Tibetan Quest: Beyond the World's End

An OK hidden-object game all in all, but suffers from sloppy game design, and so I can't recommend it to fans of the genre. The graphics and design are impressive. The hidden-object scenes are easy but plentiful. The big disappointment, however, is the point-and-click adventuring: it's illogical and even idiotic. At one point I had to melt ice and was carrying a magical staff that could melt it ... but, no, I was not allowed to use this staff and had to find a magnifying glass instead. At another point, I tried to take one item, and got a message telling me that I shouldn't take it before finding out if it belongs to someone. Uhm, taking stuff is exactly what what I've been doing the whole game until then! A hermit asks me for a “rare plant” that I immediately see growing right outside his house. Early on I think I found 5 axes in a row, and kept using them only to find new ones to use again. Can't our protagonist just keep the axe? Or how about thinking of a puzzle that requires a new kind of item? Too many puzzles involve an item being stuck and you have to pry it out. One of the hidden objects -- I kid you not -- is a “reset icon.” Etc. etc. It's just insulting. Finally, the story: the Tibetan flavor seems to be window dressing only. The legend of Shangri-La seems quite Westernized, the main and even most side characters are all Western, and in any case nothing of the history and religion of Tibet gets involved. I even think one of the puzzles involved Meso-American runes! So, though the gameplay is generally OK, I'm going to have to give it a thumbs down. You hired excellent graphic artists, why not hire some capable writers, too? Or at least insist that they don't smoke up while on the job? Still, thank you, devs, for supporting Linux!

I don't know about other people but back in the 80's I was a huge fan of those puzzle books, where's waldo, turning page after page, trying to find that red and white striped maniac among a sea of strange and interesting situations. Was Waldo at a political rally, a circus, a camping ground, sea world or heck even just lounging outside his house, cooking some hot dogs and hamburgers, Ms. Waldo and little Waldo nearby with their own red and white striped shirts. I can't remember, I just remember spending hours at a time pouring over the books, gritting my teeth and mapping out a grid of the page, searching each sector just waiting for him to pop out before my eyes.. Fast forward 20 - 30 years later and I'm still enamored with hidden objects, while I've outgrown my Where's waldo book reading days, I can and very much do enjoy playing hidden object games. Finding various items scattered about a trunk, a chest, a crashed airplane, a Tibetan temple, it's all good... Thanks to the publisher Artifex Mundi I have no shortage of hidden object games to choose from, whether it's clowns, carnivals, murder mysteries, I know seeing the name Artifex Mundi next to publisher I can be certain I'll be in for a real treat. [h1] The Story [/h1] When you were seeing off your beloved niece three weeks ago as she embarked on an archaeological trip to Tibet, nothing could have foreshadowed the dramatic events that were about to unfold. Only yesterday you received a mysterious letter from which you learned that Larisa and her crew had gotten lost in a snow storm. When you arrive in Tibet you quickly discover your Niece has set out about 2 weeks ago and has yet to return. Will you find Larisa, will you discover what happened at Shangri-La or will you become another missing person. [h1] Gameplay [/h1] Gameplay is your typical hidden object fare, hidden object, puzzles, collectibles. The hidden object comes in two forms, either words or shapes, they aren't overly complicated, and if you do find yourself trapped you can use a hint. If that isn't enough you can choose to play a game of Mojong instead of solving the puzzle. You also have a mix up puzzle to solve occasionally, a picture is broken up into numerous shapes, you need to twist and move the shapes until the picture is clear. As you progress along in the story more areas unlock for you to search through. The game also has several sets of collectibles, swords, coins, stars and apples. [h1] Recommendation [/h1] If you're a fan of HOG's, you'll love this game, it's got everything a HOG game lover would want and need... An interesting well told story, casual hidden object puzzles and crisp graphics and sound, I really don't see any reason for people to avoid buying this game, you should buy it now and start searching, start finding and enjoy this amazingly fun casual game. Artifex Mundi has yet again brought HOG game lovers another masterpiece.. I certainly can't wait to see what game these guys release next, if it's as good as Tibetan Quest then i'll be a really happy camper.

