I admit, after last week’s letdown, I was a little hesitant to begin another adventure on the high seas, but, with all the mayhem that’s hit this house lately due to the upcoming FINAL finals… I jumped at the chance to set sail on this new upcoming pirate adventure game, hoping I would get a few hours of a much-needed escape.
I can’t stress this enough… I was not disappointed. Nightmares of the Deep: The Cursed Heart is a stellar pirate hidden object adventure game by Artifex Mundi that had even me shouting “ahoy!” to my fellow roommates… much to their annoyance.
I admit, after last week’s letdown, I was a little hesitant to begin another adventure on the high seas, but, with all the mayhem that’s hit this house lately due to the upcoming FINAL finals… I jumped at the chance to set sail on this new upcoming pirate adventure game, hoping I would get a few hours of a much-needed escape.
I can’t stress this enough… I was not disappointed. Nightmares of the Deep: The Cursed Heart is a stellar pirate hidden object adventure game by Artifex Mundi that had even me shouting “ahoy!” to my fellow roommates… much to their annoyance.
Where to begin with this game? The graphics are absolutely fantastic. Really extremely detailed in every way possible. Perfectly shadowed and menacing. Sharp, crisp artwork and absolutely beautiful scenes… even if you’re on board a creepy pirate ship that’s hundreds of years old! They somehow made even the algae look stunning.
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The story begins the day before a museum exhibit opens featuring the fierce pirate Remington… pretty sure they made that name up, because I don’t recall a Captain Remington from history class, but I could be mistaken. Anyhow, you are the curator of the museum where the exhibit will take place, and are in charge of making sure everything goes smoothly. It’s a dark and stormy night when the last piece of the exhibit arrives… the body of the treacherous Captain Remington himself.
You and your daughter can’t wait to pry the crate open and get a look at his grisly remains, but something goes terribly wrong…Can you see where this is going?
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Well… I couldn't. At least not exactly. I figured the body was going to be running around sooner than later, but it wasn’t until the pirate ship itself came crashing through the museum walls that my jaw dropped, and I started yelling for everyone to come see it. Yes, the cut scenes are that good.
The story continues from there, where you must rescue your daughter from the haunted pirate ship before it’s too late. You literally claw your way into the bowels of the ship before it pulls away from land and heads out to sea with a course set for Skull Island – the hideout of the pirates.
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Obviously, I can’t say enough good things about this game. The hidden object scenes are great, with tons of interactivity. You have to move things to see other parts of the scene, find matches to light candles, and much more. But, if hidden object scenes aren’t your thing… and sometimes I really just don’t feel like scrunching up my face in search of elusive items, you simply toggle to the puzzle mode and play a round of mahjong instead. Perfect for when a hidden object scene becomes frustrating.
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Music and sound effects were great too. Nothing annoying or intrusive. They did their job in totally immersing you in the game. My only complaint… and this is really a minor thing… was that the voice acting wasn’t synchronized with the animations. So the mouths would just move and weren’t timed with the words at all. I know… it’s minor, but I had to find something to complain about right?
Overall, really, don’t miss Nightmares of the Deep: The Cursed Heart when it comes out tomorrow, April 19. It’s an exceptional game, even if you’re not the biggest pirate fan.
