G5 Entertainment and Artifex Mundi have teamed up to produce some excellent hidden object adventures, from Dark Arcana to Nightmares of the Deep to the more recent 9 Clues. Now they have released Left in the Dark: No One on Board, a chilling mystery adventure that has you investigating a ship that has turned up without crew or cargo!
Type of app: Hidden Object Puzzle Adventure (HOPA) game
Platform/where to buy: iPad (iPhone version as well); available in the iTunes App Store
Developer: Artifex Mundi / G5 Entertainment
Description:
* 68 engaging and captivating levels
* 14 uniquely enticing mini-games
* 13 inspiring achievements
* Seven enigmatic characters
* Gripping storyline and unparalleled hand-drawn art
The Left in the Dark: No One on Board Major features:
You play as ‘Madame Detective’, a 19th century private investigator tasked with unlocking the mystery behind a ship that disappeared and showed up much later without crew or cargo. To solve the mystery you need to investigate the ship, follow the clues and eventually leave the boat to get to what caused the events to unfold as they did.
As you would expect in a mystery game, there is much more going on than immediately meets the eye – you uncover multiple parallel plot lines that all converge as the game progresses, and small stories of individuals that give you added things to do, and little oddities and curiosities that add flavor.
Left in the Dark: No One on Board is not exactly accurate – as you soon discover, there are bodies around the ship and ghosts and phantoms that will approach you frequently.
Throughout the game you will encounter objects scattered around the environment, hidden object scenes, combined-object puzzles, and mini-games that range from very simple to rather complex. Some of the ghosts you meet will help you and others will need you to do something first.
Ease of use/Overall performance:
Left in the Dark conforms with genre norms – if you have played any other hidden object games, you will settle into this one immediately – it is a fairly standard genre game in terms of mechanics and gameplay. This isn’t a bad thing – I found that I greatly enjoyed the way things flowed throughout the game and wouldn’t have messed with anything.
You can choose to play in Casual, Normal or Expert mode, with Casual mode offering generous hint system recharge and object highlighting. Expert provides a more solid challenge, whereas Expert is quite difficult at times. I only completed the game on Casual mode, replaying segments on the other two levels.
As noted the technical aspects of the game are excellent – great visuals, snappy performance in terms of load-times and transitions, tap-accuracy is solid, and I never had a crash. The sound and extras are all excellent, and overall I was very impressed.
Would use again/recommend?: Definitely! From the very start I was drawn into the story, and Left in the Dark provided an engaging experience. The puzzles are set up to be challenging but not frustrating. The story is engaging and keeps you working through area after area. The characters are unique and interesting and provide helpful clues and fun distractions along the way. You will spend several hours working through Left in the Dark, and it is enjoyable throughout!
Suggested changes/wish list for updates: Nothing
Source: Publisher provided review code
Price: Free download – (iPhone here, in-app purchase for full game is $6.99 for iPad, $4.99 for iPhone. On sale through May 30th for $4.99 / $2.99)
Here is the Left in the Dark: No One on Board trailer:
