Dark Parables: Queen of Sands Collector's Edition

Ich liebe diese Wimmelbild Reihe und auch dieser Teil hat mich nicht enttäuscht.

Excellent fragmented objects scenes and puzzles, lovely visuals and soundtrack, wonderful story, and best of all, well-written dialogue and flavour text! Also, the shapeshifting objects are back! Serving a different purpose this time (they're the "Parables" collectible items), but back! Congratulations, devs: you have redeemed yourselves. I did find one bug in that maze puzzle to to take down the second barrier in the ruins: anytime the hourglass thing moved to one specific square of the maze, it would move all the way to the top left corner of the screen, putting the "move this piece left" button out of the mouse's reach, and rendering victory unattainable. Had to skip that one to proceed. The constellation stones were also given the wrong names (the W-shaped constellation is supposed to be called Cassiopeia, the kite-shaped one, Aquila, and the other one, Orion), but that's just me being nitpicky. Those worked as intended.

I'll begin by complementing the beautiful artwork. It was a great mix of fantasy and realism. There were a great variety of items to be found which kept things fun and interesting. Game play lasted 4 hours which is longer than most HOGs these days but I would still recommend picking it up on sale. The main game and bonus game were in consecutive chapters which was pleasant. Much better than bonus games that are frequently random and unrelated. Both made an effort to wrap up the endings as well. I consider this a highly recommendable title and I'm looking forward to more from the Dark Parables series.

A peaceful day in the small town of Montafleur abruptly turns for the worse as its inhabitants turn into nightmarish beasts as a mist descends. A mysterious beastly lion-man watches as the scene unfolds, and soon the Fairytale Detective is called to investigate the location with the assistance of the Red Riding Hood Sisters. Things turn dire for a moment when one of the sisters is kidnapped by the beast and the nightmare creatures keep blocking the way. Who is the Queen of Sands, who are the Sandmen and what’s the connection with the beast? In the ninth installment of the Dark Parables series it wasn’t the first time that the tale of the Beauty and the Beast has been explored but finally it is front and center, along with the popular figure of the Sandman and a character from Irish folklore, giving it a unique spin. The second game made by Eipix, it is clear that they have become more comfortable with the series. The visuals are closer to how Blue Tea used to do, along with a more detailed story, far more variety with puzzles and nicely done hidden objects scenes. Now when talking with characters the scene cuts to a close up, similar to how visual novels presents their conversations, with some nicely drawn portraits and animations, their heads even bob and sways a little during the scene. There is also the possibility of hiding the HUD, increasing the visible area of the location. There is a moment in the progression that might lock the player out of some backtracking for story pieces and collectables, so a little attention is advised. With so much attention to the detail it is a little weird that the bonus game story contradicts the information on the main story, but perhaps it could be chalked up to unreliable sources. It was inspired by a lesser known story, The Seven Ravens. It is a fully-realized story nonetheless, with a solid pace and offers the origin for the antagonist of the main story.  Queen of Sands is an average title, but enjoyable. It has a relaxing aesthetic and a good pace. Still, this game goes on sale often, so it could be an option.

This is the ninth game in the series. This one is a bit average for the series, but a little better than the previous two. But if you're this deep into the series, you might as well keep playing. It goes on sale for 50% off every now and again so you also might as well wait. The release order of Dark Parables is: Curse of Briar Rose The Exiled Prince Rise of the Snow Queen The Red Riding Hood Sisters The Final Cinderella Jack and the Sky Kingdom Ballad of Rapunzel The Little Mermaid and the Purple Tide Queen of Sands Goldilocks and the Fallen Star Swan Princess and the Dire Tree The Thief and the Tinderbox Requiem for the Forgotten Shadow Return of the Salt Princess The Match Girl’s Lost Paradise Portrait of the Stained Princess

Dark Parables: Queen of Sands definitely took the story in a direction I did not expect! I quite liked the bonus chapter included with this story; though short, it provided another perspective. As always, beautiful settings and stunning HOB puzzles!

The second DP part from Eipix was a bit better in terms of dialogue and writing. The end was a bit too clichee for my taste but all in one, still very nice. The only thing that a dont like that much, is that you have too constantly have your eyes peeled to get all the parable collectibles, because they are chameleon objects. I liked it better the way it was before. On hard difficulty i had a few times where i was stuck bit nonetheless still a great game. I can very recommend it to fans of HIO´s (HOG´s) and of course fans of the DP series.

Dark Parables is one of the BEST HOP game series I have run across and by far one of the most fun. I own almost the entire collection to date and would love to continue adding to my library. Buy the bundle or when they're on sale and you will literally have HOURS of fun. Each of these games takes me roughly 6 hours. Well worth it!

Dark Parables #9. A series of fragmented object games with puzzles and stories that each stand alone, but are also interconnected in the form of recurring characters. But each game tells its own story and they can technically be played in any order. This is one of the newer games in this series, so there is fast travel. There are also achievements within the game, though they don't show up on Steam. There are collectibles that unlock lore. It also has a bonus adventure. The story for this one is actually pretty good for this genre. It's mostly about sand man myths, plus a bit of Beauty and the Beast. Recurring characters include the Red Riding Hood sisters.

Sou completamente VICIADA e APAIXONADA em toda a série Dark Parables. A história é muito bem feita e pensada. Divertida de jogar. Essa coleção é simplesmente perfeita.