Otherworld 1: Spring of Shadows

Otherworld: Spring of Shadows
by Boomzap - January, 2012

Series links: Otherworld 1: Spring of Shadows, Otherworld 2: Omens of Summer, Otherworld 3: Shades Of Fall

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



Use a mystical locket to explore a magical world and save a young girl in Otherworld: Spring of Shadows!  After buying a quaint house in the country side, you embark on an incredible adventure. With help from magical creatures, find and save Fiona before it's too late! Find the  menacing shadow that took Fiona and return her to our world. Solve inventive puzzles and discover secrets in Otherworld: Spring of Shadows,  a fun Hidden Object Puzzle Adventure game.

The Collector’s Edition includes:

• Bonus gameplay
  
• Integrated Strategy Guide
  
• Wonderful Wallpapers
  

Click images to enlarge
   

Otherworld: Spring of Shadows is an amazingly beautiful and mysterious game - and most definitely otherworldly. Up front options include sliders for music and sound and buttons for fullscreen and custom cursor. (Widescreen support is automatic.) There are three play modes: Casual - with hints, skips and guided help; Expert - hints, skips and less guided help; plus a new mode added by the developer - Hardcore - no hints, no skips and no guided help (thank you so very, very much! You guys are so responsive to your fans! )

What an enchanting story! This is the way to use children in a mystery - weave them into a gorgeous, yet sinister fairy tale type plot. The graphics are so breathtaking you want to reach out and touch things. And thank you for giving us a break from junk pile HOS. The voice acting is wonderful and the cut scenes flawlessly done. The music fits the mood and the game so perfectly and is easy to listen to while playing. It enhances the total game experience.

And as if the above weren't enough - there are achievements and extra items to find, too! My cup truly runneth over with this game.

The storyline in this game is so well developed. The supporting background characters are well formed, documented and beautifully done.

There is lots of variety in the puzzles - there are several logic puzzles, several involving dexterity, some that involve skill and others that are a puzzle/jigsaw in nature. All are fairly original and presented in very imaginative ways and beautifully done. I enjoyed them all (I experienced one problem with carding wool - but I think that was due to my ailing mouse and 'achy-braky' hands - I couldn't get the motion quite right. And I tried to make a mountain out of a mole hill cutting the stain glass - what a fool I made of myself on that ).

My total play time for the main game ten minutes shy of 12 hours. I haven't started the bonus game. I missed 3 of the collectibles (grrrr) and I got all of the achievements except Complete the Game in 6 hours or less (I think this should be altered for Hardcore players to "6 Hours or More" ) Find All the Collectibles and Complete All the Achievements.

Definitely the best game I've played in a very, very long time. Five out of five blooms from me with hopes there will be many more like this one.Thanks so much, BoomZap. My continued admiration.

Beautiful Art Plus Imaginative Gameplay! ****

BASED ON COMPLETED GAME

Okay, yeah, there is a little of the pre-teen girlie STORY in this one, but it has enough COMPLEXITY, combined with beautiful GRAPHICS & INTERESTING GAMEPLAY to keep adults interested. And it really is spectacularly gorgeous without ever being too cute.

The MUSIC is ETHEREAL and the VOICEOVER in the intro is great. No other VO during the game.

The extensive variety of HOS, with only 2 INTERACTIVE LISTS, and them near the end, means this doesn’t feel like a HO GAME. Some of the types include:

*MULTIPLES OF
*FRAGMENTED OBJECTS
*RELATED PAIRS
*RIDDLE CLUES

Plus a number of almost-HOS, such as SPOT THE DIFFERENCE, and FIND THIS PIECE OF THE PIC.

Along with these are dozens of delightful PUZZLES & MINI-GAMES. A LOT of ORIGINAL and reworked puzzles, NONE TOO HARD, but entertaining. All of them are SKIPPABLE, and they come with both INSTRUCTIONS and ONE HINT. I found this essential, because some of the instructions left me clueless.

The STORY is interesting too. After buying a new house in the country, you discover that there is a whole different world going on in your garden, and only the FAY (people with the sight) can see it. You meet a trapped girl who helps you to unleash your own fay ability, and you set about rescuing her.

