Grim Legends - The Forsaken Bride is a hidden object and puzzle game.
The story takes place in an extraordinary world full of dark forests, forgotten temples, and abandoned castle ruins, where every tree and stone brims with magic.
Within the shadow of an ancient forest, at the bottom of a foggy valley, stands the lonely village of Ravenbrook. The folk there are cheerful and diligent, yet warily superstitious. They surround the village with countless charms to protect themselves from the evil power of a seemingly bottomless pit that lies on the other side of the forest. They call it the Abyss. One night, a young woman returns home for her twin sister’s wedding, but the ceremony is interrupted by the intrusion of a gigantic bear – a dark hero from a local legend – who kidnaps the bride.
Wasting no time, the heroine follows the beast's trail deep into a world of legends and magic. The quest to find Lilly will lead her sister through a dangerous, mystical forest full of fairies and magical beings, as well as places that strike unspeakable terror into the hearts of simple folk.
Can she discover the secret of a curse that was cast long ago to save her sister?
Grim Legends for Xbox One has received a modified interface and been redesigned to provide a more enjoyable experience on tablets and bigger screens. The new Artifex Mundi release for the first time offers the option of gathering collectibles with a dedicated screen to help keep track of them.
Review
This is based on 4 hours of gameplay ( almost halfway through)
I've always been a fan of hidden object games on the Pc and I'm happy to start this review off by stating that they play just as well on a console. There is a story but as with most HO games it's kind of secondary to the actual gameplay.
After the initial cut-scene, which involves you travelling along a lane on your way to your sisters wedding before being run off the road by a big blooming bear, you are presented with your first puzzle to solve and at the conclusion of this puzzle you gain yourself a cute little helper in the form of a ginger kitten.
So far the mixture of different puzzle styles has really got my brain working and sometimes they have been infuriatingly tricky but if you take your time and actually think about them they become so easy that you find yourself wondering why you were stressing about them in the first place.For example, there is a set of puzzles that require you to join coloured pegs together in an unbroken line. First set is really easy and I felt quite pleased with myself.....then comes 2 more sets and they are progressively harder and I spent a good deal longer than I should have on them, finally completed them though and my pride was restored.
The standard HO puzzles require a keen eye and perfect cursor placement if you're going for a flawless clear. Alternatively if you play it on easy (I'm doing it on Expert) you can just move the cursor around the screen spamming the A button and will make short work of finding the objects. This method can be used to mop up a couple of the Achievements too.
After you solve the first problem you arrive at the village and meet your sister and her fella, not for long though as a the same bear that spooked your horse at the start of the game returns and kidnaps your sister. I think the wedding dress must be made from velcro as the bear sets off at a pace and the unconcious bride to be doesn't move an inch.
In the aftermath of the abduction you team up with the groom and begin your journey to find and rescue your bear-napped sibling. So begins the journey that for me is still ongoing.
Graphically the game is very pretty and the colours are striking, each of the hidden object scenes are very well done and some of the things you're tasked with locating are VERY well hidden. The dialogue is functional in progressing the story (if you're following it) and the music adds to the atmosphere of the different scenes and puzzles as you are doing them. One thing I did notice was in the very beginning you struggle to hear what the characters are saying because the music is so loud, so it's a good job there are subtitles.
I will finish the game but it may take a couple of weeks as it's appeared in the same week as E3 and the same month as Euro 16.
Based on what I have played so far though I can firmly give it a big fat 8 out of 10. I hope Artifex Mundi are going to add to this from their massive catalogue of hidden object games on the PC.
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