[h1]HOW TO PURIFY A BROKEN HEART💔[/h1]
Victorian-era society valued a high standard of personal conduct across all sectors of society. London became a global political and financial trading capital and was known as a city of extreme wealth as well as extreme poverty. Although violent crime was rare, it did give rise to England's most famous fictional detective, Sherlock Holmes.
But this isn't a story about London's most notorious serial killer, known as Jack the Ripper. [b]Brink of Consciousness[/b] is a story about crimes of passion when love goes astray, a story where those devastated by a broken heart become victims again, only this time it is at the hands of [b]The Lonely Heart Murderer![/b]
[h3]HOPAdventure:[/h3]
Magicindie Softworks was one of the few developers that focused on the "adventure" part of a Hidden Object Puzzle [b]Adventure[/b] Fresh off the heels of Dorian Gray Syndrome, The Lonely Hearts Murders has us chasing a criminal mastermind who kills his victims 30 days after their kidnapping.
[h3]STORY:[/h3]
You play the role of Owen Wright, a retired detective who fears the worst when his daughter Olivia goes missing. Owen's friend Logan is assigned to The Lonely Hearts Murder case, and together, they scour the streets of London, searching for clues to track down the killer.
There are a ton of video cutscenes intended to progress the story and make the investigation more realistic, but even I will admit that, at times, the cutscenes were numerous and were more of a distraction than a plot enhancement.
The cinematics are incredibly lifelike and far better than those in current HOPAs. They do a fantastic job of building a personal connection between the two characters, who have two completely different personalities. Owen, understandably, is rash and impatient. He feels as if their backs are pinned against the wall, and they don't have time to play by the books and follow the rule of law. Logan, on the other hand, is calm and has a laid-back attitude. He sometimes feels that crimes often solve themselves and that he never actually does anything to affect the outcome.
[h3]FEATURES:[/h3]
This is an old-school HOPA before the creation of a Jump Map. It does have a map that shows each location and where available tasks are located, and you can use hints to help you navigate correctly, but you will have to walk the walk to get where you are going. This will be no easy task because there are several pathways to discover, as well as dozens of doors to unlock. None of the scenes lock behind you as they do in current HOPAs; you can travel to and fro freely, from beginning to end.
For me, this "free-roaming" aspect [b][i]IS[/i][/b] the Adventure part of a Hidden Object Puzzle Adventure game, and for whatever reason, current developers have strayed away from this free-roaming scenario, locking scenes behind us practically before we even get out of the door! Having to keep track of or remembering how to get back to a particular scene once you finally find an inventory item requires critical thinking. How can a game be challenging or require critical thinking if scenes are locked behind you and you only have to keep track of 2 or 3 scenes at a time?
[h3]HIDDEN OBJECT SCENES:[/h3]
Magicindie has added several creative interactions to their Hidden Object Scenes this time. I'm amazed at how unique some of the interactions were; after all, this game was released over a decade ago! Some of the interactions include two or three steps to complete an item or require finding a code. I won't spoil the fun for you, but I will admit that a couple of the tasks had me pretty stumped, so I just started guessing. If you can't figure it out, the good news is that the Strategy Guide includes the location of all HO items...you don't see that feature nowadays!
[h3]MINI-GAMES:[/h3]
I have played thousands of HOPA games over the years, yet I'm blown away by the uniqueness of the mini-game puzzles offered in this series. I love mechanical-type puzzles, so these were right up my alley. Out of all the mini-games, there was only one puzzle that was familiar, a tile-swapping game, but even that puzzle had a different twist where you had to swap pieces that had a tab connector. As I said earlier, this game is 12 years old so you'd think that someone would have copied at least a few of the puzzles, right?
[url=https://steamcommunity.com/id/reviewingmadness/screenshots/?appid=327370&sort=newestfirst&browsefilter=myfiles&view=imagewall]Click HERE to see my mini-game screenshots[/url]
[h3]BONUS CHAPTER:[/h3]
The Bonus Chapter continues shortly after the main game's time frame. This time, you play as Detective Logan Green as he and his incompetent assistant, Jayden, travel to Scotland when they learn that the lonely heart murderer had an accomplice...I didn't see this plot coming!
[h3]COLLECTOR'S EDITION EXTRAS:[/h3]
There are 4 Chapters +Bonus Chapter.
11 Music Soundtracks
10 Concept Art pictures
7 Wallpapers
20-minute Video Interview with the developers (very interesting)
Once again, Magicindie Softworks provides us with a unique video interview of the developers, a feature I absolutely loved! One thing I learned from this interview was that there [b][i]IS[/i][/b] a connection between The Lonely Hearts Murders and the original game, Dorian Gray Syndrome. Throughout the game, I kept getting moments of déjà vu; the Bonus Chapter even had a door motif of Oscar's mask. It turns out that one of the characters, [spoiler]Matilda, is the mother of the Lonely Hearts Murderer [b][i]AND[/i][/b] the grandmother to Oscar Wilde, the deranged madman from Dorian Gray Syndrome.[/spoiler] The apples 🍎 apparently don't fall far from this family tree!🌳
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