical line, but skips all over the place between visions, places we have been to and places we’ve yet to see, with little rhyme or reason.

GAMEPLAY
The game’s structure is Classic HOG. Each step forward in the story is marked by a HO scene. Once complete, it unlocks another, and/or a simple puzzle. And usually more talk. The new scenes are presented postcard like in our journal. This takes us to the only allowable destination on each occasion.

The talk is plentiful. Far too much if you are not trying to keep up with the story – and I gave up trying to do that because it was so all-over-the-place. It was done beautifully though. The lead character’s voice is lovely to listen to and eminently suited to the times. The others Are equally pleasantly exotic.

Each HO scene has a word list of required items, and includes a smaller Close Up scene, which is fun. It has its own mini-list of objects to be found, and it also has a minimal capacity to be looked at 3 dimensionally, wiggling it about with the aid of arrows on the sides. This tiny skill is necessary to find all the objects on the shorter list.

There is also in each general location a “soul object” which is required to release the tormented souls in the book. Once it is found, whether you have found all the items on the list or not, the scene is complete.

There are little puzzles straight out of the classic iHOGs of years ago – word find, spot the difference, match 3, and find silhouettes – interspersed among the HOs. The scenes are repeated, but with either a magnifier or a light, or a special monocle (?) that shows up invisible items.

There is a hint which is unlimited and quick to refill. There is a clock on the ‘dash’ that indicates your time zone’s actual time, not a timer, and is there, I assume, in case you get carried away *wink*.

COMBINED IMPACT
I am not a fan of the classic HOG game. But this, I recognize, is a very nicely done version. It meets the modern need for quality art and variation, while remaining loyal to the idea and framework of the Classics. For fans, and I know there are many, I think this is a winner.

I recommend this game!

I loved the first one !!    

And am loving this one too !!  

The musical accompaniment is perfect for eerie and creepy     

Nothing better for me than wandering around an antique store

Saving souls while solving mysteries  as the past is revealed ..

All shall be revealed as frissons of fear creep along my spine .

Nothing is ever what it seems ..  

My kind of reality ..  

Not too hard and not too easy - the baby bear of tasks ... just right .   

Have real life for overly complicated .. in here is fun ! fun !! FUN!!  

A must be mine offering ..  

thanks devs .. 

BTW ... wtf !!

the first one was better ... well a little different ..

and when I went to submit --- got an offer to get a game,  as if .... !!!!   grrrrrrrrrrrrr!!

am so not amused !!!!  

needless to say ... will never even consider THAT interfering game .. EVER!!!

and how do I prevent from happening again !!  

my swearing vocab is overly developed as it is ..  

.. although did add a new one just now !!         

What happened E? Only getting half sentences here...   

oh no !!

another half-assed job !!!   

only talk in bits and bytes now

if makes sense  .. no need for sentences  ....

is fully there on my screen ....

Well, translate for the slow learners then - you went to submit what where? And where was the game (Antique Shop I assume) at the time?

What exactly happened? Am so totally confused here!   

JustTheFacts wrote:Well, translate for the slow learners then - you went to submit what where? And where was the game (Antique Shop I assume) at the time?

What exactly happened? Am so totally confused here!   

is in antique thread ....

Wow, I tried this game and just like the first one...the objects are too tiny for me to see in the cluttered scenes. So, I had to give it up and wait for my eyes to uncross.  

djrum wrote:Wow, I tried this game and just like the first one...the objects are too tiny for me to see in the cluttered scenes. So, I had to give it up and wait for my eyes to uncross.  

oh no !!!  

there should be a way to increase size so is bigger .. hmmm   

mine does it all the time ...without permission !! little shite !!

check in your set up thing or maybe some kind soul will explain better !!


(note to self : why is she crossing her eyes ??)

lol, orphaned...because I was straining my eyes trying to find the hidden objects. I was too close to the screen. It also gave me a horrendous headache.

I think there was a magnifier and a light to help out.    
I couldn't get neither one to work.