Enigmatis 2: The Mists of Ravenwood

Developer: Artifex Mundi | Publisher: Artifex Mundi | Release Date: 2013 | Genre: Adventure / Puzzle / Hidden Object | Website: Official Website | Purchase: Steam

For players unfamiliar with the first Enigmatis title, it featured a detective with short term memory loss who woke up in a car wreck on the edge of a small town. As you pieced together the puzzles it became clear what your purpose was in the town of Maple Creek and who you were up against. The Mists of Ravenwood is a direct continuation of the first game, so if you have yet to play Maple Creek we suggest you stop reading and go do so immediately. Everyone else who is curious whether this title lives up to the legacy of the original should read on.

The Mists of Ravenwood opens with our intrepid detective still on the trail of the protagonist who caused so much grief in the town of Maple Creek. The discovery of a seemingly abandoned camper on the side of the road draws her deeper into another mystery, this time in the mysterious Ravenwood Park. Once again, everything is not as it seems and the park holds some shocking mysteries that ties in directly to what occurred in Maple Creek. What starts out as a simple quest to reunite a lost child with her parents soon takes on a more sinister tone as the supernatural elements begin to ramp up.

The Ghosts of Maple Creek wasn’t without its faults, but overall it is still one of the more atmospheric entries in the hidden object game genre. This means that The Mists of Ravenwood had some pretty big boots to fill and thankfully, for the most part, it does. Your character had a penchant for drawing conclusions based on clues and evidence in the original game, so the “evidence board” feature makes a welcome return in this game. Leaving it up to players to connect the evidence with the plot points makes for a more engaging experience and also means you are never left wondering what is going on like in some other, more esoteric, entries in the genre.

TMoR offers the usual mix of hidden object scenes and puzzles, neither of which will really stump veteran players for very long. Some of the hidden object scenes are the typical list based variety, but there are also a few where the items you need to find are not just random things, but are are actually used towards a specific purpose. Players who are not fond of searching for hidden objects or want a bit more variation can switch over to the Match Puzzle mode instead. If you do enjoy thoroughly scrutinizing every scene in a hidden object game, then you are in luck too as TMoR has a couple of optional extras to search for. First up are the ethereal butterflies that are hiding all over the park and then there are also illusive objects which constantly morph between different states. In total there are 30 of each and finding them all adds a nice extra layer of challenge to the game.

Visually the game features a boost in quality compared to the original and this is especially evident in the cut-scenes and animations. Ravenwood Park and its surroundings are made up of more than 50 hand drawn locations and each one is packed with plenty of detail. Small animated touches add some extra life and vibrancy to the scenes and the overall use of colors are very good. The graphics definitely look a lot more colorful and stylized compared to the original, which was a bit drab in places. Seeing as the focus of the game is to inspect every scene closely and thoroughly it is nice to see how polished everything looks. The audio is just as good, although the soundtrack sounds just a tad too similar to the original. It is still very atmospheric, but after spending a lot of time in Maple Creek, hearing what sounds like the same tunes in Ravenwood can become a little repetitive. As for the voice acting, it is mostly very decent with only the occasional wooden sounding lines or deliveries. The sound effects are top notch though and further help to bring the scenes to life.

One of the biggest annoyances of The Ghosts of Maple Creek was the inability to fast travel, which is something that I am happy to report has been rectified in Ravenwood. This cuts back considerably on the amount of time spent trudging back and forth, which makes the whole experience more enjoyable. Speaking of the original, Ravenwood goes to a lot of effort to explain characters and events that are tied to Maple Creek, but it is definitely more rewarding to play the original first instead of treating this as a standalone title. Upon completing the game you also unlock a bonus adventure which, while not as engaging as the main story, does provide some nice backstory on the origins of the park.

Artifex Mundi has built up a solid reputation in the hidden object game genre and with games like The Mists of Ravenwood it is easy to see why. The storyline is interesting, the setting a lot of fun to explore and the visuals packed with detail. Veteran players will probably have liked to see more challenging puzzles and scenes as even on the higher difficulty level the game is unlikely to keep you stumped for very long. Still, you can certainly do a lot worse than this title and it shouldn’t be missed by fans of the genre.