The Secret Order 7: Shadow Breach

The 7th and........... If this was just a game by itself and not in the series? It's actually fine. EXTREMELY EASY, but fine. You see, if you have a book or a game [u]series[/u]... I expect it to follow the plot that was created in the beginning! >.> There is no more sexy ship, so no time traveling. There is no finding out history. There is no challenge and worst of all? THERE ARE NO HELPING CUTIES! Yeah... They put previous ones into this... But for like a few seconds. You feed them and then f off. Sigh. The designs are nice and everything worked well. That isn't the issue. Even if you can forego that the ONLY link to this SEVENTH GAME in the series are the "Griffins Versus Dragons"... And even then you will forget that as you play... Lol...... The puzzles are still a snooze. Some of the puzzles are even 80% complete. You wanna have fun solving only 20% of the puzzle? Tsk tsk! But.......! They did bring back a guy I thought was dead from the sixth... We actually got his name and he immediately got "disqualified" (no, not killed) in the next scene. PFFT. There is also some other guy... And I am like... "Who the hell is this.......?" You only see his full person in the end of the Bonus game... Okay........... So uhh... Achievement Hunters will LOVE this game... People who like H.O. games and hate thinking? Will LOVE this game... Everyone else... It all depends. Umma rate it as a "standalone game". Which means "FINE". Which also has a message attached to it: WE. ARE. NOT. STUPID!!! After this... One more remains. Then we can bury a few games in the series. Deep, deep underground....

An OK Artifex Mundi hidden object game which is pretty easy and short (2,3 hours including bonus adventure). Linux version of the game works without any issues.

"The Secret Order 7: Shadow Breach" is a free mobile app that's been dumped on Steam as a nasty cash grab by the mobile app developers, Artifex Mundi. A typical Artifex Mundi Hidden Object puzzle game, the type you normally see on mobile app stores or even as browser apps. There's literally hundreds of these on Steam, most of them published by Artifex Mundi, many of them free on mobile app stores, but this one will cost you money on Steam. There's a fantasy/magic/secret society theme to the game, but this is a just a veneer over a tired and overdone set of hidden object minigames and Adobe Flash tier puzzles, wrapped together with a bunch of static screens that you "move" through by tapping your finger on your iPhone screen. While these kinds of games are popular amongst casual gamers, it's difficult to argue this is a great value proposition as a PC game, especially considering the price of this compared to the hundreds of free HOGs on the mobile app stores. From a technical perspective, as a mobile app, this doesn't meet basic minimum requirements that most PC gamers expect as standard. There's no option to change the resolution and no useful graphics tweaks. There's no way to ensure this is running at the native resolution of your display. There's no guarantee this game will look right on any PC as a result of this hamfisted design decision. Because this is a mobile app, it carries a number of deliberate design deficiencies. Compromises were made to cater to the iPhones that the mobile app was designed for. These are unfortunate handicaps and limitations that PC gamers shouldn't be forced to accept, but it's evident that PC was an afterthought for the iPhone developers who are to blame for this. The mobile app is deficient as a result of these choices, and would have been so much better without the handicaps that designing games for mobile phones forces upon a game. Once more, mobile devs have made gaming worse for everyone. I didn't spend thousands on building a gaming rig just so I could pretend it's an iPhone. These technical defects push this mobile app below acceptable standards for any modern PC game. Reviewing SteamDB to check how popular this game was with players reveals a surprise... there's a modest spike in player counts for the game. But this only happened once, around the same time that trading cards were applied to the game... so this is just card idlers getting their cards and moving on. A closer look at the numbers shows the game just has a couple of players every week running up the game and idling it for cards, then deleting it. We must ask how it benefits gamers for there to be so many games like this, with no merit as a serious game, that only generate sales from people idling and selling the trading cards. So, should you buy this mobile app? Is this one of the best of the 100,000+ games on Steam? Once more we see greedy mobile devs trying to scam PC gamers. On Steam, this is $15 USD, on app stores, it's free. Mobile devs must learn PC gamers are not here to be gouged, and can't be expected to pay a premium for a free mobile app just because it's been lazily dumped on Steam. This is unacceptable disrespect for PC gamers. Because this can be played free elsewhere, and because of the other defects, it's impossible to recommend. FIFTEEN BUCKS FOR A FREE MOBILE APP. Just who do they think we are?

