Grim Tales: The Bride
Game Review

Grim Tales: The Bride is a hidden object adventure game by Elephant Games, the minds behind hit games such as the Mystery Trackers and Lost in the City game series. This game is fairly dark - both in lighting and theme - as you explore the circumstances surrounding a death. This is par for the course in the hidden object game genre though. After all, nothing quite spooks and excites like the thought of investigating a potential murder!

The story is a standard romance: boy meets girl, boy proposes to girl, girl falls into a river on her wedding day, never to be seen again. It just so happens that the girl is your sister, and you have taken it upon yourself to discover exactly what happened on that fateful day. As you return to the family mansion to investigate, you meet a creepy-looking apparition who gives you the chance to go back in time and save your sister by exploring her memories. But if you fail to save her, your soul will belong to the apparition. Muahahahah!

Those of you who feel that recent hidden object games have been too easy will be in for a treat with this game. There are three game modes, the hardest of which has no hints, no skip button, and no sparkles for areas of interest! In other words, all you have is your own wits and skills. Many people will appreciate this increased level of difficulty and relish the challenge of the puzzles, some which are pretty diabolical.

The main mechanic or gimmick in the game is being able to travel into the memories of your sister via items associated with her. Via this method, you will revisit the key moments in her life and learn more about her in the process. In each memory, your task will be to obtain another personal item of hers that will transport you to the next memory. The mysterious apparition will also be there to guide you throughout the journey.

Each of these memories is a self-contained world with quite a few locations to explore. For example, the "proposal" memory has a pagola, a church, a basement, a cemetery, a fountain and even a tree-house, each of which has multiple scenes! As you go about trying to obtain your sister's items, you will come across many obstacles such as locked doors or machines that won't run until you find the required item or tool. You will encounter and pick up these items as you explore the memories, but some of them will also require some manipulating before you can obtain them.

There are plenty of puzzles and hidden object scenes that you will encounter along the way. As has been mentioned before, some of the puzzles are very challenging, made even more frustrating when you are unable to skip past them if playing in hardcore mode. The puzzles are also pretty unique, and are mostly interesting new takes on tried-and-true puzzle types. The hidden object scenes are the standard list of items you need to find, and are also fairly challenging.

The art and music are pretty good, and complement the game very well. The dark yet rich atmosphere draws you into the world (or memories, to be precise) and makes you feel invested in the outcome of the story. You will love this game if you liked the other Elephant Games games such as the Mystery Trackers series, or other memory-exploration games such as Shiver: Vanishing Hitchhiker.

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, an integrated strategy guide and other bonuses such as wallpapers, a soundtrack and concept art. 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:

Grim Tales: The Bride Collector's Edition

Shiver: Vanishing Hitchhiker

Shades of Death: Royal Blood

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