[b]Tibetan Quest: Beyond the World's End[/b] is a hidden object game style game with nice visuals and an enjoyable storyline to adventure through. You journey to Tibet to find out what has happened to your niece when she travelled there several weeks beforehand. You will then begin collecting items and using them to unlock and continue forward through frigid and snowy landscapes of Tibet, and along with intricately designed and stylized Buddhist temples that align the high mountainous in the area. [h1]Pros[/h1] I like the art work of the people as well as the graphic style of the landscapes. The animations are nice, and I think they add a lot to the overall game experience. The sequence of events doesn't feel broken, and I like the continuity in the overall gameplay experience. There was a large variety of puzzles throughout the game, and I enjoyed solving them. This has been a pleasure for me to play through. The voices in the game are well done for the most part, which is a nice thing. The mouth movements are right on par with the voices. Nice to see this, but I cannot say how this may be if there are other languages to possibly try, since I did not mess with this to see. Nothing interfered with my overall concentration or mood while playing. Everything felt in place with the story. I thought all of the sound effects were very enjoyable and how they should be, and it all fit well with what was going on. Collecting the extra items is fun for bonus achievements. I like having the side things to look for in almost every room that creates a sort of side collection as you are going. Like a mini-game within the game. Extras menu has some neat stuff, and I guess you can unlock other things in it as you go. Steam cloud functionality often goes unnoticed by me, but this would be nice carrying saves over if I played small bits on my laptop before going to sleep or something. [h1]Cons[/h1] This is sort of a gripe for most all of these I have played, and it's that things you have in your inventory will not work when they should in theory, and the solution is too linear. You could use your one scepter item to solve many of the things you end up going out of your way for to get an item similar that works instead. I do enjoy the extra stuff, but it's just something inside me that is a realist, so I kind of get frustrated about some of these kinds of things. No reflection on the particular game. Just thinking how I would be in the same situation... Also the fact that many items that would be of use later are simply dropped and never used again. If you kept the item the whole time, or simply went back for it over and over, it could come in handy for several other areas where you need an item to get another item, for example. Other than the above, which is more of a universal thought about hidden object games and many point and clicks in general, I don't have anything to say here really. There isn't much I can complain about for a hidden object game. This one is very well done. If I could nitpick, I suppose some of the facial animations look funny when they are speaking to you, in some cases, but I kind of like this, honestly. [h1]Glitches[/h1] I found one strange glitch near the end near a certain statue you have to alter. Going two rooms back, then moving into that room makes duplicate scepters. I think this might only trigger after a conversation in the mausoleum, and the need to grab a gem in that room to charge the scepter, but it was strange to hear the noise and see the number continue to increase. The noise and increase stopped once I picked up the appropriate item to continue on. [b]********** GAME-BREAKING BUG!! **********[/b] I completely broke my first playthrough by using the teleport feature after going through the portal near the end. I couldn't use the portal anymore, and I just got a white screen when I entered the room to teleport, so there is no way back. Maybe there will be an eventual fix for this, so I can finish the game on my original playthrough, but at the current time, there is no real fix for this at the time of writing, and the only solution is starting a new game! [h1]Other Thoughts[/h1] This is a terrific game, and for anyone who likes hidden object games, I highly recommend this. It's a lot of fun and everything about it exemplifies the genre, from the art to the music to the overall continuity in story. The puzzles and the finding of objects is great and they do a nice job changing it up a bit with the puzzles, as well as the situational use of objects to find other ones. This makes me want to play more of the games I already have by Artifex Mundi, since I'm so impressed with this title. I will not hesitate to grab more of these in the future! Completely all around great hidden object game. [b]** Disclaimer: I was given a key to review the game. This had no impact on my rating**[/b]

