Mythic Wonders: The Philosopher’s Stone

Developer: Organic 2 Digital Studio | Publisher: Artifex Mundi | Release Date: 2016 | Genre: Adventure / Casual / Hidden Object | Website: Official Website | Purchase: Steam

When Emma has a vivid dream about her uncle, Alfred, finding himself in peril she immediately rushes to his house. Upon arrival, she finds that he is missing, but the mythical portal that she has been helping him construct has been activated. Emma wastes no time in entering the portal to try and track down her uncle, but is confronted by a mysterious guardian who appears to be hell bent on thwarting her efforts. Fortunately, Emma possesses the mythical philosopher’s stone, a valuable artifact that allows her to influence her surroundings.

Mythic Wonders: The Philosopher’s Stone was developed by Organic 2 Digital Studio and is a bit of a departure from their previous title, Vampire Legends: The True Story of Kisilova. However, it is still a hidden object game, which means there are plenty of puzzles to solve and tons of hidden object scenes to complete (48 puzzles and 21 hidden object scenes to be exact. Rescuing relatives is one of the most common and overused plot devices in the hidden object genre, which means The Philosopher’s Stone is a bit less interesting story wise compared to Vampire Legends. There is a bit of a twist in this well-worn tale, but experienced players will probably see it coming a mile away.

Thankfully, despite the story being a bit lackluster, the rest of the game does make up for it with beautiful hand drawn visuals and an interesting gameworld to explore. Since the worlds through which you travel are not on earth and instead based around the elements it has allowed the artists to come up with some unique settings. From tower mushrooms, mermaids and crystal lined caves to lava filled caverns, the visuals are top notch. There are about sixty locations to visit and we were always eager to find out what was around the next corner. The character designs are unfortunately not as good as the detailed backgrounds, but even this doesn’t detract much from the visuals.

While exploring you must once again collect every object in your path, and use them to solve puzzles that are dotted around the gameworld. You don’t have access to a helper, but can use the philosopher’s stone to get past certain obstacles. As you progress through the game the stone also grows more powerful, giving you mastery over more elements. The hidden object scenes are all really nice and while not exactly difficult they are pretty satisfying to solve. In addition to the typical word lists you are also given scenes where you are shown pictures of the items you must find or symbols that are concealed away in the scene. These provide some nice variety and each scene is also only used once, so there is less repetition. Some hidden object games feature a variety of bonus items to locate in each for extra bragging rights and achievements, but The Philosopher’s Stone only has morphing objects to find. Still, most of them are hidden away quite well and finding them all makes for a nice challenge.

We quite enjoyed the music featured in The Philosopher’s Stone as the calm, relaxing tunes are a perfect fit for the dreamlike nature of the scenes. The sound effects are also good, but the voice acting is decidedly average. The biggest problem is the fact that the actress who lends Emma her voice tend to inject very little emotion in her lines, which make them sound flat. It doesn’t ruin the experience, but could definitely have been better.

The controls are as easy as can be and will be instantly familiar to anyone who has ever played a hidden object game. Emma can fast travel to previous locations using her handy map or check her journal for more information about her discoveries. The Philosopher’s Stone is actually very newcomer friendly as it features a slew of difficulty settings. In addition to the “Regular,” “Advance” and “Expert” difficulty settings there is also a “Custom” option. Here you can tweak everything from hotspots glimmering or not to setting delays and even adjusting miss-clicks. This level of customization in regards to the difficulty of the game is definitely something we would like to see in more hidden object games. Completing the game unlocks some concept art, wallpapers, a music player as well as the ability to replay some hidden object scenes and mini-games. There is also a short bonus adventure, which is set in the realm of Nether and features the creation of the Guardian, to unlock.

Even with the slightly generic storyline The Philosopher’s Stone is a fun adventure and just long enough that it doesn’t become repetitive. The bonus adventure is also quite nice and offers a cool insight into the events that occurred long before the main game. We would have like to know more about the origins of the mythical portal and how Emma and her uncle as able to create it, but this isn’t essential to enjoying the game. Mythic Wonders: The Philosopher’s Stone is polished, varied and interesting enough to warrant its spot in your game collection, especially if you are a fan of the genre.