Time Mysteries 2: The Ancient Spectres

Not bad at all. Beat on Steam Deck.

Great game.

Outdated resolution, what feels like machine made voice acting for the protagonist and at least one (so far) bugged puzzle game in the bonus chapter, which you basically need to skip.

Though this game is leagues better than the first Time Mysteries, I still would not recommend this. It is completely confounding. The plot idea of traveling through time is fun but it's poorly executed. You are aimlessly wandering between timelines without clear guidance or reason to go there. You're expected to collect random items with, again, no clear purpose. Here, collect these rings and lanterns but we aren't going to explain why in the first place. You're expected to gather the answers before being presented with the questions. Which is super frustrating and leaves you feeling unsure of what you are doing.

The hidden objects aspect is very challenging but it's an improvement to the first.

The game has an interesting setting with time travel and time based riddles. Unfortunately the user guidance is not existing, You are doing one thing in a room and then have to leave for the next room / time to do the next. It gets confusing very quick and I started only to use the map guidance rather than walking through the game. HO scenes pop up randomly somewhere when you finish a task, I could not find the logic. This plus the "to be continued" ending end in my thumbs down.

Strange. This game has such a low rating, but I consider it as the best in Time Mysteries serie. Yeah, maybe not a top tier HOG from Artifex Mundi. Kinda dated but still good enough. Undoubtedly better than the first game and much better than you can expect from a game of such age and so low rating.

Well, first of all, while this is the second game in the serie it is not a direct sequel to the first game. And this was a good idea should I say. The story in the first game was an incoherent mess so nothing of value was lost. Time travelling feature in a sequel was handled properly and story in general became more consistent.

Visuals are very nice and stylish. There are good animations, better than in some newer games of the genre. The game also has a lot of variable HOGs and mini-games. Really a lot. And those HOGs are rather tricky. Finding all the items was not that easy task. Soundtrack was ok, but lacks variety and definitely weaker than in the first game.

As to some cons, I'd mention only one serious issue - HOGs placing. It's... totally inconsistent and has very little to no sense. You just make some progress in the game and these scenes just spawn. Somewhere. Initially it was very confusing. You are going in circles, back and forth guessing what you could miss, but then you realise that probably another HOG scene just spawned behind your back in one of the previous rooms.

In the end - why not? Really not bad HOG. Rather big and challengind HOG with lot's of stuff to do. With bonus chapter, achievements and trading cards. Good addition to your HOG collection.

No. No, no. I thought the first Time Mysteries was not worth recommending.

This is another not recommendation.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3215928683
To start, we again have a very old game that was designed for the era of 4:3 aspect ratio displays. The game launches in a 16:9 format and this stretches all of the artwork. I changed my desktop resolution to 1024x768 to be able to play at the game's native resolution with the correct aspect ratio. The artwork in this is ugly enough without distorting it to fill a widescreen format.

Even with the correct aspect ratio, grungy, grimy, gross, grainy, nasty visuals are still waiting for the player. Hidden object scenes are downright disgusting. Not only is the resolution very low, a visual pall was cast over the scenes. No objects appear with the color they should because the visuals have been massively color "in"-corrected. Everything blends together, making it literally headache-inducing to try and distinguish objects out of the murk and muck.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3212623973
The hideous hidden object scene artwork is not the only problem. This is one of those hidden object adventure games that has desired objects that first require an interaction before you can collect it. But sometimes, that interaction has nothing to do with the object you're looking for! This makes it REQUIRED to mouseover the entire scene until the cursor changes to indicate you can do something.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3212623206
Time-travelling is a big part of the gameplay, with two areas that have several years in which you can visit them. This game is all about backtracking and gradually opening new rooms.

As you might expect, there's a problem with this, too! As a backtracking type of game, TM2 is one of those HOAGs where previously-solved hidden object scenes are reused. They will reactivate at certain stages of progress.

DO NOT PLAY Time Mysteries 2, but if you do, avoid playing on "Expert" difficulty, like I did. The typical "Expert" feature of not highlighting rooms where you can do something in on the map, or indicating active hidden object scenes, meant there were often points where I didn't know what to do. So, I had to go room-by-room looking for reactivated hidden object scenes!

The standard Expert limitations are a serious problem in this game. With this many different rooms, across different time periods, it's easy to get lost.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3212621487
There were two things that saved the game from this critical design flaw:

One, you don't need to play on Expert to get any of the achievements, so don't. And two, none of the achievements say you can't use the Hint button for normal exploration. In my Expert playthrough, I used the hint button to find what I could do next.

*record_scratch.wav* Hold on. You didn't think it was that simple, did you? I hope not, because EVEN THE HINT SYSTEM IS MESSED UP!

The Hint button only gives useful information if you are in a room where something can be done, or a room you can do something is next to the room you're standing in. Otherwise, it just points to the time travel device, which we already know doesn't show active rooms on "Expert" difficulty!