Not recommended - The game looks nice and works without problems, but repetitive puzzles, bad face animations, and the game's storyline, puzzle placements that are sub-par for the vast majority of the games in the genre. It has numerous grammatical errors, has terrible face animations ; Tibet is just the flavour of the game, because they didn't even try to keep up the immersion: european runes in the temple, wisdom /writing is symbolized with a quill what was used in the west. At the final part of the bonus adventure you use ashes from an urn to uncover fingerprints. Who the hell though that this should be in a game?? It's incredibly distasteful - and on lower note, at least 2-3 statues are destroyed by the protagonist because something useful was embedded in them / under them - It's just sad that the developers placed the game in a beautiful land, built up visually appealing environments only for it gets destroyed. But almost no NPC in the game so noone cares about it I guess. The game itself is one of the many hidden object games that just uses a theme or story on the usual scafflding, instead of trying new. Old puzzles, repetative hidden object scenes with lots of reused items (I found enough pocket watches to last a lifetime), and apparently no planning whatsoever. The antagonist is just a masterwork. He appears, tells you something about not letting your niece go, something about his newfound power in one sentence then disppears. And ladies and gentlemen, was the introduction and description of the evil in the game. Has the girl you want, got powerful, mad because of it, evil. Go destroy. No real motivation, no character, just the usual evil for the sake of evil. But at least at the end he dies, in the same way AND animation Brave Giant LTD used in their other game, Demon Hunter I think music should be addressed a little: they changed the tone of the usual objective completed / item pickup sounds to have a more asian tone, which worked ; background music also does a pretty good job at being atmospheric, problem is that it's incredibly repetitive, and gets old in minutes. Some parts in the game has a threatening or mystical sounds to it - it was good to see something for the sake of change, but the way you exit the cutscene with explosions and evil magic and the happy music continues like nothing happens also destroys the immersion of the game. It's just badly designed. For the sake of lolz if you're stil reading it: How to get rid of a spider? Find bucket without handle, complain that you can't move it without it. Get herbs. use herbs in a grinder, name magically changes to sleep mix. Don't care, move on. Get sugar, find the bucket handle in the meanwhile. You don't have a recipe so you have no idea why are you doing this at all. Fix bucket, get water. Try to take the bucket of water. Protagonist says she sees no reason to take it with her. First and only self-reflecting exclamation about how clueless item-hoarding is in the game. Proceeds to stare at the sleeping mix as there was nothing potion-like thing in the game so far. Jokingly try sugar on bucket of water. Works. Weird. Use sleeping mix on it: sleeping potion. IRL friend says maybe there'll be an elephant or tiger that needs to be put to sleep. NOPE. POUR THE BUCKET OF SLEEPING POTION ON THE GROUND, THE SPIDER CRAWLS INTO IT, DRINKS AND FALLS ASLEEP.(And probably drowning in it, yay! Would have been easier to squish it with the handleless bucket)

OK I promised to write a review once I stopped laughing. Why does this game make me laugh so hard - all the out of place and out of time items throughout the game and in the Hidden Object scenes. (Too many to mention) Please Brave Giant (developers) this is the age of the internet, your research and development team and quality control team simply could not find enough items of Tibetan origin? From the 1920s? Tibet is an ancient culture, heavily influenced by repetitive Chinese invasion and Buddahism, but still a culture completely its own. So where are the prayer wheels? There is not a single prayer wheel anywhere in this Tibetan Quest. The icing on the cake, however, the most out of place thing in the entire game had to be the Komodo dragon. Seriously? Komodo dragons live on a few remote islands in the TROPICS, are longer then people are tall, and WILL EAT YOU for lunch without warning. How could it possibly stay alive in the Himalaya Mountains in sub-zero weather? At least I did not have to feed it bread to make it go away or that would have made this game beyond dumb. Enough kvetching about out of place/time objects - Storyline: Late 1920s. Larisa and her boyfriend leave for an archealogical mission in Tibet. Time goes by and the aunt does not hear from her niece. Instead she (the aunt, you as the player) receives word from Tibet Consul her niece and company have gone missing. Off to Tibet she goes to find her niece. Gameplay: Fairly standard storyline. Beautiful, detailed, colorful artwork - the water is absolutely