Panting and shaking as you finish your fight with the mechanoid, you lurch towards the exit. Another set of blast doors? No problem. You've found a handy multi-tool and within minutes the door is open. You stagger up the stairs in relief. The exit is in sight! The exit is closer! The exit is...oh, crap.

Thus starts Being One: Episode 2 - Bloodbath by Psionic. You still haven't made it out of the lab, merely to a higher level where the scientists at least haven't been experimenting on aliens. Instead they've been experimenting on... but that would be telling. As in Episode 1, you are trying to determine an exit strategy, while along the way discovering exactly what type of "research" has been conducted in this hellish place. By the way, where have all the researchers gone?

Where Episode 1 was an exercise in quiet paranoia, Being One: Episode 2 is a jittery, nerve-ridden roller coaster ride. What's that noise? Is there... something in the vents? Eschewing the almost soothing (yet creepy) green tones of the first episode, you will find yourself bathed in red: red lights, red decor, and a lot of some mysterious wet, sticky substance all over the walls, floors, ceilings — you get the picture. Not for the faint of heart or weak of stomach.

The Being One games are an eclectic mix of point-and-click adventure, hidden object, room escape, and a little shoot'em'up thrown in for good measure. The puzzles themselves are not terribly difficult. The emphasis is on the spooky atmosphere and continually unfolding story of this strange facility. As in a basic point-and-click, you use your mouse to pick up and manipulate items. Bright yellow directional arrows make for very smooth navigation within the facility. The music and sound effects are suitably creepy and heighten your experience. And enjoy the animations — when you're not leaping out of your chair in terror.

Deeper, darker, and lots more bloodridden (thus living up to its title?), with Episode 2 the plot sickens. Once again, though, the experience is entirely too short. Will all the episodes eventually be strung together to make a cohesive narrative? Will the next episode be longer and more involved? Will you ever get out of this creepy lab? Only Psionic knows and they're not telling...

Play Being One: Episode 2 - Bloodbath.

Thanks for sending this one in, Luke! Cheers!

"The people of the village began to gather in the square, between the post office and the bank, around ten o'clock." If you've ever read The Lottery, or one of its numerous clones, you should be familiar with the rise of the hairs on the back of your neck, the creeping sense of fear. Welcome to Strange Cases: The Tarot Card Mystery, a game that manages to convey that overwhelming sense of dread so well you may find yourself glancing over your shoulder in paranoia as you play.

"It was a dark and stormy night..." Okay, enough of that. Strange Cases: The Tarot Card Mystery is a new hidden object/adventure/mystery hybrid by Sulus Games. You play FBI agent Claire Ellery assigned to a case in a fishing village so small it can't be found by GPS, which should be your first hint that something's rotten. You've been called out on the case of three girls who have been kidnapped. The local police are uncooperative, and a mysterious stranger keeps leaving you odd clues on tarot cards scattered around the place. What's an FBI agent to do?

At first Strange Cases: The Tarot Card Mystery seems to be a pretty generic story: basic kidnapping, uncooperative local authorities, dark and spooky small town, etc. Then the mayor and doctor start acting suspiciously and it goes downhill from there. Like all hidden object games, there will be lots of items to find. Unlike most hidden object games, many of the items are actually useful in your search for the culprit!

Tarot cards you find will either give a written list, a group of silhouettes, or an object (or objects) of which pieces need to be found. It's a lovely way to integrate the hidden object lists into the game without breaking stride. Some scenes will include all three types of tarot and you can work back and forth between the cards or concentrate on just one. Some items go into your inventory and will become useful later. Navigation is either by moving within the scene (indicated by an arrow mouse change) or through handy Polaroid photos that accumulate in the case file. Just click on a pic to return to that area.

Analysis: There are many, many hidden object/adventure/mystery hybrids out there. What makes Strange Cases: The Tarot Card Mystery any different? The story. The artwork. The mini-games. Oh, and how all three are seamlessly integrated.

Although the basic plot has been done many times before, as you work through the narrative it begins to dawn on you that there is indeed more going on than the game tells you. This happens gradually, in the tradition of the best horror/mystery stories. The art for the dialogue scenes has a lovely washed hand-painted feel, while the HOG scenes are bright, clear, 3D and photorealistic. Surprisingly the two styles work well together, each heightening the mood of the story. The mini-games lean heavily towards logic and puzzle solving rather than just being iterations of games you've seen before. There's at least one mini-game/puzzle that could have been lifted directly from a room escape game.

