Awakening: The Skyward Castle Collector's Edition

[b]Awakening 4: The Skyward Castle[/b] (IHOG) Princess Sophia is nearing the end of her journey, at last, but dark shadows block her every move on her quest to rejoin her people. Options include Full-screen, Custom Cursor, Achievements Notifications and separate sliders for Sound and Music. Choice of Relaxed, Normal or Dreadmyre! mode. NOTE: The Steam interface does not work with this title. [b]Story:[/b] Our friendly guide owl is back, as is the ever-helpful pocket dragon. The game's intro gives an overview, but the journal gives a more detailed account of the past three games. In [i]The Skyward Castle[/i], we will see our nemesis for the first time. Although this definitely adds to the element of danger, there is still nothing dark and eerie about the game. Our [b]Journal[/b] will make note of important story points, but it's really the [b]Goals[/b] tab that gives us little snippets of extra story. Still, the actual Goals list contains mini-spoilers, so keep that in mind. Puzzle hints will be recorded in the Journal portion. [b]Gameplay:[/b] Some changes to the usual Awakening formula have been made as of this game. We still have a nice balance of adventuring, puzzles and Hidden Object Scenes, but the HOS themselves are MUCH more interactive than in previous games. [b] Hidden Object types[/b] include find-by-list, hidden object puzzles, finding pairs, find x-number of items... The list goes on and on, and ALL of them are interactive in some way. The [b]Mini-games[/b] are widely-varied, and though there is still some theming to the puzzles, the way that they're presented is so very different from one another that you might not even realize that it's the same kind of mini. There are at least 40 puzzles to work through, and while some of them are super-easy, I had to skip a few because I didn't understand the instructions. HINTS are available during these minis, which is definitely a bonus! Speaking of [b]HINTS[/b], they are refillable, and there is no directional arrow available. If you are zoomed in on something when you hit the button (aka the owl), you'll get very specific instructions. Otherwise, you'll get a general, "We should go do x-action," type of hint. The [b]MAP[/b] offers fast-travel, but is not otherwise interactive. There are four chapters to the main game, each having its own map with quite a few locations. [b]CE Content:[/b] [list] [*]Integrated Strategy Guide (access via Menu button) [*]Bonus Chapter [*]19 Nonograms [*]18 Rewatchable Cutscenes [*]7 Wallpapers [*]6 Concept Art (mouse-over to see finalized artwork) [*]6 Music Tracks (cannot be saved to computer [*]43 in-game Achievements [/list] [b]Bonus Chapter:[/b] The Epilogue gives us a little bit of extra information beyond the main game's ending, but it mostly sets us up for the next game in the series, [i]The Sunhook Spire[/i]. The chapter's gameplay is a bit more like in the previous Awakening games, with the puzzles being more obviously themed than in the main game. The bonus took me about an hour to complete. [b]Verdict:[/b] This fourth game in the series feels heavier on the adventure than the previous games did, with highly-interactive hidden object scenes of mixed types. The graphics are as beautiful as you would expect them to be, the music an old friend, and the gameplay in general fun and interesting. Recommended!

[Note: Time shown in-game reflects a lot of idle time.] A solid HOPA with lots to do. The art is lovely, the puzzles are mostly easy-moderate (with a couple of frustrating parts), and the HO scenes are fun and don't rely on dark colours and shadows for challenge. I enjoyed the music. If you like fantasy settings, this game is firmly in the fantasy HOPA genre, with a newly awakened princess journeying through a magical land populated by goblins and elves. The series as a whole is worth playing. I didn't find Skyward Castle as entertaining as the previous entry in the series, but it's still a nice game. I recommend getting it on sale, or at least in the bundle available, if possible. I had no difficulty with the controls, although I found the "click once then drag" function in HOPAs (and other places) hard to get used to. The game is well put together.

I just love this series of games and this one doesn't disappoint. Hidden object scenes and mini-games are challenging and like whole game fun to play. I like all different types of creatures that are met along the way. The pocket dragon and the owl are with Sophia again and they are really helpful. Pros: + voice acting + fabulous graphic + great gameplay

I enjoy HOGs and this one has a good story. The only two issues that I had was the limited area where you could use something and pictures that were too dark and obscured to even know what they were. Trying to hang even the bird feeders on hooks was difficult. You had to place them just right. There were a number of things I gave up on only to ask for a hint and do exactly what I had been trying to do. The cypher key at the castle has five images on it and you are supposed to use them as a hint for the buttons. If you could tell what the picture even was, maybe they would help. I don't care for "puzzles" where the only way to solve them is to try everything.

This is [I]Awakening[/I] #4, a continuation of the story. Though excellent in many ways, it features similar frustrations to those of [I]Awakening[/I] #3, such as a confusing and poorly conceived list of achievements. In this case I thought the annoyances tipped the scale enough towards me not recommending this game. The main issue is a handful of poorly designed puzzles that spoil the experience. Again, we have puzzles that require mouse precision, which never work well. There is one puzzle where you need to put together pieces of paper to reveal a code, but there's one piece that does not visually fit. I had to watch a few video walkthroughs to see it connect. It still doesn't make sense to me. There are also just some [I]very[/I] difficult puzzles. I'm not averse to challenges, but they are a poor fit for a series that until now has had a casual tone. And some point-and-click adventuring puzzles don't make much sense at all. I need to use the flowers on a floating castle in the far distance? Huh? Of course, you can always skip puzzles that are too hard or use the hint button, but where's the fun in that? I also think the story is below the standard set until now. It seems rushed and lacking in characters, especially towards the end. At lease the issue with resolution seem to have been fixed, and this game runs OK on modern systems with modern resolutions.

Episode 4. Dans la même veine que les précédents, mais le niveau de difficulté augmente un peu. Epilogue à jouer en bonus.

ttés bien

Das ist der vierte Teil der Awakening-Reihe, der die Geschichte schön und gut weitererzählt. Der Drache und die Eule sind wieder mit dabei, was super ist! Und jetzt lernen wir endlich Menschen in dieser fantastischen Welt kennen. Das Gameplay ist, wie eh und je in der Reihe, gut. Die HOP-Szenen sind abwechslungsreich. Optisch ist das Spiel einwandfrei. Die Rätsel sind mal leichter und mal schwerer, aber es ist wieder ein Strategy Guide integriert. Ich empfehle es auf jeden Fall jedem, der Adventure-HOGs mag!

Finally, a MAP!

[i]Awakening: The Skyward Castle[/i] is the fourth game in the Awakening series and continues Princess Sophia's quest to find what happened to her parents and the humans. I continues the series' tradition of lovely artwork, soft music, and light gameplay. It's pretty much standard hidden-object fare, but it's a relaxing game with lovely artwork. Recommended.