Millionaire Manor

the game

This is a great game for a variety of hidden object styles and quick games. Long term play with the storyline, revisiting similar scenes with slightly different objects or new objects enhances the length of gameplay with less need for new scenes. Very fun, would recommend!

I don't usually care for the plot of a HO game; they are usually cheesy or poorly written.
But I now I realize that a cheesy story is better than none at all, which feels like is the case with this game. A game show is not a story after all, and it makes for a boring HO game.
But that's not the worse part. The worst part was the low resolution pictures, which were poorly lit or shaded. Need I say more?
All in all, playing this feels like a chore.

I gave this a thumbs down, because it was boring, tedious, lacked any kind of excitement. I stopped playing after I realized that the story line of the game was not going anywhere......judarry

background artwork and voiceovers pretty good but hog scenes dark and low resolution so finding the objects pretty agonizing. there is also no substantial story.

Tags: Adventure - WC - Hidden Object
Additional Tags: Delete Local Content & Remove from Library

TLDR: Low resolution. Hintspam gameplay. Repetitive. Uses a lot of cheap tricks to hide the objects. Not much of a story. Outcompeted in saturated genre.

Between the reshades, the object hidden by other object and the resize of object there are a lot of cheap tricks this game uses.

So this is sort of a gameshow in which you spin a wheel and must gradually solve more and more games of hidden object to unlock modes and free the little guys in the jail.

You get few modes to begin with which makes the game repetitive especially since they cannot be selected. The main hidden object scenes are hard to complete due to cheap tricks. The speed at which hint button refreshes means it will almost always be ready before you spot anything else so the game mostly plays itself.

There is not much of a story to speak of. There are bonus rounds which involve finding broken poker chips which are good to break the pace a bit but they go by so fast that they barely even matter.

Conclusion: Better stick to a more traditional story walk clicker hidden object with better presentation and fairer puzzles. This just feels like a lot of filler, being repeated over and over again in a pointless grind.

EDIT March 2018: Per Dryspace's comment on this review, I looked up BridgetFisher's review and tried the fix for the resolution issue I had. With that fix in place, I was able to play the game and finish it, though I doubt I'll complete the Extended Play in Jirard-style completionism.

So, I change my review to a recommend with that. The plot is basically non-existent, but the antagonist's voice acting is some of the best I've encountered in an HO game. The various game modes give this game a bit of something different.

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First, I'll admit that I bought this on sale for not more than two dollars, probably less. While I give the game much credit for the idea and an actually interesting antagonist, I got tired of the game very quickly. The reason for that wasn't the game play, but the lack of an actual fullscreen mode. The scenes are repetitive, but the various types of games helped with that.

If I didn't have to have the screen next to my face to see what was going on, I would have probably finished the game at least. It seems a bit nitpicky, but that's a deal breaker in this case.

TL;DR version at the bottom.

This is really not that terrible of a HO game, but there are a few things that you need to know before you give it a try.

Firstly, this is an old-school HO game, without a map/travel or inventory management puzzles. Like many of the older games, it's just finding objects in a scene packed with dozens upon dozens of items. If you are looking for something like the new Artifex Mundi games which are more intricate and have more features, you probably won't be thrilled with this.

That said, there is a wide variety in the types of HO scenes in this game. Essentially, you spin a wheel for each scene to see what variation you'll be playing, with a "skip chip" that can be used to block off a certain type that you don't like. While they are all "find the object" variations, there is enough variety to keep it interesting (combining objects, traditional list, timed, silhouette, plus some pretty different ones that you don't see often).

I've seen some complaints about pixel hunting and low-res graphics, but to be honest, I had no difficulty with it. There was no pixel hunting for me, and all of the objects were defined well enough for me to easily discern what they were. The scenes can be difficult, especially depending on the mode, but I don't feel like the graphic quality is the problem. That's not saying that it's a gorgeous game, it definitely comes off as old with dated graphics, but not to the point where it hinders the gameplay.

