History in Letters - The Eternal Alchemist

So I bought this game because I had a coupon and love point and click adventure games. Even with a coupon I don't think the price was worth it (EDIT: on sale for $10 from $15 USD). I got all the achievements (less 2) in 6 hours. Every dialogue advancement causes the character sprites to flicker. Most puzzles are skipable - which on the one had is nice so you don't get stuck, on the other makes the game a lot shorter. The incentive to complete the puzzles is to get the achievement and your money's worth - although most of them could be solved with random guesswork and button pushing. And others, when I eventually did figure out what you're supposed to do, there was no context clue that I could find to hint at that solution (I'm looking at you last puzzle of the game). Without seeing the achievement title I likely would have been stuck longer. To make matters worse, I tried to start a new game to see if I could clean up missing achievements - I found on a second playthrough you get glitched halfway through the game and cannot advance. On a second playthrough, the items in your inventory that you need to find are greyed out in the hidden object scenes. This is annoying but not game breaking. What does break the game is when you are in the library and need to solve a simple guess puzzle of putting books on the shelf based on the author's nationality, the books vanish from your inventory when you click on them. This puzzle cannot be skipped. Exiting the unbeatable puzzle causes all other inventory items to disappear. I only fixed this by deleting all my save data and starting again - not a huge loss since I completed the game a second time within an hour. All that said, I really did have some fun with this game, mostly because there was no guide and I had to figure everything out myself. But when I look at its faults and the total gameplay time, I'd strongly suggest only buying it when it's on sale, if at all.

After playing 'History in Letters' the team's deep love for old school adventures becomes apparent, combined with a modern approach towards the genre with relaxing Hidden Objects pictures and knocking puzzles. It is a nice little treat if you look for a new adventure. The story is set in Paris, following smart ass Remy on the trail of the notorious alchemist Nicolas Flamel which somewhat evoked an appetite to dig more into the topic of who Flamel really was. The lovely crafted setting is an interesting mix of fancyful set-ups, French-styled cafés, buildings and dungeons to crack your head over puzzles and solve the mystery of the inherited diary.

History ist ein nettes Adventure für zwischendurch. Positiv zu erwähnen ist vor allem der echt gute und ansprechende Look des Spiels. Daneben gefällt mir persönlich allerdings auch der Humor, der (vor allem im Dialog mit dem Geistlichen) oft etwas versteckt auftritt. Für den Preis bekommt man bei dem Spiel auf jeden Fall einiges geboten. Einziger Kritikpunkt: Die fehlende Sprachausgabe. Es ist mitunter lästig und mühsam, sich selbst alle Texte durchzulesen und immer weiter zu klicken. Aber ich denke, darüber kann man angesichts der stimmigen Rätsel, des ansprechenden Designs und des Humors hinwegsehen. Für Adventure-Fans: Auf jeden Fall klare Kaufempfehlung! Gameplay-Material zum Spiel kann man u.a. hier sehen: https://youtu.be/TimKWVGWN_Q

At first I tried to like this game because of the subject matter, then I tried turning a blind eye to what bothered me about it, and in the end I gave up and asked for a refund. The dialogue was not very inspiring. I would not characterize it as inane because it is one cut better than that, but just barely. It's hard to tell when you should click to advance the dialogue. If you do you might miss something, but that's probably not a bad thing. I wasn't expecting the game to be about finding hidden objects, but it is. I encountered three puzzles, none of them giving hints as to what I was supposed to do. That wasn't a problem on the first puzzle (an uninspired cypher solving puzzle), but the next two were hidden object finders, after which I threw in the towel in disgust. There are several YouTube walkthroughs that I should have looked at before buying the game, because I would have realized what I was getting myself into. A shame, because medieval alchemy is a great subject.

Esperava uma coisa da gameplay e ganhei outra. Abordagem nada sútil ou fácil de entender, é indie e esta longe dos outros games de franquias objetos ocultos. Porém, esperava o básico para colecionar itens e montar os quebra cabeças. O que não acontece desde primeiro momento com o jogo. talvez compense apenas pelas cartinhas steam

A relatively short point&click adventure game, in which you play as a young French philologist Remy Chaveau, whose current case leads him on a trail of the famous alchemist Nicholas Flammel and the mystery surrounding his legacy. About half of the game time consists of dialogues, the rest is split between interactive scenes typical for point&click genre and puzzles of medium complexity. On the technical side, the game is somewhat mediocre – graphics look a bit outdated, loading times between the locations are perhaps too long, and music, while not bad, is few and far in between. But that aside, you still get an engaging story, well worth getting if you like point&click adventures.