Hidden object scenes themselves are a pleasant surprise. Each view is bright and clear, with very little clutter. No burying objects ten deep in a room and trying to find something in the resultant mess. A refilling hint timer is always welcome, as is a skip function for the mini-games. There's also a handy mute feature in the options if the atmospheric music and sound effects become annoying. Handy cursor changes round out the playability of the game. A magnifying glass will let you know when something needs to be investigated further, a rotating gear will indicate something that needs to be manipulated, and an arrow points the way to other areas to explore.

Unfortunately there are a few minor problems that can detract from gameplay. The "click area" when picking up items in the hidden object scenes is so tight that the point of the mouse cursor needs to be directly on an object. Multiple incorrect clicks will result in a spinning cursor, forcing you to slow down, and this can happen quite often even while trying to pick up the correct item. Broadening the click area would have been a good idea. The story itself, while fantastic, is way too short. You will leave the game wanting so much more.

Seamless integration, though, is what makes Strange Cases: The Tarot Card Mystery stand out from the pack. From the dialogue scenes to the hidden object scenes to the mini-games, everything flows so easily that you might find yourself several moves into a mini-game before you realize what has happened, leaving you to enjoy the deepening sense of paranoia. Are the cops in on it? The Mayor? Everyone? Play Strange Cases: The Tarot Card Mystery to find out.

Windows:
Download the demo
Order the full version

Mac OS X:
Not available.
Try Boot Camp or Parallels or CrossOver Games.

The Lost Inca Prophecy, from Seppia Interactive, blends match 3 gameplay with the look and feel of a hidden object/adventure hybrid. You play as Acua, a young Spanish woman living around the time of Columbus. One day a book in your beloved library speaks to you, giving you a prophecy about the doom of the Inca Empire. The next thing you know you are on your way to the New World with your friend Juan de Salcedo — a brave conquistador — as your only companion. Can the two of you find and restore the Inca temples to prevent the prophecy from coming true?

Despite the opening prologue and an opening hidden object sequence, this is not an adventure hybrid game. The meat of The Lost Inca Prophecy is match 3 — 96 screens of it, to be precise. Each is a standard grid with objects, some squares of which are covered by "tiles". Break the tiles by creating matches on top of them to clear the grid. When this is done, a piece of an object will appear at the top of the grid. You must now create matches below so it can follow a path to the bottom. Once complete, you earn the piece and are off to the next grid. Collect enough pieces to complete four objects and another hidden object scene begins!

The story itself is broken into four chapters, each covering a different temple. Every chapter contains 24 match 3 scenes and four hidden object scenes, with the HOG scenes coming at the beginning, end, and regular intervals throughout the chapter. Apu, a talkative Inca Thunder god mask, provides helpful commentary when encountering new obstacles or power-ups, and the whole thing is interspersed with tidbits of Inca culture between match 3 games.

What distinguishes The Lost Inca Prophecy from the admittedly enormous pack of Bejeweled clones can be encapsulated in one word: customizability (which, depending on which dictionary you consult, isn't really a word). Find the whole square grid thing too easy? You can switch to a hexagon-shaped grid mode which ups the difficulty. Tired of basic "swap" style match 3? There is a chain mode where you can make matches by dragging a chain across a series of objects, a la Cradle of Persia. Or you can switch to group mode, where you click on massed groups of three or more, similar to Collapse. You can switch back and forth between each match 3 scene, creating a huge variety of scenarios where you can challenge yourself or breeze through the level as you like.

Analysis: The Lost Inca Prophecy presents players with an unusual set-up: hidden object scenes dotted across a matching puzzle landscape. It's kind of odd, if you think about it, as the only thing the two genres really have in common is they are widely appreciated by casual gamers. But Seppia Interactive stitches the two pieces together with style, and you find yourself flowing along with the game's pace with a natural kind of ease.

As for the match 3 elements, they are done exceedingly well. Each scene comes with an increasing number of power-ups you can earn, such as a hammer that will break one square, a bomb to break several squares, etc. As each level progresses the shapes of the grids become more and more complex, making completion trickier, even with more powerful power-ups. There are no timers to worry about, though, allowing a more relaxed, casual approach to gameplay.

Backgrounds throughout the game are beautiful, vivid, and almost fairy-tale like, with a strong emphasis on pre-Columbian design. The objects in the match 3 grids are all iconic to the Inca culture: corn, pots, pottery frogs, etc., and the temples resemble actual Inca temples that can be found in Peru today.

