Howlville: The Dark Past

This game was originally released back in 2012 but recently found its way to Steam. This is why I'm not going to compare it to any new HOGs, although this game did really well some of the new games couldn't even come close. The story started with Rachel who's father mysteriously disappeared in his underground lab after a collaboration with another scientist to examine a strange artifact. After the disappearance, the town of Howlville was closed and the place became classified, turning into a real ghost town, unfortunately they didn't want to announce the reason behind evacuating the town, and because Rachel know some of this 'classified' information, they captured her and put her in a mental institution, luckily she was able to escape and made her way to Howlville to learn more about what her father been through and hopefully, save him! https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1376506686 I enjoyed the story, and how the mystery unfolds little by little, the hidden objects scenes are very well done because sometimes the objects are very hidden, it took me a while to spot a 'can of kerosene' in one of the scenes! But I'm glad there is no timed achievement in this game so I took my time finding the objects and solving the puzzles. Those puzzles vary from easy to very difficult such as this rotating puzzle which I spent half an hour trying to solve it! https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1376507483 The journal is really helpful for keeping track of the story events and gives some hints for some of the puzzles. The objectives were clear too, although there is no map since each area has only two or three locations which require you to search for something to help you out to the next area. You can't go back once you advance, but no worries because you won't miss anything as there are no collectibles except for the light-bulbs which are used for hint turns. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1376505939 Pros: +Great artwork. +Interesting story. +Well done voice over (Although it is limited, the main character's voice actress did a good job) +Useful journal. +Variety of puzzles. +Well made hidden object scenes. +OK soundtracks. +Steam achievements. Cons: -No map. -Short game. I finished the game in almost three hours, there is no bonus chapter but the ending was fitting and expected. I recommend this game to casual players who enjoy HOGs and lots of puzzles to solve. [quote]𝐹𝑜𝑟 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑣𝑖𝑒𝑤𝑠 𝑐𝘩𝑒𝑐𝑘 𝑚𝑦 𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑜𝑟 𝑝𝑎𝑔𝑒 [url=http://store.steampowered.com/curator/32399565/]𝐹𝑒𝑒𝑛𝑎'𝑠 𝐶𝘩𝑜𝑖𝑐𝑒[/url][/quote]

[b]Estimated reading time:[/b] 2 minutes, 14 seconds When I think of a word to describe [i]Howlville: The Dark Past[/i], "average" is the first thing that comes to mind. Don't get me wrong, the game is not bad at all, but it also doesn't excel in anything. It's enjoyable to play, has a decent story, medium difficulty puzzles with achievements for solving them but that's pretty much that there is to it. Story-wise, we have the classic theme of a young girl searching for her father who went missing under mysterious circumstances in the town of Howlville after a scientific anomaly which resulted in the town becoming off-limits. Not to wonder, the father was one the two scientists involved in the research and at the same time a victim of the catastrophe triggered by his colleague. The story is satisfactory, but also quite predictable, without any surprising twists and turns. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1401044738 However, the game has one peculiar characteristic: it's extremely heavy in hidden object scenes and all of them are beautifully designed. There is not that much point-and-clicking around, since at every step you will be faced with new hidden object scene that needs to be cleared and inside the hidden object scene you'll also encounter some easy puzzles to solve in order to reach a specific item. This approach works fine for this game since you will get all the necessary items to resolve the big puzzles through these hidden object scenes. Also, since there's not much point in exploring various locations, each area is built of only 3-4 scenes. This avoids going back and forth between locations and searching for what needs to be done next. In that regard, the game is pretty straightforward - it's usually clear what the next objective is and what to do to reach it. There are no collectibles in the game, but at specific locations you can pick up some items (light bulbs) that increment the number of your instant hints (basically you can use the hint instantly, without waiting for it to recharge). A hint system is always available, but depending on the difficulty you play on, it has different recharge speeds and stacking up on these light bulbs also helps figuring out the hidden object scenes much faster, if you can’t find some of the objects. Overall it's a nice game, but in my opinion the price is a tad too steep; you can even get [url= https://store.steampowered.com/app/435400/Hidden_Folks/]Hidden Folks[/url] cheaper than that, which is an excellent HOG and one of the top 70 games rated on Steam. [i]Howlville: The Dark Past[/i] is still a good buy for HOG collectors, but you might want to wait for a sale first. [quote]More reviews on the [url=http://store.steampowered.com/curator/11354094]Lilly's Corner Curator page[/url][/quote]

'Howlville: The Dark Past' is a typical HOG/Point&Click game with an interesting story. We are playing as Rachel, she's doing everything to find her father Joseph after his mystery disappearance 15 years ago. He was working in the labs in a town called Howlville but after a strange incident he was classified as missing person. Someone really wanted to hide this from the world, so it will be a difficult journey for Rachel to find out what really happened to her father. + Story + Graphics + Good music and sound effects + Tons of hidden object scenes <3 + Good Polish translation

Howlville : The Dark Pass est un jeu d’objets cachés comme il s’en fait beaucoup et malheureusement, il ne supporte pas la comparaison. Le scénario…du vu vu et revu porté ? par des personnages fades, inintéressant et sans surprise, une trame linéaire composée de puzzles et mises en scènes quelques fois franchement tordues. Certaines énigmes sont difficiles mais dans l’ensemble ça manque surtout d’originalité. Le pire étant que c’est un jeu loin d’être instinctif, aux clicks parfois hasardeux et aux objets de quête péniblement identifiables, non franchement, ça manque de fluidité et de visibilité. Pas de bug et des succès qui tombent naturellement mais une durée de vie relativement courte et une expérience vide de sens. Vous l’aurez compris, ce jeu m'a frustrée. Après, si vous êtes peu regardant, vous pouvez vous laisser tenter mais n’en attendez pas grand-chose sous peine d'être déçu. Il y a nettement mieux actuellement !

