Dark Parables: Curse of Briar Rose Collector's Edition

like it's alright, but it's weak, especially due to the HOG sections being broken pieces of one object that are just completely unnoteworthy. It isn't helped how they also cheat by changing the brightness, size, and saturation of some of the pieces, sometimes even just cutting off sections of the piece shown in some cases which makes this game kindof whatever to me which really isn't helped by repeating same areas over and over and over just mixing up the pieces so it gets repetitive on top of all that. edit: just noticed this thing is ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ 20$ Like god no, stay away from that price point, I think I got it on heavy sale, but I can't even recommend this at 10$.

This has to be the only game where the FROG scenes are harder than the puzzles. This game is hard for me to rate. I gave it a thumbs up, but honestly the game shows it's age. It was made in the days when computers still had CD roms on them, so this is old school ya'll. First of all, the FROG scenes are really, really difficult, and not in the fun way. Things just blend too easily, especially the dark scenes. It is a literal needle in a haystack so many times. One thing though is that the object's color is often changed to match the art it's on. Like an object that's suppose to be yellow that's green in the picture on a leaf. It's very frustrating. Puzzles are nothing to write home about, but honestly, I can tell the developers were more interested in the FROG scenes than the puzzles. But despite the age, I will give props to the clear love and care put into it. The art still holds up to this day, while many games of that era have aged like milk in graphics, the music is gorgeous, haunting, and fits the mood. In the end, this game has to be played to enjoy the Dark Parables. You have no choice but to play these games in order, or else you'll be a confused mess. I did enjoy the game well enough, but God do I wish that FROG scenes had been better done.

This is a tentative yes from me. This is VERY MUCH the first game in a series, and it shows. The art in the game is beautiful, for sure. The game plays smoothly without crashing and the story, while rudimentary, makes sense (which is somehow not guaranteed in this genre.) If you can get it on sale, it's a worthy play. And now, for the complaining. My primary problem is that the hidden object scenes were all of the same type, where the single key item you need from the scene has been broken into pieces and the only things you look for in the scene are the shattered pieces of the one item. The scenes themselves are generally pretty simple and unobjectionable, but there's very little sense of triumph when finding all the pieces without help - or any sense of regret when having to use a hint to find the last vaguely-triangular wood-textured chunk hidden on a pile of firewood. I abused the living daylights out of the Hint button in the second half of the game. The puzzles were few and still somehow repetitive. The final puzzle also stretched on for far too long as a "boss fight." I mentioned the story was rudimentary, and it is. I found that any potentially interesting twists in the tale were all expository, either in the opening cutscene or in the ending cutscene, tossed in as an "oh, by the way, XYZ thing could have happened if you had failed, but you didn't! :)" The bonus chapter also had a couple throwaway details that could have made for an upending revelation but just kind of sat there as window-dressing instead. I will be getting the later titles in the Dark Parables series, because I do see potential for the storytelling to improve, but it's definitely kind of a rough opening act.

The game is very easy since this is the first one in the series, the story is okay but the atmosphere and graphics are really awesome. I love the music in the game, it really captures the somber and melancholy vibe of the locations and the story surrounding the Briar Rose. I'd recommend to get it with a slight discount.

Since I love this game series, I would highly suggest it to other fans of hidden object games. They are a bit dated and aged, but I still find them very engaging and fun.