Ghost Encounters: Deadwood - Collector's Edition

Let's begin with [b]the most important thing you HAVE to do[/b] before clicking on "Play". Go in the options and lower the SFX sounds or you will suffer during the classic introduction during which thunder will gladly pierce your typans every two seconds or so. Now that I oh so kindly saved your ears, let's discuss about your mental illness as you'll spend most of the game wondering where you misplaced your Sanity. First of all, even though this game is relatively old, there are even older games who understood that clicking 15 times to reach the area you want is definitely a burden and thus maps were invented. Not for this game though which also took the odd decision to have you going through some houses to access to a backdoor leading to other areas. So not only there is no map, but you also have to remember in which house you have to go to open the backdoor and move to the next important area. The HOG scenes are not only used several times but are also bugged, needing you to click several times on the same item for you to hit the precise pixel you have to when the item is buried under others. There are as well issues with translation (since you cannot change the language it was even more painful to see), so, just for making it clear spoons, forks and knives aren't playing cards and duck tape isn't kitchenware. As for the other puzzles, you have three kinds only : turn the pieces so they make the picture, jigsaw and find where this piece is on the picture. Fascinating. I had a lot of fun. The story is what it is and begins by telling you that the MC doesn't have any power, except that she is a medium who can speak to ghosts. I guess if that's not a power I have a reclamation to write to my parents as I wasn't born with those, I have clearly been scammed. This game is meh and even if you're done with the whole Artifex Mundi collection, don't forget that Big Fish releases a lot of HOG which are all at -50% during big sales. What I mean is that if you have to consider playing this game, either win it on a giveaway or buy it in a $1 bundle.

[h3]Info for deaf and hard of hearing people:[/h3] As far as I'm aware, this game is 100% playable with text. There is one 'sound puzzle' with bells somewhere, but it didn't take long to solve. [h3]___[/h3] This Hidden Object Game has some serious issues that makes this game very unenjoyable to play: [list] [*] - The hint system is sorely lacking. - If you're stuck somewhere and then try to use a hint, it says something very simple like 'You need to put in all 3 puzzle pieces'. The problem is, I already knew that, I just can't find the 3rd piece. Another gem: 'You need to dig up this grave with a shovel.' ... Yes, I know. But WHERE is the shovel?? Have fun searching for the missing bits that you KNOW you have to find but just CAN'T find. Yay... [*] - Lots and lots of backtracking. - You'll walk back and forth from the start to the end regularly. Hope you have a good memory where everything is located... because this game definitely does not have a map for your convenience! (Also, why do you always need to go through the sheriff's office to get to the other half of town?!) [*] - Nope, you didn't click it. - YES I DID. Nope. Yes. No. Yes. The hitboxes are awful. Have to click on that teapot in a hidden object scene? Sure, *clicks on teapot*. What? It didn't register? *clicks again* What? Not the right one? *looks around, sees no other teapots* Mrm.. that can't be right. *clicks on the very same teapot 5 more times, finally the last click registers it*. ... Wtf? It is getting worse as you progress, as if the devs got terribly sloppy near the end. [*] - Why can't I use this item here?! - It happens often enough that you have an useful item that you COULD have used for a certain situation, but you can't. Why? Because the game demands a very specific item for this situation which is definitely not the one you carry with you! Additionally, this knife you just used for something? It's "used up" now. You'll have to find another knife to cut this with. Oh come oooooooon... [/list] So unenjoyable that I simply stopped playing it.. I don't care about that <bleeping> ghost anymore. Let it take over the world for all I care. It's not like the story made much sense to begin with anyway... [h3]tldr;[/h3] Hints suck, no map, faulty hitboxes, repetitive. Avoid.

[h1] Ok HOG with somewhat enjoyable story. [/h1]

You could give it a try if you're into this genre.

Ghost hunt and bring peace and rest to this little town.

I don't normally write reviews, but this has got to be the worst thing I ever laid eyes on. Don't let the hours played fool you - it was because I had to walk away and left it running.

[h1][b]Not Recommended[/b][/h1]

Cheesy but good HOG, the voice acting was fun and silly in parts which was nice. This was a pretty good ghost/western story mash up and the overall puzzles and hidden object scenes were very easy. The general game hints are text base which could be a little annoying at times but most of the game was easy to navigate. I appreciate that Blackjack prepared a coffin just for me using my legal name of "The Paranormal Detective". I enjoyed watching Billy get chased around the town like a Scooby Doo mystery and I am glad I found Granny's cane since I think she probably has some back pain.

I just finished playing this game and I got to be honest, it's a piece of ♥♥♥♥. I bought it when it only costed 0,56 euros, but that wasn't even worth the price. My expectations were very low for the story, but damn that story was even worse than I could've imagined. The animations are a mix of cartoonish and realistic, but it just didn't fit together, it looked like ♥♥♥♥. The clicking range is way off a lot of the times, sometimes it only clicks on the items when you click next to it, overall ♥♥♥♥ like the rest of the game. The puzzles where you have to find the same items, for example the cards or the duck tape ones, are way too easy, you finish those in seconds. The other puzzles were way too easy too, and trust me when I say this because I'm legally blind and normally I can't spot ♥♥♥♥. Also the story spoils itself, I still had to find out how to break the curse and all of the sudden the character you're playing as already knew how to break it, spoiling the whole thing right away. I played the game in Dutch and the translation is also way off (translated wrong, not translated at all, for example it said "find the playing cards" when I had to look for cutlery). The last thing I want to say about this piece of ♥♥♥♥ game is that I played it very relaxed and finished it under 3 hours, don't waste your money on this.

It was ok...