Some might be a little uneasy with the basic storyline: a Spanish woman and a Conquistador rushing to save the Inca culture while his co-workers are busily destroying it. However, history is history and what has happened, happened. The game itself tries to stick pretty close to what is known of Inca culture and history, although it does begin to get a little "Chariot of the Gods" fantastical towards the end.

Nevertheless, the ability to customize the match 3 segments allow for replaying over and over, trying out different combinations or repeating favorites. Hours and hours of fun to be had!

Windows:
Download the demo
Order the full version

Mac OS X:
Not available.
Try Boot Camp or Parallels or CrossOver Games.

The casual village sim Many Years Ago drops itself in a crowded genre, competing with games like My Tribe, Virtual Villagers, Escape from Paradise, Totem Tribe, and many more. Why, then, should anyone bother with another village sim? In four words: laid-back and relaxed gameplay. In one word: dinosaurs!

Your island civilization has been wiped out by a volcano (my, that sounds familiar). After customizing the tribal chief (a.k.a. you), start the villagers off by assigning a few basic tasks such as gathering resources, constructing buildings, finding tools, and so on. Before you know it you'll be charged with completing major tasks that require tons of resources, several tools, and a little effort on your behalf.

Building up resources will take up most of your play time, the rest goes by in a flash. Navigating the island paradise is smooth and easy, featuring three simple ways to get around: click and drag, scroll at the edge of the screens, or click the inset map to jump from place to place. Put a villager on a task by left-clicking the villager followed by his or her destination.Your people will happily take care of themselves, dropping their tasks to eat and drink, take a nap, or visit with friends or family and occasionally making a new little villager. They can also be surprisingly picky eaters, forcing the player to keep a wide variety of foods available.

Whimsy is a cornerstone of Many Years Ago. Chuckle as your villagers chatter to each other in their incomprehensible language, each voice unique to the person speaking. Ponder what the little furry creatures are for. Worry that once the bridge is built the dinosaurs will wreak havoc on your little settlement. Yes, dinosaurs. That is indeed a helpful pterosaur occasionally flying by to drop coins into nests which can be used for experience points. The sauropod and hadrosaur living on the other side of the river will wander by, feeding on the trees near your village and checking out the toddlers in the corral. Yes, toddlers. Yes, a corral.

Yet another thing that sets Many Years Ago apart are the tasks — many practical, some just out and out funny — like building a wooden corral to keep the village children from running amok and disturbing your workers at their appointed chores. Some duties can even be surprisingly complex. Baking bread, for instance, takes several steps, including the construction of three separate areas along with an intricate sequence of harvesting and milling the corn, transporting the flour, baking, and storing the bread.

And hey, how about those mini-games? Familiar fare such as match-3, pipe puzzles, and pair matching have been beefed up to an almost ridiculous degree in Many Years Ago. Two games feature an astonishing 49 levels each, moving them into the category of mega-mini-games.

Each mini-game has a nice little "twist" on the standard setup. Match-3, for instance, features a cute sabre-toothed kitty who you must lead along a path inside the grid. Make matches that allow him to follow said path to a treasure chest and you can win resources, but only if you've managed to break all the blocks and chains before he arrives. The pipe puzzle is a maze atop a plant that needs to be manipulated for the seedling to grow to the surface so it can bloom. However, the plant is already growing, so rotate the pieces fast before it hits a dead end and dies. Beginning several of the tasks also leads to little one-shot, micro-mini-games that are fun and quick and can also be skipped if you're not in the mood.

Analysis: To begin with, Many Years Ago is filled with lush scenery and animations throughout its environments. The palm trees have that lovely interwoven bark that makes you want to run your hands over them. (Note: Not advisable in real life, since that dense bark in some varieties of palm trees harbors a nasty breed of scorpion.) The palm fronds are a luscious, verdant green, and gently sway in the tropical breeze. Small furry creatures shuffle around on the ground, perhaps searching for food. Water in the spring and your storage area is actually running. Listen closely and you can almost hear the pounding surf. Perusing the backgrounds almost makes you feel as if you were on a vacation, and the "kick back and sip some tea in the shade" gameplay fits the visual setting perfectly.

