Move over Christopher Lee. There's a new vampire in town! – Myths of the World: Black Rose HD - A Hidden Object Adventure (Full) Review

UPDATE: I had a fatal flaw in the game where I closed out of a puzzle in which I had to apply wires to a gate to initiate it. The next day, the wires for the gate were missing in both the puzzle and the inventory; and the location where I acquired them shows that I already closed out the area. Now I have to delete and reinstall. Total waste of time. Deducting 2 stars for this unacceptable circumstance. Warning! This game is not for the squeamish. You will see blood, bats, spiders, coffins, etc. You are a vampire hunter; and together with your partner, Simon, you travel to Louisiana to pursue a vampire, Benjamin Brooks. The graphics were clear and a little faded with many shades of red and purple, which help to achieve an ominous atmosphere appropriate for a vampire thriller. Most of the setting takes place during the evening sunset hours or at night. I liked how you travel to different locations as you progress so you get a "movie" effect instead of just poking around the usual mansion or alleyways. The music adds elements of mystery and suspense when suited. This game includes interactive game mechanics, such as making potions and performing spells and rituals. They keep the game mentally engaging. Early in, you acquire a vampire journal, which, at times, you can open only when you are creating potions or removing spells or curses. Sometimes a mini game will initiate to open this journal, such as choosing separate patterns to create a complete symbol. There are 3 modes of difficulty with no option to customize settings. The map allows transport to locations; available actions and objectives, if applicable; and has labeled location names. You need to tap on a location once to view the location label; tap again to transport. The inventory is labeled and does require assembly. The HOS are varied and interactive. One example is when you start out with a word list ending with a riddle; then another HOS initiates as "find the item by picture", ending with another riddle and putting an item together. You can opt to play a bubble shooter game instead. The puzzles are interesting. Some are short and simple, such as using a magnifying glass to find a room number in a book. Others give you a chain of multiple, separate mini puzzles; and when you complete one, the camera pans to the next one. I found them to be a lot of fun. You are collecting 43 black roses in the locations - you may have to interact to find them, 14 pumpkins - easy to spot, and morphing objects in the HOS. The extras are the usual offerings, with the addition of a souvenir box and a bubble shooter game. I did not like several aspects, including the following: 1. I dislike having to go through the menu to access the map and objectives (book style) since this is an unnecessary step and disrupts gameplay. 2. There is no option to customize so we have to deal with sparkles and HOS mistap penalties. 3. Again, another game with no "back" button so we are taken back a screen. 4. There is no journal except for the objectives stored in the form of a book. Maybe in this game it depends on what difficulty level you are playing? 5. One idea that I think the developers could have improved on was to let us figure out who the vampire is instead of directly pursuing an identified individual, which would have added some mystery and suspense. That is just my idea I guess. Overall, the game is still far better than the last one; and even with the aforementioned issues, I feel the game had many interactive elements and held my interest in many ways, which is why I gave it four stars.
Review by KimTwilight69 on Myths of the World: Black Rose HD - A Hidden Object Adventure (Full).