sublime. The cut scenes short and long are worth watching. There is a fast travel map, but not really needed. The game is very linear and is completed by areas of possibly 4-5 locations each area. Point and click, find and use inventory and hidden object scenes. The logic of the inventory items for certain tasks is highly debatable. In one case a pointed seashell is used to chip out a "granite" rock yet in another case a pickaxe is needed to break "granite" rock. This happens frequently so be creative and try everything, it might work. Other then that the gameplay is fairly simple and easy to figure out. Very linear even in the point and click inventory - nothing gets held over from area to area. Hidden object scenes are fast, simple and easy. However there is an object or three that are just a bit more well hidden so will take a little longer to find. Nothing unfairly hidden, just so many out of place and out of time objects it is amusing. There are the standard extras (concept art, cutsceens, music), and a very short bonus chapter which is basically an epilogue. There are four extra hidden finds throughout the game and can be accessed directly from the game menu. Plus the finale is a Boss Battle with the dragon. In conclusion, family friendly, fun, relatively easy, hidden object with a DRAGON (who can go wrong with a dragon even if it is chasing you). As for price: the game itself - full price, all the out of time/place distractions - look for a sale

[h1] Tibetan Quest: Beyond the World's End [/h1] Hidden object game of 2016. Travel to the mystical city of Shangri-La and find your missing niece! Embark on an adventure at the edge of the world and save Larisa from the clutches of the ancient labyrinth! Quest in Tibet: Beyond the End of the World is an addicting hidden object game that cleverly blends elements of thriller and adventure genres with oriental esotericism and wisdom. (Developer) So much for the content of the adventure. As usual, it's crowded here. Not that difficult, but mainly it's about mini-games. A lot of them. Luckily you can skip them. If you want to solve all of them yourself, you will have many hours of fun here. The story is well told too. There is in-game help for everything. A reasonably good adventure awaits you. Technically made relatively perfect, error free. More for fans. I can recommend it. My group and my archive with over 5,350 reviews here: https://steamcommunity.com/groups/hoi4deu 👑 Powered by HoI 4 Deu Curators group in German / English 👑⠀⠀⠀[list][*][url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/30388691/] Follow Main group [/url][*] [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/40282064/] Follow Second group [/url][/list] and discover more reviews from me [h1] Tibetan Quest: Beyond the World's End [/h1] Wimmelbildspiel von 2016. Reise in die mystische Stadt Shangri-La und finde deine vermisste Nichte! Begib dich auf ein Abenteuer am Rand der Welt und rette Larisa aus den Fängen des uralten Labyrinths! Suche in Tibet: Jenseits des Endes der Welt ist ein fesselndes Spiel mit versteckten Objekten, das überaus geschickt die Elemente des Thrillers und des Abenteuer-Genres mit orientalischer Esoterik und Weisheit verknüpft. (Entwickler) Soweit zum Inhalt des Abenteuers. Wie üblich wimmelt es hier auch mal. Nicht so schwer, hauptsächlich aber geht es um Minspiele. Sehr viele davon. Zum Glück kann man sie überspringen. Wer die alle selber Lösen will, hat hier sehr viele Stunden Vergnügen. Die Geschichte ist ebenfalls gut erzählt. Es gibt für alles Hilfe im Spiel. Ein halbwegs gutes Abenteuer erwartet euch. Technisch gesehen rellativ perfekt gemacht, Fehlerfrei. Eher was für Fans. Ich kann es empfehlen. Meine Gruppe und mein Archiv mit über 5.350 Reviews hier: https://steamcommunity.com/groups/hoi4deu 👑 Powered by HoI 4 Deu Curators group in German / English 👑⠀⠀⠀[list][*][url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/30388691/] Follow Main group [/url][*] [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/40282064/] Follow Second group [/url][/list] and discover more reviews from me

Your niece Larissa embarked on a journey to the mythical Shangri-La, however, her party goes missing during a snowstorm. Not caring at all for your life, you follow her footsteps to rescue her... That's the plot of the game: as usual, Artifex Mundi knows to choose the games with interesting stories. I really liked the beginning, though the ending was a little less well-written: it cuts abruptly and it's clear that it needs at least some more explanations or a sequel. Also, I'm wondering how the heroin, which must middle-aged and with a lot of money, ended up with nothing to advance a little more faster and fly a plane. It means that she was at least an adventurer in her youth. The gameplay is pretty standard: find items, solve puzzles, clear hidden objects scenes (list or shaped). There is a little minor problem: the