Un jeu assez court, il se termine en moins de 4 heures, mais plutôt agréable dans son genre. Les puzzles et scènes d'objets cachés sont variés et équilibrés. Celles-ci ont le mérite d'être chacune unique et ne sont ainsi pas réutilisées. Une histoire simple, pas très approfondie, mais qui a au moins le mérite d'être là. [b]Howlville: The Dark Past offre un petit moment de détente sympathique pour les amateurs du genre, à prendre en promo.[/b] https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2417456020 https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2417455995 https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2417455960 [quote=] [h1][url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/41126012/] Cliquez ici pour découvrir plus d'évaluations [/url][/h1] [b]N'hésitez pas à cliquer sur "suivre" si vous appréciez le contenu de ma page de curation. [/b][/quote]

You play as Rachel. Her father was a scientist and disappeared mysteriously in the town Howlville. The town was closed and all became classified. Rachel was put in a mental hospital, because she knew some of the classified information. She managed to escape....the game begins. This is an older game, it was released first in 2012. So the graphics are a bit outdated. The game has a tutorial, like most games in this genre. The hidden object scenes are pretty standard. Most HOG scenes contain small puzzles, but nothing that really stands out of other games in this genre. There is a small time penalty for clicking on too many wrong items. The puzzles are nice, not too difficult, but again most are fairly standard. You can use hints, but they are limited. You have to collect lamps to get more hints. That's the only thing you have to collect in this game. There is no map. Howlville is a standard enjoyable HOG game. Fans of this genre would like it, if they can overlook the outdated graphics. The gameplay is around 3 hours, which is fair for this price. I would give it a 6.5 out of 10 I got the game for free to review it, but it didn't influence my opinion in any way [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/32732116-IndieGems/] More reviews on our Curator Page [/url]

A short older style puzzle, but fun to play. HOGs were interactive and clever. Mini puzzles were puzzling and different. You play Rachel whose scientist father has been missing for 15 years. Lovely music and good clean graphics. Definitely buy on sale. No bugs. 7/10

A n older, modest seeming game that was a ton of fun. I really love the obvious attention that went into the superb graphics and a story which moved along and kept one engrossed. Yes, it has HOGS but they are the fun kind with plenty of puzzles and interactive items. PLUS the items are relevant for the most part. Lot of interesting mechanical puzzles and and quests. Recommended.

This quite difficult and rough-around-the-edges casual point-and-click adventure has many challenging hidden-object scenes and puzzle mini-games. For the most part, the hidden-object scenes are very good and actually quite innovative in that they require you to combine elements. Unfortunately, the combinations are often illogical, so that solving them involves frustrating trial and error. Also: the abominable pixel-perfect problem. I swear I clicked on the right hidden objects and nothing happened, only to try again later and succeed. Some of the puzzles are quite challenging, and in fact I had to skip one--I rarely do that in any game. (Note that you can still get all achievements even if you skip puzzles.) Though the graphics are good, the story is utterly forgettable. Sometimes you get bad voice acting, and sometimes you get bad written dialog. The opening screen was not even translated to English. Pacing isn't well though out. Sometimes you get a series of hidden-object scenes one after another. I enjoy them, but this genre should be about pleasant variety. In conclusion: not an especially polished game, bad story, and has some frustrating elements. I insist on giving this a thumbs down if only to encourage the developer to spend more time on quality assurance. But, I also want to commend the developer on innovation in the hidden-object scenes. Die-hard fans of the genre might want to play this in spite of my thumbs down.

[b][u]Game Information[/u][/b] "Howlville: The Dark Past" is a Hidden Object Puzzle Adventure game. The game was developed and published by N-Tri Studio. [b][u]The Game Review[/u][/b] Game Visuals I want to mentioned that the visuals in the game is nicely done. The visuals can be adjusted in the game's option menu. Game Audio I want to mentioned that audio for the game is well done. Even though the audio is somewhat simplistic and repetitive. The audio can be adjusted in the game's option menu as well. Gameplay There are four different difficulty game modes to choose from: Easy; Normal and Hard. The notebook keep tracks of progression in the game. Such as story events and clues. There is an interactive map in the game. It allows the player to fast travel between each locations quickly. It also indicates that there are tasks that can be completed at certain locations within the game. The interactive map is not automatically given at the start of the game. There no padlock feature that is available to lock the inventory panel in place to make it stationary. It automatically comes stationary. The hidden object scenes consists of the following: Traditional word lists; Find 'x' amount; Shadow items. Some of these hidden object scenes may require little or no interactions. The puzzles are fairly easy to solve without having the need to skip any of them. There are twenty-one different achievements that can be unlocked from playing the game. Each of these achievements does come with some requirements that needs to be completed before they can be unlocked. Miscellaneous Final thoughts: I have found the game enjoyable to a certain extent. The replay value for the game is low. I would recommend the game but not at the game's full price value.