It is a VERY short game. I clocked in at 2 hours from start to finish in one sitting. Finishing the game unlocks the ability to complete each scene with the different game modes, which adds a touch of replayability for people that enjoy the simplicity of HO scenes without the story. I would recommend getting it on sale due to its age and lack of frills (I picked it up for $0.99 and it was a buck well spent, in my opinion).

About the story... there isn't much of one, which is pretty common for these early games. If you go into it for the gameplay and not the plot, it's not that big of a deal. If you want a deeper story (or any story...), again you may want to bypass this.

TL;DR: only worth playing if you don't mind the old-fashioned HO games that are ENTIRELY object seek without frills, bells, whistles, or embellishments, but well worth it if you like the old-style HO games. Due to the short playtime, I suggest getting it on sale.

I found it boring, repetitive and annoying - but not too easy, and the graphics are quite good too. Biggest moan; the bonus rounds are too frequent and interrupt gameplay

Sinister Plot and negative banter... a real put off for me.
... too bad because the variety and randomness of the HOG puzzles were really enjoyable - just couldnt stand to listen to the negative dialog in between them anymore... am deleting the game and will take a loss on the purchase.

A hidden object game as it should be!!!
Actually one of the best I´ve played so far, because I really really don´t like those pseudo-story fairy-tale run-around hidden object // point and click - crossover games.
This here is the good stuff: no real story but plain and simple finding hidden objects in a picture. What makes it even more interesting is the fact that there are different modi besides the classical get a word, find the object but also find things by shape, find five of a kind, find things that belong to a category, find letters first to get the words, place puzzle tiles and so on.
Really love this game! All I ever wanted and I would like to see more games like this one!

"Welcome to the Hidden Object Game Show" says the ever so glib, top hat and tuxedo wearing Master of Ceremony with the Clockwork Orange eyes and a maniacal laugh that puts the Joker to shame. Okay, gramps what have you managed to get yourself into besides a cage along with 5 other caged 'contestants'. For accuracy's sake two people are in one cage, making 5 cages total. Despite this bizarre and slightly unnerving introduction the only thing any of this has to do with gameplay is releasing the trapped and caged 'contestants'. (Making this game 5 levels in total.)

I read all the reviews after I played the game and the negative ones did nothing to dampened my enthusiam about recommending this game. This is what a TRUE HIDDEN OBJECT GAME IS. No bells, whistles, or storyline beyond the premise. No walkabout adventure/mystery. No point and click, puzzles, achievements, or anything else that is associated with today's HO games. This is a game for a connoisseur and an afficianadio of the Hidden Object genre.

Circa 2010 and the third of a series, this game is only about finding Hidden Objects. The only thing repetitive about this game is probably the music. So turn it off. This game uses a spin wheel to chose the type of hidden object play the gamer gets. It is randomized and there is an auto-spin option. There are 13 different types of hidden object find "puzzles": straight list, combine (which is equivalent to "extra step" finds), letter getter (find the alphabet which fill in the letters of find clues - almost like hangman), silhouette, focus (day version of night mode played with a fuzzy picture and a magnifying glass), riddle (i.e. orange and rabbits favorite food), elimination (eliminate several series of items from the scene before a riddle to the object needed to be found is given), triplets (find three of the same object), find 10 (find 10 of something), spot the difference, puzzle (match the puzzle piece to the puzzle piece in the scene) and countdown (30 seconds to find the object). Just the variety of different types of Hidden Object "puzzles" is staggering compared to today's games. Now add to this about 30 different scenes and the game is a very far cry from repetitive some claim this game is.

I never played the same thing twice, and not until near end did I even get the same scene (and then with a different puzzle type). A mention about the scenes, the objects in the scene are what one would expect to find in say a garage, a swimming pool or a bedroom. Albeit a very full garage, cluttered swimming pool, or extremely messy bedroom but overall the items are appropriate to the scene not just random junk.

