Drawn: Trail of Shadows
Game Review

Drawn: Trail of Shadows is the third installment of the acclaimed Drawn puzzle adventure game series that showcased exceptional graphic and cinematic quality while challenging you with unique and eye-catching puzzles. In a break from the previous Drawn games, Trail of Shadows does not focus on the story of Iris and the evil king. Instead, it takes us back many years earlier and tells the story of a boy who created the world of Drawn.

The story focuses on a boy who has the ability to turn his paintings into reality. Whatever dreams and nightmares he puts to canvas become real worlds that can be visited by stepping into the paintings. Unfortunately, one of his paintings is of an evil wizard, and the wizard has managed to abduct the boy, intent on using the boy's gift to plunge the painted world into darkness. You happen to be there when the kidnapping takes place, and it is now up to you to head into the paintings after the wizard, and rescue the boy before the world of Drawn is darkened forever.

Just like the previous Drawn games, Trail of Shadows is a cinematic and artistic masterpiece. The artwork in the game is nothing short of breathtaking, with gorgeous painted landscapes shrouded in a slight mist to give them that surreal magical quality. The presence of a wide-screen option for the game is also very welcome, letting you experience the full glory of the art no matter what your screen size.

There are also plenty of very nicely done animated scenes scattered throughout the game. Some of these even look like they belong in an animated feature film, and all of them bring the story to vivid life. On top of that, these animations are accompanied by good voice acting as well, creating a beautiful piece of interactive entertainment. There is even a 3D feel to the game, with the field of view shifting whenever you move your mouse. This may be difficult to adjust to for some people, but thankfully there is an option to disable it if you so choose.

The goal of the game is to chase the wizard and rescue the boy, and you do so by traveling from painting to painting as you search for them. Unfortunately, the wizard has torn the fabric of the paintings as he passed through them. You will need to repair the paintings with the help of various characters that you meet along the way. You go about doing this in a manner that is standard for hidden object adventure games; finding items and tools that are required to solve various puzzles in order to progress further.

The puzzles in the game are pretty challenging, and all revolve around the theme of art. There are puzzles involving painting, crayons, sketching, carving and various other art forms. Some of the puzzles are great re-imaginings of popular puzzle types, while others are just plain unique. You even get to play a game of croquet with a character you meet!

Like other hidden object games, there is a journal to record the events that happen in your adventure. But in this case, each page of the journal is also one big puzzle. The journal looks like a children's pop-up or pull-out storybook, with tabs that recount the story so far. But you also have to manipulate these pull-out tabs and other parts of the book to solve puzzles and find key objects. On top of that, there are also special objects hidden throughout the storybook; find them all and you unlock an achievement!

Trail of Shadows is a truly gorgeous game, and lives up to the very high standards set by its predecessors with its amazing art direction. The only fault (and a very small one) I can see is that for a story about kidnapping and corrupting a world, some of the scenes do seem a little too upbeat and serene. You will definitely love the game if you enjoy epic adventures in a magical fantasy realm, such as in the previous Drawn games or other games such as the Awakening series.

You can get the basic version of the PC game, or you can get the Collector's Edition which includes exclusive extras such as bonus gameplay and beautiful screensavers and artwork. Or get the basic version or Collector's Edition of the Mac game.

Check out the other games in this series!

Related PC Games at Big Fish Games:

Drawn: Trail of Shadows Collector's Edition

Drawn: Dark Flight

Awakening: The Goblin Kingdom

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