I was honestly very excited to play this game since I do enjoy playing hidden object games, but this game really leaves me unsure of what to think. There were some things the game did very well, but there were definitely times where I was very frustrated with it too.
The story was something I thought was done decently enough to really only leave a couple questions behind. As a writer, I would like the questions to be answered, but they don't really hold any real importance to the plot. Of course, like any contract one would make with the Devil, there were great boons for the receiver to get but releasing the 7 vices was a way of there being a weakness. This is a concept I have not seen before, and thought was a great idea. The seven vices each give you an item to help you in your journey, though I was disheartened to find out they make no further appearance or help in the game after you capture them all. Not a huge loss though because the story played out very well and didn't feel rushed.
The game itself didn't really have any music that really stood out. There were background noises that created the ambiance and the noises that came with certain environmental triggers, but I really think adding music to the game or having something playing softly in the background (whether it be warped music for the Mirror World or eerie music for all sections) would add to the magic of playing the game. I found myself getting irritated by a lot of the noises because they felt repetitious and persisted for longer than they should. Some noises were also louder than others and there didn't seem to be a great balance between them.
Now to the actual gameplay, of which there were a lot of things that could have been done better. One of the first issues I ran into with the game is the lack of a map. I had assumed at first that I needed to find the map before I could gain use of it, but quickly realized that you get no map. If there were fewer areas, then I think having no map would be easier to navigate, but with there being so many sections to each chapter of the game, it became very difficult to navigate where each item was or if there was something I could do in a different section.
The hidden object games were fine, though were a little more difficult than others I had played in the past. The Similar Objects game where you have to locate two items that were similar to each other was the most difficult of the puzzles. I honestly had no idea what I was doing the first time I saw this puzzle since the items could be two different things (ex. find two articles of clothing with one being a glove and the other a hat). I think having more directions for this would be great.
A couple of the puzzles also straight up didn't function like they should have (the metal puzzle where you have to create an image by rotating and swapping metal pieces to create a picture). This puzzle in particular was structured exactly like the picture, but only a few of the tiles were lit up and in the "right place". I closed out of the game a couple of times only for this issue to persist, and it only "fixed" itself after I had rotated the other pieces to a direction that made no sense and have it right itself out. If the puzzle is going to have different functions attached to it, at least make sure the puzzle pieces are properly oriented to make use of those functions, not be half completed.
And to top it all off, the game crashed itself a couple times while I was playing the game. Sure, any game could crash at any given point, but I found it frustrating after the issues I've already come in contact with. I'm not the only one that has had issues with the game crashing either.
As much as I loved the story for this game, it wasn't executed as well as it could have been and could benefit from having a few quality of life updates. It's very rare for me to dislike a game, but unfortunately a good story couldn't fix the other issues this game had. This is a game I unfortunately wouldn't recommend. Play at your own risk, but this is by far the most difficult hidden object game I have played and I didn't find it nearly as fun as I had others.