The object of the game is to release the 6 trapped and caged 'contestants', who they themselves are a bit over the top. Their banter is pretty amusing, as well as their stereotype. There are six total game rounds that must be played to release each contestant. (In one case, 2.) However, each game can be extended with bonus rounds (up to 3). (I think this is random, or NOT getting bonus rounds may depend on whether or not the gamer lands the stop in a small gold area on the spinner.) Despite playing a bonus round on the same scene the puzzle type is different, and the objects move or are added depending of the puzzle type. During gameplay "bonus" scenes show up that the gamer can click on. (I only ever got two per puzzle.) These bonus scenes last 15 seconds during which time the gamer must collect as many broken token pieces as they can. These tokens give the gamer hints, 2x hints, skip (a puzzle type when placed on the spin wheel), and/or an unlock (unlock a new puzzle type) depending on how many pieces the gamer collects. After each game round a scoreboard is given showing accuracy, tokens, etc. (Accuracy may depend on misclicks, less misclicks the higher the accuracy??)

That is the game.

After everyone is free, the Master of Ceremony states the "gamer" cannot leave because there is more to do. The "more to do" is found in the extended play area on the main menu. In this extended play area, scenes are shown with stars beneath indicting which type of puzzle that has or has not been played.

One warning: Some the scenes have windows which are so bright the objects in them can not be seen. I thought this was probably my computer but apparently not. Others have mentioned/complained about this. I am quite sure if this game was ever remastered that this would no longer be a problem. My solution was to use hints or simply randomly click on the window to "see" if anything was there. Compared to some of the bugs I have encountered in newer games this was barely a shrug on the annoyance scale.

So yes, get this game, and though I received this as a gift, full price is well worth it.

Millionaire manor, and murder mystery! Sounds intriguing, right? Uh. . . Y'see, that's part of why I can't recommend this game - the waste of what could have been an intriguing plot under layers of mind-numbing repetition. It's not that the puzzles are bad, just driven into lackluster presentation due to the sheer number of times you have to do, redo, and redo again to free one of the captives - plus you're given only the scantiest of motivations in rescuing your grandfather.

Visually, the game is fine. The sounds and soundtrack are fine until hearing it for the nth time drives you crazy. The gameplay however is bogged down with a flawed concept and waaaay too much repetition. Yes, there's variations on the average puzzle I would normally applaud, but you end up doing even those SEVERAL times over the course of a single hour.

Seriously, save your time and money and go find another game. This one just isn't worth it.

I like this game because it was actually just a hidden object game. Not a lot of frills and extras, just doing a number of different modes of hidden object finds in different rooms. Some people seem to have found it bland and boring because it is lacking the point and click adventure part that most other hidden object games are filled with, but if you're not looking for that then this is good. Although, it is very short.

This is a HOG with no story and you can't walk around in a house or landscapes or whet ever to find clues to go further in the game. It's basicly finding hidden objects or silhouettes, actually kind of boring. The voice over is very irritating. I've bought it for about 1 Euro but it's worth 10 cents and when you buy it play it when you've got really nothing else to do and use it as a time killer.

I can not recommend this game to be honest. It's short. The alternative game modes can be annoying. You can not choose which type of mode you get, you have to spin a wheel so it's random.

Extended play (after "beating" the normal play) could have been redeeming since then you can do the game modes you've missed in the different hidden object scenes, but by then I was so bored, I de installed. I felt no sense of reward but completionists might like to do all modes on all scenes and fill the board with stars :)

Don't buy if not on super sale.

Edit: I forgot to mention the bonus thingies that randomly pop up with which you can earn extra hint tokens: they are timed with a nervous melody that made me rather jittery.

Millionaire Manor is a pretty bland hidden object game with little to no adventure plot involved. It's just a series of hidden object 'puzzles' with the only connection being a spinner that selects the mode that the hidden object screen will be presented in (e.g. list, silhouette, puzzle piece, etc.).

I didn't find much of a challenge, none of the hidden objects require any kind of manipulation to reveal, and the hardest thing about it was finding the objects in lower quality images (poor lighting, distance perspective, etc.) The most imaginative thing about the game was the constant timed "Bonus Round" interrupting the main hidden object screen with another hidden object screen.