Mir gefällt dieses kurzweilige Adventure sehr gut. Die anfänglichen Rätsel sind zum Einstieg recht schlicht gehalten, sodass die Einstiegshürde spielerisch überwunden werden kann und man sich so sehr schnell in das Spiel fuchsen kann. Wahrlich gelungen sind die verschiedenen Wimmel-/Suchbilder im weiteren Spielverlauf. Diese schmiegen sich nicht nur passend in das französische Setting ein, sondern stecken so voller Leben, Details und Informationen, dass man schlicht weg jede einzelne Ecke erkunden will. Darüber hinaus ist die Hauptstory auch sehr schön mit weiteren Hintergrundinformationen verflochten, sodass man nicht nur erfährt, wer Nicolas Flamel war, sondern lernt auch noch etwas über alte schon fast vergessene Werke und Personen. Das alles gestalten dieses Point-and-Click Adventure gepaart mit einem leicht verruchten Charme und Witz zu einer gelungenen Umsetzung. Eine schlicht weg gelungene Indie-Umsetzung.

⣿⣿⡻⠿⣳⠸⢿⡇⢇⣿⡧⢹⠿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣾⣿⡇⣿⣿⣿⣿⡿⡐⣯⠁ ⠄⠄ ⠟⣛⣽⡳⠼⠄⠈⣷⡾⣥⣱⠃⠣⣿⣿⣿⣯⣭⠽⡇⣿⣿⣿⣿⣟⢢⠏⠄ ⠄ ⢠⡿⠶⣮⣝⣿⠄⠄⠈⡥⢭⣥⠅⢌⣽⣿⣻⢶⣭⡿⠿⠜⢿⣿⣿⡿⠁⠄⠄ ⠄⣼⣧⠤⢌⣭⡇⠄⠄⠄⠭⠭⠭⠯⠴⣚⣉⣛⡢⠭⠵⢶⣾⣦⡍⠁⠄⠄⠄⠄ ⠄⣿⣷⣯⣭⡷⠄⠄⢀⣀⠩⠍⢉⣛⣛⠫⢏⣈⣭⣥⣶⣶⣦⣭⣛⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄ ⢀⣿⣿⣿⡿⠃⢀⣴⣿⣿⣿⣎⢩⠌⣡⣶⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣆⠄⠄⠄ ⢸⡿⢟⣽⠎⣰⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⢀⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣦⠄⠄ ⣰⠯⣾⢅⣼⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡇⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡄⠄ ⢰⣄⡉⣼⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⢸⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣧⠄ ⢯⣌⢹⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⢸⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠄ ⢸⣇⣽⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠸⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠄ ⢸⣟⣧⡻⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣧⡻⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠄ ⠈⢹⡧⣿⣸⠿⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡿⠗⣈⠻⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡇⠄ ⠄⠘⢷⡳⣾⣷⣶⣶⣶⣶⣶⣾⣿⣿⢀⣶⣶⣶⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠇⠄ ⠄⠄⠈⣵⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⢸⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠄⠄ ⠄⠄⠄⠸⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠘⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠇⠄⠄

The game crashed frequently. It's not very intuitive. The hidden object scenes are horrible with some items so tiny and hidden that you just have to click randomly all over the screen until you accidentally hit on a speck that looks nothing like what you're supposedly looking for. Some of the puzzles are quite obtuse where there's no clue what to do, so you have to just keep guessing to solve them. There are long pauses between scenes and locations. It's just a horrible game that I wouldn't recommend to anyone. Unfortunately, I only got about 5 out of 28 achievements, so I knew I still had a long ways to go before I would finish the game when the stupid game crashed on me again. Instead of restarting, I rage quit and asked for a refund. I also recognized from some of the achievements that it would be necessary to play the game multiple times to get all the achievements (because of opposing choices), and apparently there's no chapter select and only one save slot. I wasn't having fun as it was, and there's no way I was going to play this dumb, boring game with all its crashes multiple times. Unfortunately, since I didn't get all the achievements, this game will negatively impact my game "Completionist" score. So, achievement hunters beware, you probably do not want to try this game... it will be a long, frustrating journey if you can even make it to 100%. And, btw, there's no real help for this game anywhere. There's only one guide on Steam that explains one of the many puzzles in the game, and virtually nothing on YouTube. No full gameplay anywhere on the Internet, and believe me I looked. There are about 5 guides on YouTube, and they're all only 12 to 14 minutes long. They all abruptly stop very early in the game with no continuation or follow up videos, every single one of them. I guess that's a clue right there, that all the YouTube players got frustrated with the game very early on and abandoned it.

This worked well on Windows 10. This is a cute match 3 game with a bit of story and a few mini games mixed in. I played it with touch screen and mouse, both worked smoothly. Right clicking will release your selection. The music and game play was very relaxing. The artwork is beautiful.