Tibetan Quest: Beyond the World’s End

Developer: Brave Giant LTD | Publisher: Artifex Mundi | Release Date: 2016 | Genre: Adventure / Casual / Hidden Object | Website: Official Website | Purchase: Steam

Love hidden object games and not tired of searching for kidnapped friends/family/pets yet? Then Tibetan Quest beckons with a trip to the mystical city of Shangri-La. You play as Lady Pearson, a middle-aged and, apparently quite well-off, woman who is in search of her niece, Larisa. Three weeks after Larisa and her crew went on an archeological trip to Tibet they went missing during a storm, prompting Lady Pearson to embark on a rescue mission. After a chat with the inhabitants of Lhasa’s Tibetan temple the journey leads to Shangri-La where the rest of the game plays out. As always, there is sinister and supernatural things awaiting you, but with a keen eye and some puzzle solving skills nothing can stand in your way.

Tibetan Quest is a fairly typical hidden object game, so don’t expect any drastic deviations from what the genre usually offers. Gameplay is a mix of hidden object scenes, puzzles and inventory item collecting, spread across 55 different screens. The Tibetan setting is definitely very cool, but once again, don’t expect to learn much about the region as the scenes are obviously more fantasy than reality.

The hidden object scenes form the backbone of the game and while there are plenty on offer, we did find them to be very easy. Even with the three difficulty settings we managed to complete most of the scenes in less than a minute and never had to resort to using any hints. For most of the scenes you are presented with a list of words and then have to click on the required objects that are hidden away in the picture. There are also a couple of scenes where you are only presented with the silhouettes of the objects that need to be found, but these are few and far between.

The only new element we noticed with the hidden object scenes is the inclusion of “morphing” objects. These are objects that shift between different forms, so for example a pen might turn into a fork and then back every few seconds. It is an interesting idea, but doesn’t really do much to increase the difficulty of the game as the morphing objects immediately draws the attention. Most hidden object scenes are revisited with new lists over the course of the game, but you can also opt to play Mahjong instead if you grow weary of searching for items.

The puzzle scenes are also all fairly easy, although it was nice to see some new variations instead of the usual selection. Those who have played their fair share of hidden object games will probably have encountered most of these puzzles in some form or another though. In total, there are 48 puzzles and hidden object scenes, which will keep players busy for a couple of hours. Hints can be used by players who get stuck and a handy map, as well as a fast travel system makes it easy to navigate around the gameworld.

Finally, there are the inventory based puzzles that are a bit hit and miss. Lady Pearson can pick up just about anything that isn’t nailed down and store it in her inventory, but the game is very strict about what can be used when and where. All inventory puzzles only have one solution, so even if you can spot a million other ways to accomplish something you need to determine the one that the game expects from you. It also doesn’t help that some of the inventory puzzles feel very forced, such as mixing an elaborate sleeping potion just to get rid of a spider. Despite the somewhat convoluted inventory puzzles the game shouldn’t really pose any challenge for veterans of the genre and seems to be aimed more at novices. Just don’t try to rely too much on logic when it comes to the inventory puzzles.

Tibetan Quest really shines in terms of visuals with vivid, detailed scenes that are packed with lots of small animations. Since most of the game takes place in Shangri-La it doesn’t have quite as much variety in terms of scenery compared to other hidden object games, but the artists still did a great job with the backgrounds. One aspect of the visuals that will definitely split opinions is the faces of non-player characters. Brave Giant LTD appears to have used some type of video overlay for the faces, which means very detailed, but very creepy faces. You don’t really encounter that many non-player characters during your quest, but the faces definitely stand out and some look way worse than others.

The soundtrack is really good, with plenty of tunes that provide nice ambience for the locations you get to explore. All of the sound effects are also crisp and clear, which gives the game a very polished feel. The voice acting on the other hand is about what you would expect from the genre. Although the story isn’t very deep, it offers a good enough excuse for traipsing through Shangri-La. Tibetan Quest doesn’t take very long to complete, but optional items such as stars, apples, medallions and swords are hidden in each scene for those who want an extra challenge. These items are not required to complete the story, but will net eagle-eyed players with Steam achievements. The hidden object scenes and mini-games can also be replayed and completing the game rewards players with an additional adventure. This extra quest involves finding an artifact to heal Larisa and while quite short is still entertaining.

Although there is a lot to complain about we definitely had fun playing Tibetan Quest and Shangri-La made for an interesting setting. A bigger challenge and less reliance on genre clichés, not to mention more logical inventory puzzles would have been great though. Anyone new to the genre or who fancies a relaxing adventure that isn’t too taxing should definitely give Tibetan Quest a try.