Each puzzle seems to serve no purpose other than to complete itself. There's no sense of reward or accomplishment, as you get in the more entertaining adventure story HOGs when you unlock the item that you just happen to need to progress in the story. I guess if spotting and clicking random stuff thrown in haphazardly on top of blah pictures is the part of HOGs you enjoy most and you hate the story part where you have to figure out the puzzles, this is the one for you.

If this game at least had Steam achievements, then it might be worth the effort to slog through the boring gameplay in order to grab some easy achievements. As it is, there are so many HOGs available on Steam that would be more deserving of your time, even if you picked this one up on sale.

Short version: 60%

Long version:

I'm normally not for Hidden Object games, but I thought this one also had jigsaw puzzles (it doesn't, really), so I put it on my wishlist to check during sales, and when I saw it for 0.49 euro, grabbed it.

And then it kept me up to nearly 7am, intent on unlocking the extended play. And I had fun!

- There's variance to the puzzles, different game modes.

- A clever frame/story to get you to play the games and dive right in (without tedious running around or any half-hearted pretense at adventure).

- Solvable puzzles, and plenty hints available for you to use or ignore.

- The only truly timed games are the bonus rounds.

- Random clicking won't get you anywhere.

If more Hidden Object games are like Millionaire Manor, I might become a fan.

Only negative:

- No Steam Overlay, no Steam screenshooting.


I'm very stingy, but even I find this game is well worth more than the 0.49 euro I paid for it. If you think 5 euro isn't much, it might even be worth the full price for you.

Edit: For someone with my terrible memory there's also great replay value (plus training memory). You can not only play all puzzles as often as you like in extended mode, you can also make different profiles (for different people playing or just yourself again from the start) and also delete them if you feel like playing yet again from the start.

I do not know what the negative reviews are about. My wife and I play Hidden Object Games for fun, and Millionaire Manor is one of the better of the half-dozen or so we have played. Unlike some games, the objects mostly are appropriately sized and placed (not huge, or stuck on the ceiling, for example). Yes, in a few cases poor contrast makes an object invisible, but that is not particularly uncommon in our experience with other games.

Although short, the game seems clean and professional. We like that the game has an unusual variety of different modes, such as: list (the usual HOG mode), silhouette (only the outline of the object), matching (combining 2 objects to make the list item), alphabet (first find all the letters, with only the found letters presented when naming the object), and jigsaw (place a row of jigsaw pieces at their position in the room), among others. After the main game, Extended Play covers the rest of the modes on each of the rooms, which may be longer than the main game.

The evil master of ceremonies is just a hoot! We enjoyed it!

I bought this Game during a Sale after discovering how good HOG`s can be through the Artifex Mundi Games.
Sadly this one is not even close to them. The Story is nonsensical and lackluster. That alone
I wouldn`t mind so much but the Gameplay, while theoretically varied with lots of gamemodes
is absolutely random. You spin a wheel that randomly gives you a Gamemode. This means
that you will most likely play the same modes again and again and never get to see some of the
others.

Still I could forgive the Game this if it didn`t fail at the most important part, the Hidden Objects.
While they should be more or less hard to find, I have encountered several Objects that were simply
impossible to find without Hints due to bad contrast and lighting. Even WITH the Hint I couldn`t see
1 or 2 of them while staring right at them. Only blindly clicking on the area were they revealed.

TL:DR
If you are a Hardcore HOG Gamer and want to complete your collection, buy it during a sale.
Everyone else stay far, far away from it.

This Hidden Object game is that your on a gameshow to save your grandpa so you must complete puzzles to do it. The variety of puzzles are interesting from silhouettes, to riddles, keeping things fresh. A solid 10/10 idea! Good voice acting which drives the story makes the game feel alive.

The game detects your resolution loading the game in that resolution which can result in stretched or fuzzy low quality textures.
How to Fix:
Right click the steam entry and choose properties/click local files then browse local files.
Right click the exe "THOS3" with the star icon and choose properties.
Go to compatibility Tab and put a check in the box for "disable display scaling on high DPI settings".

Rating: 10/10 Value: $7.99