balance between the list of words and the list of shapes isn't great as you have more of the former than the latter. The puzzles are as usual easy to finish. You even have some passages (like the repair of the plane) where you're guided step-by-step and where you'll need to use objects you found earlier (or that you will find after when you can't advance anymore). You have also a game of mahjong (not really developped as there are only 2 or 3 different patterns and you can't be stuck, as it's shuffling automatically) if you don't want to play the hidden object scenes. However, some actions aren't making sense: I've a staff that can melt ice and I need a magnifying glass at one moment for that specific act. Or also, a giant lizard is blocking the way and you have a sleeping potion in your inventory. My first move was to give it to it. Well, no. I needed to give it first a rake, so that I can get a pole, then use it as an harpoon to get a fish and to give it to the animal. And the sleeping potion. Well, apparently, it's better to use it on a spider than on the lizard... While I loved the graphics and the beauty of the temples or of the mountain, there are two problems: I didn't like how the characters were animated. It's not fitting really well with the rest of the game and besides, I don't know why the faces were weird. The second little minor problem is probably how the developers are seeing Tibet as I was more under the impression to be in another province of China than Tibet itself. Besides, given the era where the story is set, I don't think that Tibet was already ruled by China at that moment. I suppose that they let their imagination (and their own view/stereotypes) instead of using a little more documentation and to avoid some clichés. I liked the soundtrack, that's a real strong point here. It was very enjoyable all along and fitting to the ambiance. Tibetan Quest isn't perhaps the best in terms of gameplay but I've been hooked into that magical world (even if it's not really Tibetan in itself). I liked it a lot. As usual, Artifex Mundi chose well. However, the next time, if they can at least choose a game with a better ending or publish the first The Secret Order and the others Vampire Legends if they managed to get the rights for Steam, I would be very happy.

[i]Note: I'll be referring to "HOGs", also known as "hidden object games" throughout this review. More on that later.[/i] So, by now it's fairly clear that Artifex Mundi is the king of HOGs, or hidden object games, on Steam. Well, how does their most recent title fare? Let's find out! [h1]The Breakdown[/h1] Tibetan Quest is the newest title from Artifex Mundi, the Polish developers (and publishers) of dozens of HOGs, many of which are on Steam. From my personal experience, I've really enjoyed most of the games I've played from them (Time Mysteries 1 was an exception, but it was also one of their first games so that's a bit excusable), so I was looking forward to trying out this new one. Thankfully, it delivered! The gameplay of Tibetan Quest consists of what you'd expect from a HOG: visit a bunch of areas, solve puzzles using items to progress, complete some minigames, and most importantly, play some hidden object scenes! Now, you may or may not know what those consist of; if you don't, they're essentially the "I Spy" books in video game form. You're given a list of objects to find in a picture/scene, and all you need to do is find, or rather, click on them. The hidden object scenes generally looked great in Tibetan Quest, and the objects were quite hard to find sometimes. However, one small complaint that I do have with these scenes is that many of the objects are reused multiple times, like "stars", "hearts", etc. The story of the game consists of you, a middle-aged woman, traveling to Tibet to rescue your niece after she mysteriously disappears during a trip there. As the game progresses, you slowly discover what the villain's motive is through some of the minigames, which I thought was pretty clever. The game doesn't dump exposition on you either; the focus is definitely on the gameplay, which is quite nice. Sure, the story may not be anything particularly special, but it gets the job done. There was also an extra bonus chapter that I didn't really check out much, though I believe it explains what happens after the game's initial ending, so that's pretty neat to see as most games don't expand upon their endings. Visually, it's an Artifex Mundi game for sure, even if this one isn't developed by them. By it being an Artifex Mundi game, I mean that it looks great! They somehow never cease to impress me with the high quality, polish, and general attention to detail given to both areas and hidden object scenes in their games. On top of that, Tibetan Quest even features some fairly action-packed cutscenes involving a dragon trying to stop our heroine from rescuing her daughter. Sure, some of the effects (like the explosions) are a little silly and perhaps not the best quality, but overall it was still quite nice to see that the game tried to add some variety to its visuals. Though, that does lead me to another minor complaint I have with the game - the facial animations. There's only a few times when talking to characters is necessary to progress, but whenever I had to talk to someone I couldn't help but laugh when I watched their faces move. The faces look fairly realistic, so when the only thing that moves is their mouths it looks a bit silly. I kind of found it charming though, so it wasn't too big of a deal for me, and thus, only a minor complaint. By this point, you may have realized that I'm not criticizing the game much, and that's because it's simply hard to criticize! If you're not a fan of HOGs, this may not be the game for you, though if you enjoy adventure games, puzzle games, or just casual games in general I think you may really enjoy Tibetan Quest. It's not perfect, but it's certainly a great game! [h1]Pros[/h1] [list] [*]Creative, varied puzzles, minigames, and hidden object scenes [*]An unusual setting for a hidden object game: Tibet! [*]Fairly lengthy - 3-6 hours long depending on personal puzzle-solving skills and if you decide to tackle the extra bonus chapter or not [*]Steam achievements, trading cards, and Steam cloud support (always nice to have!) [*]Beautifully detailed areas and hidden object scenes [*]A fairly interesting story is told through a mix of dialogue, action-packed cutscenes, and even through minigames [/list] [h1]Cons[/h1] [list] [*]Multiple hidden objects are reused across multiple scenes [*]Some of the puzzles use items in illogical ways (why do I need a magnifying glass to melt a block of ice when I already have a staff that shoots out fire? :/) [*]Facial animations look odd, even if they're kind of charming [/list] [h1]Conclusion[/h1] If you're an Artifex Mundi fan, Tibetan Quest is another excellent game from them that is definitely worth picking up. If you're not yet a fan, what are you waiting for? [h1][b]Final Verdict: 8/10[/b][/h1]

Why doesn't Steam have a 'neutral' voting option? This game has points going for it and then it has also quite a few against it. Overall I really can't say that I disliked it, but that's about as positive as I feel about it. The presentation is good. The graphics are colourful and well done, the animations are awkward as in most hidden object games, the music is nice and the voice acting isn't awful. Some locations feel 'shoehorned' into the Tibetian setting though, but overall it doesn't break the immersion. There are quite a few hidden object scenes, so if you like those this game is definately for you. The inventory puzzles are rather weak with quite a few feeling really forced. A few examples: You have a magical staff that can shoot fire, but in order to melt some block of ice you have to use a magnifying glass. There is a huge lizard blocking your way and you have a bucket full of sleeping potion, but you rather use the bucket of sleeping potion on the ground under a spider in order to make the spider fall asleep. You need to put a lantern next to a rock and use a flint to light it up even if there are lit candles very near. The list goes on and it really gets on your nerves after a while. The minigames aren't bad, but they are either really easy (match the shape/colour) or quite difficult. Overall the game offers a couple of hours of hidden object game play, but if you are more into casual adventures that make at least some sense then this game might disappoint you. Certainly one of the weaker Artifex Mundi games and I can only recommend it in a sale or a bundle.

What can I say. This game had me gripped from start to finish. So much so, I ended up playing it through twice which I like to do for most HOG games. The artwork and the music fitted well with the game and the story and I found the monsters and creatures along the way very refreshing. There are alot of hidden object scenes which I don't mind at all but I would prefer there to be not so many in the game. That said, they fitted in perfectly with the puzzles and this balanced it all out for me. The only drawback I have with the game is the lack of people and voice acting. I love games where I am put into something and have to work my way out of it so although there was a map and hints, I found it quite challenging at times to know what to do next. The game is a good length and it kept my attention and I would recommend it to any HOG fans out there or for people who enjoy doing puzzles. Artifex Mundi always have a variety of interesting puzzles in their games and although they can't take all the credit as only being publishers of this game, you could see that they put their stamp on it. A very enjoyable game which is very good value for the price with it being a collector's edition. A huge success for me. Roll on the next one!