The 7th installment of [i]The Secret Order series[/i] takes a turn back towards the original storyline (as opposed to the [url=steamcommunity.com/id/atisz2/recommended/574260/]5th[/url] and [url=steamcommunity.com/id/atisz2/recommended/662190/]6h part[/url] ) as it sheds light to the origins of the Dragon and Griffin clans, although instead of actually going back in time, we experience the past through flashbacks. Sadly it can't reach the high standards of the mentioned previous entries, but it still manages to be an above average mobile-based hidden object game. As opposed to the other parts of the series, a catastrophic event hasn't occured yet, we live at a new address, (the 5th and 6th parts are mentioned in a note in our new home) to hide away from the Dragon clan's possible attacks. This time around our adversaries are planning to invoke a demonic sorceress whose spirit was imprisoned in a tome. Our friend, Maggie calls us to help strengthen the barrier around the book, but it still fails to contain the demon within and she gets possessed. Of course it'll be our job to banish the demon and free our friend. Right at the start we find a magical bracelet, which functions as the game's unique artifact - used to reveal the locations of special relics marked by glowing runes, which are necessary to defeat the demon. We must acquire these magical items by visiting different continents to seek them out, before the demon finds and destroys them. Whenever we find one we have to solve logic-based minigames - involving matching/connecting similar objects. As usual from the series, the number of actual hidden object scenes (where we have to find and click on 12 listed items on the screen in order to gain an essential item) isn't as numerous as in some other titles, which tends to be a common problem - having just HO scenes and barely any other puzzles or minigames. The ones here are from the easier kinds including pathfinding-, pipe-, cogwheel-, but mostly just (related) pair-matching minigames and even the dreaded rotating rings puzzle returns, but this time it is super easy (unlike in the previous part). There are also interactive storytelling sequences, which reveal the details of the plot, instead of just simple cutscenes (of which we also get a fair amount). We may alternatively choose to switch to a pair-matching game instead of the regular hidden object scene, although in other similar games it usually breaks the progression of certain achievements - don't know whether that's the case here. It's not the demon itself, but a summoned "shadow beast" which we have to face before getting the mentioned artifacts and each time we have to chase it away by using a strong source of light. We often have to collect several similar looking or fragmented pieces, before we can actually assemble and use certain items, which may be tiresome (it's also an inherent element of the series). Then there are several weird content elements (present in many other hidden object games as well), such as freezing (?) an ivy (a common 'enemy' in numerous HOGs, although it's not poisonous, just its berries are toxic somewhat) to progress, our heroine being afraid of cobwebs or using a sharp-toothed skull to cut some ropes when there were other more convenient items around. There were a few occasions with wrong descriptions, like when trying to open a box, the game referred to it as if it was a knife (which was used to open it). These are minor errors though, nothing that would actually affect the gameplay. What I didn't like was that there's no diary this time around and our objectives are just briefly listed. After playing through the main game, we also get a bonus one, where we have to destroy the relics and purify the bracelet in an alternate, elemental world. It's mostly just a half an hour long series of fetch quests though. Scrolls and morphing objects serve as collectibles and some of them are located in the bonus game. There seem to be way too many achievements, with a little exaggeration we get one after completing every minor task. The graphics are well done and the various locations (not specifically named, but places looking like Tuscany and Nepal) we visit are great to look at. steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3532738341 steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3532738766 There's some reused action music from previous entries, but otherwise it has an excellent, suspenseful soundtrack. Our protagonist is voiceless unfortunately - only at the end of the bonus game can we hear her talking. [i]Secret Order 7: Shadow Breach[/i] is a fine game and fits more into the series than the previous 2 parts, but it still can't deliver the highlights of the [url=steamcommunity.com/id/atisz2/recommended/399890]2nd part[/url]. As a standalone game it's an enjoyable one and recommendable to the lovers of the genre. PROS + large number of minigames (rather easy ones though) + colourful locations + eventful storyline + great soundtrack... CONS - ...but parts of the soundtrack are reused from the previous games - too many fetch tasks with multiple pieced items - the bonus game could have used a bit more variety RATING 6.5/10

There is much moving from place to other place and returning where you already was before. Puzzles is ok and very beatiful art. Plot is hard follow and don't think I understand what really is happening but it is ok game.

Gameplay ist gut, aber die Geschichte ist sowas von langweilig.

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Virkelig sjovt og afslappende.

Серийное продолжение The Secret Order. Сюжет построен вокруг планового спасения мира, в очередной 7й раз и разбавлен разной сложности пазлами и головоломками (из которых самая забористая это открытие двери к демоническому камню). Рисовка по сравнению с предыдущими частями, стала хуже, или изменился в плохую сторону сам дизайн локаций. В общем и целом игра интересная, можно скоротать пару тройку вечеров.

Kolejny HOG od Artifexu (a przynajmniej przez niego wydany) - to dalej "to samo". Jak podobały się poprzednie gry, to ta też podejdzie. Fabuła nadal jest żeby była, zagadki nadal się powtarzają w porównaniu do poprzednich gier... Jedyna nowinka jest taka, że nie dość, że mamy podpowiedź czy na danej scenie jest jakiś bonusowy ukryty przedmiot, to jeszcze jest teraz rozdzielona na osobno zwykłe przedmioty i znikające - fajne. Z błędów - raz nam każą szukać "złodzieja wina", co ma więcej sensu po angielsku :D Innym razem mamy tygiel i łączymy go z kulami, żeby je roztopić... bez żadnego ognia i konieczności szukania go. W każdej innej sytuacji by trzeba było kombinować, a tu nagle tak z czapy działa.