This is my first Hidden Object Game and I largely wanted to play it because the flaming skull guy in the logo (technically Jessie James) looked super rad and I thought the idea of being sent on missions by the Ghost of Abraham Lincoln was hilarious. Plus, at the time of this writing, it's October, so on top of everything else, ghosts and flaming skulls are seasonally appropriate.
In terms of gameplay, well, I did not hate my time spent with Witches of Abraham, I guess. When people say to me "Hidden Object Game" I figure that's all there is to something like this -- going screen to screen, completing object lists. There's actually not a lot of Hidden Object stuff in this game, all told. There are maybe five total Hidden Object screens (give or take; maybe it's closer to eight), with the rest of Witches of Abraham playing out more like a point-and-click adventure game.
Puzzles themselves are nice and devious -- but not too devious, as at any time in the game you can click a hint button that will explicitly tell you the next step (or even solve the entire puzzle for you when it turns in to a "Skip" button). To be honest, I played most of this game while streaming it to some friends, so it really helped keep the pace up that we never got stuck for too long. Honestly, I wouldn't mind playing more of these games, if they're all like this.
My main issue -- and the one that makes me hesitate in my decision to give it a thumbs up or a thumbs down score -- is in the story itself. The plot here doesn't feel like it's given much room to breathe at all; you're whisked away through time to all these different points in history by Lincoln's ghost but the context of which feels kind of flimsy. I understand the basic beats -- something about evil Witches cursing the Lincoln family -- but this is only ever visibly present at one point in the story. The rest is all "Okay, you've run out of puzzles to solve here, on to the next time period!" It doesn't help that most characters are flat and uninteresting; the only stand-out in that regard is Jessie James, who only appears in a very (VERY) small handful of scenes.
(Even in the Collector's Edition bonus chapter, which is dedicated exclusively to James, he only appears at the beginning and the very end)
There just needed to be... more, I guess. Witches of Abraham is almost afraid to go full adventure game, even though the concept could have very well supported it. There's a fun story in here somewhere, it just never really gets told. Which is... kind of the entire reason I wanted this game.
Which means... No, I guess I can't recommend it.
