Wednesday 25 May 2016

Enigmatis: The Ghosts of Maple Creek (Xbox One) - Review

Enigmatis is available now on the Xbox One and is priced at £7.99.

Hidden Object games are a guilty pleasure for me and, I imagine, many others and I have reviewed each of the previous Artifex Mundi offerings on Xbox One (here and here). Whilst they both sated my guilty pleasure, neither of them were given a great score. I found the stories to be lacking slightly and graphically the games are unimpressive to say the least. So how does Enigmatis: The Ghosts of Maple Creek compare?

Enigmatis follows a woman who finds herself in Maple Creek. She has no idea why she is there, so she sets out to investigate. The story is much better than either of the previous Artifex Mundi games and it ties in with the hidden-object side of Artifex Mundi's games much better. When I first reviewed an Artifex Mundi game on the Xbox One I struggled to think of anyone to recommend the game to, it just seemed like something a "Facebook Gamer" would play. Then I reviewed their next release and found myself enjoying it, so much so that I started looking forward to the next press release. I launched Enigmatis the minute it had downloaded and finished it in a couple of sittings. I think this is their 'pull', they're extremely simplistic, just point at what you want to investigate and click. They don't take long to complete either, even on hard mode, so they're a perfect way to kill a little time before big blockbuster releases.

The thing that makes Eningmatis stand out though was the evidence wall. As you make your way through Maple Creek you discover things about the different places you visit and the people you meet, and you put the scraps of paper on your hotel room wall to help you work out what is going on in Maple Creek. It is pretty cool to see that filling up, with you adding information to the correct sections to get to the bottom of the mystery.

The other puzzles in this game were great too, they're not so challenging that you end up turning to Google in despair, they posed enough of a challenge that you don't feel like you're breezing through the game too fast. The hidden object sections were fantastic, items were extremely well concealed or camouflaged against the background, making it very hard to get the achievement for spotting a few items in a matter of seconds.

If you have enjoyed either of the previous Artifex Mundi offerings then you should definitely pick this one up. In my opinion it has taken the best bits of the previous games and expanded them, making this one the best by far. I enjoyed every minute of this one, though after spending four hours in one go on it I did feel a little ashamed that I hadn't sunk that time into a bigger title. But, hey, I was having fun. Leave me alone.

9/10 BUY IT!
A code was provided for the purpose of this review. 

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