The tutorial gets you started and nudges you in the proper direction without being too obtrusive. Objects that need to be found are in plain sight, no monkeys or other visual aids needed. The nicest feature of all? Three mega-mini-games are entirely optional. This leaves you free to play the mini-games as you wait for your villagers to rack up needed resources, to gain more resources or experience points, or just for fun. Or you can just ignore them completely and watch your villagers spear fish in the river.

Many village sim games feature time management tasks so intense you can feel like a paranoid taxi driver on a three day coffee jag trying to navigate downtown New York during rush hour. The casual, laid-back atmosphere of Many Years Ago takes a complete 180 from that mind-set. There are no hidden items to collect, no mysteries to solve. Everything is laid out in the task directions so some might consider the game too easy. This, however, is missing the point. While many of these type of games can be as stressful as a day at the office multi-tasking, playing Many Years Ago feels more like hanging out in a hammock, watching the sunset, enjoying the beach, and hoping the vacation never ends. True casual gameplay.

Windows:
Download the demo
Order the full version

Mac OS X:
Not available.
Try Boot Camp or Parallels or CrossOver Games.

Ever wake up and say "I need some adventure in my life?" or "What I really need is to drive myself insane looking for cunningly hidden object pieces in ridiculously picturesque settings." It's ok, you can admit those kinds of things here, and Magic Encyclopedia: Moon Light will fill that "magical journey sprawling over five continents" adventure/hidden object gap you've been looking to fill.

Developed by Alawar and Vendel Games, Magic Encyclopedia: Moon Light is the sequel to Magic Encyclopedia which put you in the shoes of a young magic student, Katrina, running all over the globe in search of her brother. Moon Light features a slightly older Katrina who is still a student at the Magic Academy. Now, however, she's drowning in homework and plagued by terrible nightmares. Salvation arrives when an origami messenger crane brings news that your professor has disappeared and your brother is hot on his trail. Katrina must make a momentous decision: homework... global adventure... homework... who are you kidding? Get moving!

Essentially a hidden object game with adventure elements, Magic Encyclopedia: Moon Light takes you from a Mayan temple to a Russian cottage, from a German castle to a Pearl Diver's hut in the South Pacific. The messenger crane comes along for the ride, giving a quick tutorial in the game's dynamics and leading the player to each scene as the story unfolds. The premise is simple: in each scene there are certain objects that need to be found. However, like Flux Family Secrets, the objects are broken into pieces, which can make gameplay a little tricky. Once assembled, items can be used in scenes to unlock more items or unlock some surprisingly tough mini-games. And don't forget to collect the jewels to activate the professor's amulet!

Navigation through the scenes is quick and easy, quite an improvement over the original game. Each area can have up to four different locations with scenes that are interconnected. This means you'll need to move back and forth to amass all object pieces to complete a section. Despite this complexity, none of the sections involve more than two separate locations, allowing the player the choice of participating in small doses or devouring the game in one long marathon. Movement between connected areas is accomplished by clicking special coins in the control panel, allowing you to travel back and forth between a Chinese temple and a Mongolian Yurt with ease. Cursor changes indicate areas that need a closer look (eye), mini puzzles (question mark), things to take (hand), things that need manipulation (hammer), and doorways to other rooms (animated legs). When encountering something new the friendly messenger crane appears to give helpful advice.

Analysis: Sequels can be worrisome. Things that are minor annoyances the first time around can become major aggravations if allowed to continue. No such problems here! Gone are the slow load times and slamming doors between scenes that plagued Magic Encyclopedia. Gone also is the clumsy and annoying "search for (blank)" to acquire more hints. Hints are on a refilling timer, and a timer to skip the mini-games is also a welcome addition. The mini-games themselves are less "I've seen that before" and lean more towards pure logic. Animations between the scenes run more quickly while imparting vital story information. One of the bright spots of this game is the method of dividing the adventure into stand-alone bite-sized chunks, making it perfect for casual gameplay.

Finding object pieces can be tricky, as its more difficult to find abstract shapes than specific items. There's very little of the standard "hiding pieces behind other things, having them lurk in dark corners, or burying them in tons of clutter" that characterize so many hidden object games. No, the object pieces lay boldly on top of the scene, blending in so cunningly that it will amaze you even as you move towards permanent eye-strain attempting to find them.