This is a VERY LONG game. Took me 6 hours to complete – and I really enjoyed every minute.

I recommend this game!

Otherworld 1: Spring of Shadows (IHOG)
The Steam overlay does not work with this title

Options include separate sliders for Music and Sound, Custom Cursor and Full-screen (has auto-widescreen).  Choice of Casual, Expert or Hardcore Mode.

NOTE for the extreme arachnophobes: There is a scene where you need to find (non-moving) spiders.

Story:

You move out to the countryside to start a nice quiet life, but fate has other plans.  You quickly learn that the family that had been living in your new home disappeared under mysterious circumstances, and you could swear that picture of a little girl just spoke to you... Enter another world, where magic is not always beautiful, and shadows watch your every move.

Our Journal has three tabs in it:  A task list (check mark), story (magnifying glass) and characters (silhouette of a person).  We get regular updates with extra story in the magnifying glass section, and background info is added as we discover each character.

The story took several unexpected turns and surprised me more than once.

Sights and Sounds:

The music is very nice, ranging from beautiful to creepy to comical depending on where you are in the story.  Cutscenes are voiced, though the rest of the game is not.  What we're lacking in quantity is made up for in quality, with compelling voice overs that make you wish that the whole game was dubbed.

The graphics, while not stunning, are nicely-done and environmental.

Gameplay:

I don't think the first one shows up until you've accessed the magical world. but be on the lookout for collectible fairies as you play.  These fairies can be on zoom-ins, but I didn't spot any during HOS.

The game is sometimes a bit fiddly with the placement of items, so if you think you've got the right solution, just try again!

There IS a MAP, but you won't find it until Chapter 2 of the game.  Individual locations are not marked. This map is used to insta-transport to new areas of the world.  Areas that have unfinished tasks will have an lantern next to them, but you'll never see more than two open areas at once (the rest will be locked).  Pro tip: Although there is no fast-travel within areas, if you want to quickly move back to the first location of a region, just click on the map and select the area you're in for a nice time-saving jump.

Using a HINT during the adventure portion will either pinpoint a hotspot or give you a text hint (NOT exact instructions) about what to do next.

The Hidden Object Scenes are primarily find-x-number-of-items, but there are several other types, including fragmented objects, finding pictured areas of the scene, solving riddles, pairing up related items and finding items by picture.  I was actually 3 hours into game before seeing my first find-by-list HOS!  These scenes can have items hidden inside other objects, so mouse-around, and click when your cursor turns into a hand.

Mini-games range from mosaic/stained glass-type puzzles to cutouts (using your cursor to trace lines) to pattern recognition, and more.  There are 62 mini-games, total, and all of them were doable for me... Although I sometimes needed to use the HINT button to help me out with some aspects. ;)

Pro tip RE the stained glass towards the end of the game:  There are a LOT of cutouts you need to do here, but all you have to do is click on the black lines - you don't have to trace the glass cutouts ;)

The main game has a great ending, beautifully setting us up for the next game in the series.  I did get called away from the computer several times, and I took the time to comple every mini-game, so it took me almost 6 hours to complete this part.

CE Content:

• Integrated Strategy Guide
  
• Bonus Chapter
  
• 60 Collectible Fairies
  
• 6 Wallpapers
  
• 36 Concept Art
  
• 10 Replayable Cutscenes
  
• 14 Music Tracks (no option to save)
  

Bonus Chapter:

The extra chapter is a prequel, showing the events that led up to the family's disappearance, and introducing a character whom we'll meet in the next game.  Here you'll find the one and only HOS that has the interactive items marked in a different color (yellow).  The puzzles for this chapter are a bit more of your standard fare, whereas the main game had minis that are a bit less common.

Verdict:

Otherworld: Spring of Shadows has a tale that took me by surprise, drawing me in and shaking me about like a ragdoll.  I think that the story is its greatest strength, followed by the fun and interesting gameplay.  A beautiful beginning to a series which I look forward to playing more of!