Review – Macabre Mysteries: Curse of the Nightingale

The game Macabre Mysteries: Curse of the Nightingale is a mixture of mystery and discovery, but being not very dynamic game it fits mostly people with calm temperament and analytic mind. Ominous scenes with ghosts interchange with pacific ones displaying abandoned places and wreckages of the old theater suffered from fire many years ago. This hidden object game is definitely for those who like to disentangle a knot of dark events.

Gameplay

The game starts with brief information about the main facts of the story and what will be the task of the game. The player (The Grandson) gets the invitation of his grandpa to meet him in the abandoned nightingale theater suffered from the devastating fire many years ago. The purpose of the game is to reveal the true cause of the theater fire and the reason of the curse and who was to be charged for it. All the game is built in such a way that you are kept excited till the end of it, trying to find out the clue.

One of the advantages of this game is the ability to move throughout the theater using arrows stipulated for this purpose. It gives you perception of freedom because you may move wherever you like and return back to the place you started out from. It gives you the chance to change scenes and to diversify the game course in our own way.

The Map tool is a very useful one. Clicking on it you may always find out the place of your location and the direction you need to move. The Map is very clear and well done. It also has the “Character tab” giving you brief information about the figurants of the events. This hidden object game contains The Visions, their presence changes a pace of the game. The hidden objects the player has to find in each minigame are not found easily– the whole atmosphere of the game is a little bit misty, ghostly. Sometimes they even merge with the background itself. This is the feature of the game. And thus the process of the items searching is even more exciting since the items location is not clear like it appears in some other games. Having found needed items and applied them where necessary, you can get over another obstacle and appear closer to the final revelation.

Hints have turned out to be very useful for me when applying found items in order to reveal old secrets one after another. The game is enriched with dialogs from the past and it makes you feel the atmosphere of that old theater before the fire occurred. Such fragments weaken the whole strained atmosphere when you permanently expect sudden appearance of a ghost or a horrifying picture hanging on the wall of the abandoned theater.

Graphics

As to graphics – I would say that it fits the overall game character – a little bit misty and dark…. If I were a developer, I would add some bright colors, just a little, to dilute the whole dark background. It would simplify the items searching process as well and that could be a plus for some impatient ones. Arrows for navigating the theater are implemented in a good way. No remarks on that issue. This refers to the map also. A very useful tool, it prevents confusion when moving throughout the theater, and for me personally this was a big plus.

Sound

Music changes the same way as scenes interchange each other – the strained ones when an unexpected ghost is flying in front of you – and the calm, mild ones, when you are trying to find needed items and rearrange them. Ominous sounds accompany scenes when you are cautiously moving through unknown doors or revealing horrifying pictures, and mild pleasant, melodic music is heard when you are coming across the items need. Wing beats and doors groans are also asoundded. It animates the scenes in the way that the player feels – it’s real. As for me, the sound of the game Macabre Mysteries: Curse of the Nightingale is one of its main advantages. It is made in a good taste.

Conclusion

Macabre Mysteries: Curse of the Nightingale is a typical hidden object game. The structure and the course of the game correspond to the genre. Concerning its features, I would emphasize that it is not a very dynamic game and fits well those who prefer traditional mystical stories with a complex chain of events to be discovered on the way to an unexpected final.