It’s another
Artifex Mundi title and the first one that gave me any real trouble. Playing
through the game on expert for the first time when it doesn’t tell you where to
go is one thing but the items and what they were used for were absolutely
ridiculous for the most part.
I’ve started
to be sensible now too knowing that I’m probably going to play all of their
games, I bought this one as part of a bundle with Enigmatis 2: The Mists of Ravenwood which I’ll be playing next and
will be the first direct sequel from the publishers I’ll play.
The game
follows the story of a detective with amnesia after a car crash looking for
another missing woman (shocking, I know.) She is in the town of Maple Creek
where an evil priest is trying to do something with women to gain some power or
something. I don’t know; it’s not really explained but basically the job is to
save the woman from the evil priest.
There were a
few things that happened during this game that made me laugh. Firstly and in
relation to the storyline, despite the appearance of there being a desperate
race to save this woman, you can spend as long as you want dicking about. And
if you are playing on expert, you will do this going backwards and forwards
trying to find the relevant scene you need to explore to find that one item
with its specific use to allow you to progress. There is no penalty for taking
too long which makes sense in the context of the game but not if reality was
applied.
Secondly, you
have an amazing carry capacity when reality is applied. At one point you pick
up a chainsaw and then run through the forest with it but if you think about
it, you could have the detective running backwards and forwards looking for a
hidden picture scene carrying a chainsaw. Unless she is some kind of faceless
cyborg from the future, I’m pretty sure she would collapse after a few hours of
lugging that thing around.
The last
thing is the fact that at so many points during the game, you get items that
have specific purposes which you can’t use even if you come across a situation
where the item would be appropriate to use because it’s not the specific one. A
couple of examples, you need to use a fishing pole to get a page out of a tree
but you can’t use it to get a cork out of a drain. You have to use acid to melt
some rusty metal but a hammer would have done the job just as well. The whole
game is like that too - when you think you have what you need only for it to
not be what you need and you need to traipse around all over the place looking
for that one elusive item you missed at the beginning.
Achievements – 1,000 Points – 11
Achievements
There are
only hidden picture scenes here so there is no need for a second playthrough
however there are 8 missable achievements. There are only two for just
completing the game but the likelihood is you will get more than this without
the use of a guide.
Finishing
all the hidden pictures and puzzles without skipping any will net you 4 of the
missables. Then there are the usual speed ones for a mini-game in under a
minute, hidden scene in under a minute and three items in three seconds as well
as the customary ‘complete a scene with less than 4 mistakes’ – so no major
shakes for the missables either.
Downloadable Content – N/A
Enigmatis was an enjoyable, funny,
sometimes frustrating experience but did actually feel a little rewarding playing
through on expert without a guide. Some of the puzzles were hard but never
illogical which is still the strongest credit to the series.
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