Drawn®: The Painted Tower

Much too short, and too easy. The only times it was hard was because of bad mechanics and/or no explanations of what to do. Also, he story, while cute, did not really make much sense. You are helping a girl, but who are you? Why can't she do anything herself? Why is she on top of the tower? And the ending was just bad. Only buy if you really like puzzles, and if this game happens to be on sale. I bought it during a 65 % sale, and beat it in just one evening. Or better yet, buy "Riven, Sequel to Myst" instead.

I was mesmerized after discovering and playing this game. As once a little girl who created her own secret worlds (drawings) to escape reality, I deeply related to this game. I loved the story and how the scenes and characters were drawn, and soundtracks are just a masterpiece. I couldn't wait to play the second one and find out if it is going to have a happy ending. This little and adorable game spoke to me on some special level, and It will always have a special place in my heart.

A really nice and unique game. The story and the mechanics are really cool and the whole ambience is really well made. One of the games that i can play again an again without getting boring. I can really highly recommend it

It takes roughly 2 hours to complete the game. (But then again I heard it's just the first instalment of a series, so I'm looking forward to the next one.) The puzzles are challenging and some need a bit of thinking to get done. You do need to go back and forth and have to do quite some looking around. I appreciate the hint button although you do not really need it. It's a nice story. I really really enjoyed the music. Overall: + Artwork + puzzles + music - crashes a lot - pretty short

I actually was really liking the game and thought it was well done and I hadn't run into any bug issues until I encountered a gamebreaking bug where you are supposed to outline some objects and the game outlined 2 of the 3 easy peasy but the third one couldn't be outlined because the game wouldn't recognize the input and this was with a solid 7-10 minutes attempting to do it even going to the extent of exiting the game and trying it again and trying to pixel perfect trace it but still it will not fill in, coupled with the fact I can't even use the auto puzzle complete because it doesn't apply to this sequence this problem hardlocks me into not being able to complete the game so I HAVE to give a not recommended to this game which is a true shame

If you are looking for a true adventure game, this is not for you. And for this reason, I am not recommending the game. Some of the blame for my negative feelings about the game falls on me, as I didn't look into the game and purchased it solely on the Steam store page (description, "about this game", screenshots and tags). The tags at the time of purchase were "adventure", "casual", "point & click" and "puzzle". My expectations and hopes were that it would be reminiscent of a LucasArts adventure game. Steam doesn't give the option of star-ratings or a "maybe" or "neutral" - If any of these were options, my answer wouldn't be a flat "no". If you can get this game on sale in the $2-$3 range, then yes, I recommend it. TL;DR Pros: - Pretty artwork. - Fun concept. - Short and light. TL;DR Cons: - "Adventure game" mechanics are severely dumbed-down. - Almost entirely games of fetch or hidden items, with a few pattern/number puzzles. - Crashed multiple times. The graphics are nice and I enjoyed the concept of the main character's magic. However, the "adventure game" mechanics are boring and dumbed-down to the point where the majority of the "adventure game" type puzzles involve just finding the inventory items that you need. Go to point A to find ___, then go to point B to use it. In most cases, just *seeing* the item in the scene is the hardest part (don't get me wrong, some "hidden object" games can be fun... but those games aren't the same as adventure games). The times that you need to combine items to solve a puzzle, and it's not made instantly 100% obvious, are few and far between. Drawn switches between this item finding mechanic and actual pattern or math puzzles. The game also ended up crashing multiple times. Fortunately, no progress was lost from any of the crashes.

Enter a haunted house full of portal paintings, sand, riddles, puzzles, not-so-up-to-code stairs, clocks, and elephants. Abolish the haunt, save the girl. Ever seen a stoned, elderly man weep? You will now. [b][u]The Good[/u][/b]: [list] [*]The soundtrack and visuals really work together to create a sad atmosphere. [*]Become friends with a scarecrow. [*]Enter paintings to visit new worlds. [*]The puzzles are moderately challenging. [*]Several beautifully-painted rooms and landscapes that are at times Tim Burton-y. [/list] [b][u]The Neutral[/u][/b]: [list] [*]Not all characters are fully voiced; it’s mainly the first person you encounter. [*][spoiler]A giant spider.[/spoiler] [/list] [b][u]The Bad[/u][/b]: [list] [*]The game was not made with widescreen in mind. There’s an aspect ratio setting, but it just makes a 4:3 window fit at the top and bottom borders of the screen. [/list] [b][u]Pro Tips[/u][/b]: [list] [*]If you plan to 100% the game, there are some missable achievements and you will have to do 1.5 playthroughs. [/list] If you’ve played HOGs (Hidden Object Games) before and enjoyed them, this game is for you. While there are no hidden object scenes, the game’s approach is very much similar to HOGs. You’ll get about 4 hours out of this game.

I can't recommend a game that requires you to play it twice to get all the achievements!

Looking back, I should have known when I bought this that I wasn't going to like it. It's waaaaay too linear, and stupidly easy. Except for the few parts that are difficult because they're frustrating (the kind of difficulty that entails things like "you should have clicked just a tad to the left" and "you should have used the reddish BROWN, not the reddish PINK". But, I mean, this is a very casual game. And that's just the way that genre rolls. Definitely not my thing. It's not a bad game for what it is. But it's definitely not my cup of tea.

Nope. While I don't usually criticize games for being short, Drawn is only the first game in a trilogy that could have been a single game. The first three quarters are alright, simplistic but reasonably satisfying. The difficulty of the puzzles also hits a steep curve at the end of the game, but mostly because the game just gives you less direction of what you're trying to accomplish. I ended up finishing at least one puzzle completely at random by the end of the game simply because I didn't know what the goal even was. Additionally, Drawn also features achievements for finishing puzzles under a time limit, and/or a number of moves. This quickly became stressful. Sure, I could have chosen not to care, but I found myself caring in spite of wanting not to. This is especially bad as the game features no way to replay puzzles or chapters after finishing the story. Drawn started off fairly strong, and while having no hidden picture game elements, but it ended up feeling like a modern 'hidden picture' point and click adventure, just without the hidden picture sections. I know that's a weird comparison if you haven't played anything out of the genre. I just can't recommend Drawn: The Painted Tower. It doesn't feel complete, and completely breaks down by the end of it, pity.