Enigmatis: The Ghosts of Maple Creek
Game Review

Enigmatis: Ghosts of Maple Creek is a hidden object game from Artifex Mundi, the brains behind other great games such as Time Mysteries: Inheritance. The game contains plenty of puzzles and hidden object scenes to solve, and features elements of detective mystery-solving, abandoned-town spookiness, and hints of the occult. There are also a few scenes and events that will scare you right out of your seat. I won't spoil them for you here, but you will definitely know what I'm referring to once you get to those parts of the game.

The game begins with an animated introduction showing you running away from an unseen danger, through a dark forest towards the small town of Maple Creek. You collapse as you reach town, and the game proper begins as you wake up in the middle of the street. Unfortunately, it looks like the chase and subsequent fall have made you lose your memory, and you will need to explore the deserted town to find out what you were doing there and what you were running from. Apparently you are a detective investigating a kidnapping case, but a simple investigation will soon turn into an adventure involving mysterious forces and a fight to save your life and your sanity.

The overall atmosphere of the game is spooky yet beautiful. The outdoor scenes feature plenty of eerie-looking mist and buildings falling into disrepair. It's not much better indoors, with things appearing to be falling apart due to a recent storm and through lack of maintenance. The beautiful art and music are able to capture all this pretty well, and the voice-acting by the protagonist and the characters you meet are also very well done.

The game also features lots of animation and cutscenes, making the game more dynamic. This is a testament to how the hidden object game genre has evolved, and it is good to see that Enigmatis has not fallen behind in this area. You get plenty of ambient animations such as rain, electric sparks and even animals roaming the countryside. And then there are the more important story-related animations and cutscenes. You will see mysterious figures running away as you approach them, and even some who come staggering toward you looking for help. And then there are the scary and shocking scenes that were mentioned earlier. In all, the game serves up lots of interactive entertainment.

The actual gameplay itself works pretty much the same as similar games. You travel through the town and surrounding countryside, encountering various obstacles (such as locked doors and fallen branches) that will prevent you from moving forward. You will need to find items scattered throughout the area that will help you unlock these doors. Various tools and potentially-useful items can be picked up and stored in your inventory. When the time comes that those items are needed, you can then drag them onto the relevant objects on screen to use them.

Sometimes, you will be gathering sets of items rather than individual objects. These sets will usually turn out to be pieces of a puzzle, and will activate a puzzle minigame once they are brought to the correct location. These minigames are pretty unique and feature various puzzle types, from pattern-matching and memory games to logic puzzles. The challenge levels of the puzzles range from fairly easy to rewardingly mind-boggling. There are also a few hidden object scenes thrown in throughout the game. They aren't too difficult, but they do feature some items that require prior manipulation before you can access them.

One nice feature of the game is how it organizes the various sections or chapters of the story using a detective theme. You will pick up various newspaper clippings and other clue fragments throughout the game to help solve your kidnapping case. You can put them up on a wall in whatever way you choose, and when you have gathered all the relevant clues together in a section of wall, you will have cracked the case in question. However (as happens in many investigations), solving one case will often reveal new questions and new cases that also need to be solved.

Enigmatis: Ghosts of Maple Creek is a very well-designed game and well-told story. You will love it if you like other contemporary detective stories with hints of the occult, such as the Hallowed Legends and Paranormal Crime Investigations games. 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, a movie gallery and more media bonuses. Or get the basic version or Collector's Edition of the Mac game.

Related PC Games at Big Fish Games:

Enigmatis: The Ghosts of Maple Creek Collector's Edition

Hallowed Legends: Samhain

Paranormal Crime Investigations: Brotherhood of the Crescent Snake

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