The Secret Order 6: Bloodline

Developer: Sunward Games Ltd.  | Publisher: Artifex Mundi | Release Date: 2017 | Genre: Casual / Hidden Object Puzzle Adventure | Website: Official Website | Purchase: Steam

From traveling to the past, mythical realms, legendary kingdoms, and even strange dimensions, nobody can claim that Sarah Pennington leads a boring life. As the daughter of the Master of the Order of the Griffins, she has had a lot on her plate and had to thwart the evil Clan of the Dragon multiple times in the past. In The Secret Order 6: Bloodline, we learn that Sarah’s mother is a microbiologist who is searching for a special flower deep in the jungles of South America. However, shortly after arriving in South America, Sarah finds herself up against the Dragon Clan once again as they kidnap her mother. It seems that some enemies from her past has their own interest in obtaining the miraculous flower that could give them power over life and death. Sarah has no choice but to rescue her mother and ensure that the Dragon Clan doesn’t get their hands on this miracle medicine.

Bloodline is the sixth installment of the popular Secret Order hidden object puzzle adventure series by Sunward Games and Artifex Mundi. Although the series has had some ups and downs, overall it has been amongst the better examples of the genre thanks to beautiful visuals and imaginative locations. Bloodline continues with this trend as it takes place mostly in a South American jungle. However, you won’t just bee seeing lots of trees as the 39 scenes on offer includes crash sites, hidden bases, secret labs, ancient ruins and much more. Each and every one of these scenes have been lavished with detail and are so colorful that even the most mundane ones are a joy to explore. It’s a good thing that all the scenes are so interesting too, as you’ll be spending a lot of time scrutinizing them very close. This is because in addition to the inventory objects needed to complete puzzles, all the scenes are also packed with bonus collectibles to find. These don’t have any use or impact on the story, but are there simply for an added challenge and an opportunity to earn some achievements. From jaguars and crocodiles to crows, chameleons, posters and the obligatory morphing objects, you have your work cut out to find all of them. We suggest making the effort to do so as the game is fairly short and can easily be completed in a couple of hours.

While same characters and names from previous games crop up occasionally, Bloodline is a self-contained adventure that actually has very little to do with the previous installments. Sarah spends most of her adventure alone, apart from the occasional helper, such as a monkey or jaguar cub. Her mother obviously also plays a small role, along with another member of the Order of the Griffins who you bump into. For the rest it is business as usual as Sarah scours her surroundings for objects to place in her inventory from where they can be used to solve all kinds of puzzles.

Along the way you’ll also encounter 12 hidden object scenes to complete along with 24 mini games. The hidden object scenes are detailed and interesting, but far from challenging. While the minigames features a couple of new challenges, most will be familiar to fans of the genre. Whether it is mixing colored fluids in the correct ratios, attaching wires to the correct spots to create the correct shapes, or using mirrors to reflect colored lights to their proper places on a grid, the minigames offer very little real surprises. Bloodline also features a cube artifact mechanic that can be activated in a few places, but the result is just another easy minigame.

While it might not be very challenging, even on the highest of the three available difficulty settings, Bloodline is still an entertaining experience, especially if you are looking for something relaxing. The whole game feels very polished and the interface is very easy to use. Features, like the map that can also be used to instantly jump to previously visited locations means you can quickly get to where you need to go when you figure out where to use an item. While the game doesn’t feature a lot of talking characters, the voice acting that is on offer doesn’t sound too bad. The soundtrack is also quite fitting, although we would have liked to hear a few more tunes.

Completing Bloodline rewards players with a bonus chapter that is set directly after the main storyline, but it doesn’t add too much to the overall playing time. Fans looking for something that can be completed in an evening will enjoy what this game has to offer, but those who thrive on a tough challenge won’t find it here. Bloodline isn’t perfect, character animations are still somewhat on the stiff side, the story is a little muddled at times and the whole experience is over all too soon, but it is definitely one of the better entries in the series. It is also very reasonably priced, so even with the short playtime, you’ll find plenty of value for money. If you are a fan of the series and would like to see more of Sarah Pennington and her adventures then The Secret Order 6 should be high on your wishlist. The same goes for newcomers to the genre as despite being the sixth title in a series, Bloodline is actually quite friendly towards novices.