Let's pause for a moment and discuss the backgrounds themselves. Part of the charm of the first Magic Encyclopedia was the storybook-style hand-drawn scenery, making you feel as if you were wandering through a fairy tale. Instead of sticking to the same formula or jettisoning the concept altogether, Magic Encyclopedia: Moon Light kicks up the volume and takes it to dizzying new heights. Still lovingly hand-crafted with bright, bold colors, each scene is a work of art in its own right, tempting the player to simply gaze in wonder. If the first Magic Encyclopedia was like wandering through an enchanted book, Magic Encyclopedia: Moon Light is like floating through a surrealist work of art.

Magic Encyclopedia: Moon Light is a solid, satisfying, stunning addition to the adventure/hidden object genre. A beautiful game to get lost in!

Windows:
Download the demo
Order the full version

Mac OS X:
Not available.
Try Boot Camp or Parallels or CrossOver Games.

What is it with the Japanese? Every time I turn around they've locked me in a room. At least this one is furnished with a nice comfy couch. Oh look! A widescreen TV and a selection of DVDs. Great! Now, where's the remote...?

Escape From the Living Room, a new game by Japanese designer Isshi-e, is a solid, entertaining room escape game. Simply point and click your way through an uncluttered yet beautifully rendered living room, packed with challenges.

There is no back story here, no note from a mad doctor, no urgent ticking clock. Just you and a comfortable living room. Bars at the edges of the screen make finding your way around quick and easy. A few important objects are rather small, but even my tired old eyes could spot them. While navigating through the room is itself relatively simple, solving some of the puzzles, especially the end solution, will take a bit of ingenuity. This is basic escape-the-room stuff; but what a lot of stuff! What in the world is that three-headed rotating totem for? That's for Isshi-e to know and you to find out.

You'll spend most of your time in Escape From the Living Room collecting and using objects as you work towards the final solution. Not to say that there aren't any puzzles. There are indeed some tricky brain-teasers, but the answers to the more practical "How do I use that?" questions are what keep the game fun.

The puzzles themselves are logical and flow easily from one to another. The photorealistic backgrounds make you want to slow down and enjoy the scenery. Despite minimal decoration, the lush textures beg to be touched. The music... well, thankfully Isshi-e has included a mute button.

My only quibble is the sometimes frustrating way the game handles your inventory. The problems begin after you select an acquired object, then hit the "about item" button for a close-up. Some items need to be opened, turned, and manipulated, and finding the "sweet spot" that will allow you to do this can be tricky, with no visual cues.

Qibbles aside, Escape From the Living Room makes for a fun, quick escape. Or you could just kick back on that inviting couch, relax, and watch some DVDs...

Play Escape from the Living Room.

[Note: The Freewill Cycle game file is 25MB, so please be patient while it loads.] I am very fond of classic adventure games. The games in which you wake up in a strange place with no idea where to go or what to do. No intro, no handy tutorial, no friendly ghosts, no bloodthirsty zombies, just a lot of questions that need answers. The Freewill Cycle: Volume 1, by first time designer William Buchanan, will take you back to the days when the first thing you have to figure out is "What the heck am I doing here?" Cue mysterious music...

You awake in a room. Could be in a spaceship, could be in a space station, could be just a strange building in East Podunk, Michigan. There's no way of knowing, because all you can see out of the windows are pretty, pretty moving lights. You notice that the ominously pulsating glow has breached the room next to the one you started in. Should you walk into the light? On second thought, not a good idea. Perhaps you should explore a little more...

A JIG exclusive, The Freewill Cycle: Volume 1 is in essence a simple point-and-click escape game. The cursor turns into an arrow to let you know where you can go, or it turns into a hand when you encounter something you can touch, move, or take. Finding your way around is fairly easy; figuring out what needs to be done? Not so much. Take your time, look around, pry into other people's private e-mail, and slowly a pattern emerges. How good are you at reproducing lab experiments and repairing potentially radioactive machinery? You're about to find out.

The first part of a planned trilogy, The Freewill Cycle: Volume 1 is reminiscent of the genre classic, Myst. You will have to examine everything, take anything that's not nailed down, and go everywhere. As you explore the story unfolds, giving, in a few short clues, a vivid account of what may have happened and the personalities of the people involved. Who, by the way, are mysteriously missing...

Analysis: It is amazing what can be packed into such a compact game. Considering that it contains only a handful of rooms and a corridor, there is a world of information to be gleaned. As you read the e-mails the story takes shape, and you get a glimpse into what the facility must have been like before the...incident. Gameplay is smooth and simple with the cursor letting you know when you've encountered something important. The puzzles range from easy (guessing the computer passwords) to extremely complex (...but that's a spoiler for the end of the game).

