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Not everything you’re asked to find is useful, but most are, which I think is a nice touch, rather than making my character seem like they’ve got OCD. For one, there’s actually a purpose in finding those random objects, as most of them relate to a puzzle of some sort. Mechanics: From a gameplay perspective, Princess Isabella is the most competent hidden objects game I’ve played thus far. It’s just there to drive your actions, which I suppose it does well enough. So overall, the story is enough to give context, but falls flat otherwise. Blessedly, she’s nowhere near as annoying as the real Navi. Why am I saving what sounds like a forced marriage? Why does the princess (the heroine) have no personality - or indeed, lines at all? The only person with any semblance of personality is the fairy. Almost no one has any character or personality. It just felt flat & the trouble resolves so quickly that if you blink you’ll miss it. Or maybe not… I honestly wasn’t sure who it was at the end conversing with the witch. Without spoiling much, the ending is basically: No, this person isn’t really evil! Big happy family reunion. You uncover the story at a reasonable pace, learning more of the hidden backstory from diary scraps & the servants, but the final conclusion left me thinking, “What?”. Narrative: Though fully self-contained, I found the story rather threadbare. But you won’t go alone, as the game gives you your own version of Navi - a little fairy friend who offers guidance & gains spells to help you clear away obstacles.
#PRINCESS ISABELLA GAME SECRET ROOM PUZZLE FREE#
However, you must also locate broken mirror shards to free the servants & unlock new areas of the castle, banish evil icons, make potions, learn musical scores… All these puzzles serve to lift the curse from your rooms, until finally unlocking the witch’s hiding place. The most obvious are the hidden object games, where you must find a list of random items from a mess. Every room has several different puzzles to solve. Princess Isabella is a puzzle game at its very core. Did the witch curse me with a fog machine? But there may be more to it than that, as a dark family secret comes to life. Worse still, she’s holding your fiance hostage. After returning home from some undisclosed location, you discover that a witch cursed your castle, turning everything dark & gloomy, & imprisoning your servants & family into mirrors. Is this the princess or witch?Īs the title suggests, you play as Princess Isabella. But the question becomes: What makes a good hidden object game? I think I may have found a good example in Princess Isabella: A Witch’s Curse.
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They’re not the type of thing I want to play all the time, & I’m hard-pressed to buy one if it’s not on sale, but when I’m in the mood for a quick little bite of gaming, they fit the bill. The game is a little bit short, but the spooky atmosphere, lovely graphics and enthralling storyline will ensure that you enjoy every minute of it.I’m beginning to find that hidden object games scratch a very peculiar itch of mine. But hidden object lovers will probably revel in this part.
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My least favourite part was the ending, where you must win a hidden object-finding race to win. Puzzle masters will probably breeze through some of these, but I found some more difficult than others and was relieved to find that, when you’ve tried for a certain amount of time, the fairy will solve it for you. With the exception of the ‘potion-making’ puzzle, which has you ‘mixing’ the potion by matching coloured bubbles in the least amount of moves, there’s very little repetition. For example, you may be searching for ingredients for a potion which will lift the curse from that particular room, or objects to help you unlock the door to the next section. Happily for me, the hidden object searches are a minor part of the game (I’m not a fan), and they actually have a purpose. All of this makes for an exciting and mind-boggling adventure. This is because you must remove the curse from each room as well as solving their multiple mysteries. There are four: cursed, uncursed, incomplete and complete. The map also comes in handy because it indicates the status of a room. You probably think this is pretty lazy, but if you decide to play the game, you’ll be grateful for it. As you’d expect, the castle is huge but luckily, you have a map to hand which means you can click unlocked areas of the map to visit them if you don’t want the trouble of walking there. You’re immediately presented with excellent graphics and tough puzzles to get your grey matter working.
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