The graphics are stunning and uncluttered, allowing you to both enjoy the beauty of the design and easily identify the important hotspots. Rendered in 3D, with colors and textures galore, the game invites you to take the time to look around and enjoy. The background music is simultaneously eerie and unobtrusive, enhancing your claustrophobia and paranoia as you wander around trying to figure out what went on. One tip: don't play on mute. There are a few audio cues you might miss if the sound is turned off.

A minor quibble is that the environment seems a bit too sterile. Any kind of working facility would certainly have a little more clutter (have you ever worked with engineers?). Also, the solution to the largest of the puzzles requires a bit of lateral thinking. The clues are all there, but your ability to synthesize will be key. Also, for the sequel I'd like to see Buchanan add in a save feature and a mute button, two elements that are welcome in any game.

All in all this is a dramatic, eye-catching experience; the game is immersive enough to lose yourself in while being short enough for casual gameplay. I am most amazed that this is a first effort by the designer, who taught himself both Flash and 3D Studio Max as he went along. If the trial effort is this good, I can't wait for part two.

Update! New version uploaded that addresses the inventory item issue reported in the comments.

Oh how I have longed for this day! A game with the complexity of Myst boiled down into a bite sized chunk. An amuse-bouche of a game, if you will. This lovely little taste left me hungry for more!

Play The Freewill Cycle: Volume 1.

Update: A new version has been uploaded that should address the issues with the inventory items that some people were having.

Nelly and Tom are at it again! Yes, the kids from the original Treasure Seekers: Visions of Gold have returned, and this time they're all grown up! Just like the original game, Treasure Seekers 2: The Enchanted Canvases a unique hybrid of adventure and hidden object gaming that makes use of context-sensitive actions rather than laundry lists of items to find. Add to that some much-improved visuals (which is saying a lot!) and you have another potential hit on your hands.

Nelly has just arrived home from Guatemala to find a letter from her brother, Tom. He has invited her to join him at a castle in Romania to solve a mystery, just like when they were kids. When she arrives at the castle, however, Tom has disappeared! The story of the siblings takes a backseat once Nelly arrives and begins to struggle through a series of enchanted paintings, solving problems for the inhabitants as she goes along. Fans of Azada: Ancient Magic will recognize this familiar set-up, but Treasure Seekers 2 goes a step further with more tasks and mini-puzzles to solve in each painting.

Artogon's context-sensitive interface, used in the original Treasure Seekers game as well as The Mystery of the Crystal Portal, is a welcome change to the hidden object/adventure genre, and it's extremely user-friendly. Your cursor changes shape when you move over a puzzle that can be solved. Click it and a circle pops up showing what items need to be collected to complete that task. Then, simply drag the needed items into the circles and before you know it, the puzzle is solved. In some areas you can work on different tasks at the same time, while other areas require you to complete one puzzle before you can move on to the next.

Both the cursor and the menu in Treasure Seekers 2 has been tweaked to show you which actions are possible over each hotspot, such as talking to characters, moving to a new screen, or interacting with an object. Contextual clues can also be gathered from speaking with the inhabitants of each painting, eliminating one of the major frustrations of Treasure Seekers: Visions of Gold: finding yourself in a room with no clue where to begin.

Analysis: A great feature in Treasure Seekers 2: The Enchanted Canvases the ability to choose between casual and advanced modes, allowing both novice and experienced gamers to have a good time. The mini-games scattered throughout the scenarios are varied and a nice mix of fun and challenging. And don't worry if you get stuck, they can be skipped after a certain amount of time. Also, much of the clutter of the first game has been cleaned up so you can really get a good look at those luminous backgrounds.

There are no penalties for misclicks, just a little red "X" to let you know you're in the wrong place. Hints are unlimited and on a timer that refills quickly, especially in casual mode. Skipping puzzles works in much the same way. An additional bonus in casual mode are little clues that pop up and point you in the right direction if you've taken too long to begin a task.

Since Nelly and Tom are older, some of the original sense of wonder is gone from the game, but Treasure Seekers 2 makes up for it with a healthy amount of whimsy in each scenario. Meet a trapped ghost, a forlorn werewolf, a snarky vampire, and an impatient monk amongst many other characters. Add to that the gorgeous locations and the challenging puzzles and you have yourself a winner!

Windows:
Download the demo
Order the full version

Mac OS X:
Not available.
Try Boot Camp or Parallels or CrossOver Games.