That's right, in this game with tons of rooms and multiple time periods, THE HINT IS ALMOST USELESS on "Expert." I still had to run around every room, in every time period, trying to find reactivated hidden object scenes!
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3212622606
I hate this game, but I managed to complete the main story. The bonus chapter was much, much better. It had a smaller playable area and the hidden object scenes were colorful, instead of being mutilated by extreme color "in"-correction. I also played on Normal difficulty, so I could always see where to go next.

The fact that Time Mysteries is a trilogy requires me to play the next game, mercifully titled, "The Final Enigma."
https://store.steampowered.com/app/319320/Time_Mysteries_3_The_Final_Enigma/
I am not looking forward to it...

Similar to the first game, the hidden object scenes seem stretched. No game is truly perfect. The game had no windowed setting, and there is not much current-inventory crafting and inspect of current items to combine them together. The hidden object scenes had no 1 to 3 item-only finds, it was always multiple items. The map came out a little later than usual too, but that is quite a personal opinion rather than common faults early games made.

While there were negatives, the game is also riddled with positives. This game was relatively a much bigger upgrade than the first. Achievements were not difficult to get. The minigames were okay, and so were the small "puzzle-skip" for people doing the hidden object and would rather play with orbs. Story-wise, I knew why I was so hooked from this game years back when I first played it. Personally, I absolutely think the music is phenomenal. It had very good execution to immerse the player with the game.

It was another nostalgic piece, and another sure recommend for me with a solid rating of 8/10.

p.s: A HO scene had a glitch too where you cannot get one item, but people in the discussions have found a way to navigate through that dilemma. I suggest you check the discussions section if you ever manage to encounter it.

An average hidden object game that is fully voice acted and partially animated.

Compared to the previous entry, there are significant improvements, but overall the game still suffers from problems.

Graphics still look dated. In most hidden object scenes it is quite challenging to recognize items due to the blurriness and shadowing. Some hidden objects are deliberately placed in corners or right on the edge of the HUD. Occasionally an item is or becomes covered and it can only be found by blindly clicking around.

The game has animated cutscenes but their quality is below average, some of the characters look downright creepy.

Sounds and the background music are good, voice acting has improved, although a character does not have its lines voiced.

The game is still difficult. Some minigames require quite some time to crack. Although the player begins without a map, it can be acquired later and from there on it is basically essential to use it for all navigation. This is due to the fact that most hidden object scenes pop up randomly in already visited locations, and it is an absolute chore to find them all on your own.
Also, some obtainable items are easy to miss, but the map also indicates which locations have something that can be picked up.

The story is uninteresting and repetitive, the hidden object scenes and the locations are better but not special. The horror ambience of the first few locations was promising but unfortunately it quickly disappeared from the game.

The best feature is the future changing aspect where your actions in the past alter the circumstances later.

I'd rate this game as a 2.5/5. It isn't up to Artifex Mundi's usual standards. I did enjoy the story, and the time travel was handled well (i really liked seeing how changes in an earlier time impacted later times for that location). Unfortunately, the hidden object puzzles will sometimes have you find objects that are completely obscured behind other parts of the scene. For example: in one hidden object scene, you have to find a key and open a box to locate a scepter. You may also need to find a playing card that is now entirely hidden behind the lid of the box you opened. And there is no way to close the box, so if you didn't see it ahead of time, you are out of luck.
There is an option to play a match-3 mini-game instead of locating hidden objects. Unfortunately, the system treats that as using a hint, and it will prevent you from getting your achievements.

Pros:
Good story
Engaging use of time-travel plot
Some interesting puzzles

Cons:
Occasionally impossible Hidden Object scenes
Uncanny Valley character models (especially in the bonus story)
Lackluster (and in one case *missing*) voice acting lines.

I had issues with the first Time Mysteries game, and this one, unfortunately, was much the same.

First the things I liked.

The time traveling device was a nice touch in the game, it was an excellent replacement for the map, and I also like these games that have you explore one location in detail-- in this case different time periods of the same location. The story was more coherent this time, and you did have a bonus adventure as well, which I always enjoy. Achievements were appropriate and mostly not too difficult, and you can earn them all in one playthrough.

The other issues I had with the first game are also here though, and then some. I did have technical issues with the game. In certain scenes, the objects were visible, which made the achievement for completing a hidden object puzzle in a minute or less almost impossible. Some of the puzzles also were not explained at all and had no logical pattern, which was frustrating. Many similar titles have a button to explain the puzzle rules in case you don't understand it, but in this one you need to use your hint, which disqualifies you from an achievement and felt super unfair.

The story in this game is still a mess, and while it's overall more coherent, it ends on a bizarre cliffhanger, and while I thought the bonus adventure would complete this part of the story, it was unrelated. I do generally like the games in a series where they are all a part of the same story line and have similar characters, but the Time Mystery games do not execute this well at all and I usually find the endings of them unsatisfying because they're not comprehensible or just don't conclude.

I was hoping the newer sequel would fix some quality of life issues and improve some aspects of the game, but I still really think another series would be worth playing more, if you're trying to choose between this series and another-- I'd skip it.

This game does not work - it does not load properly, showing only a very small screen. It also tried to say that I had played it 4 hours when I only downloaded it a few minutes before realizing that it did not work. Steam will not refund because of this bug. Fortunately I bought it on sale, but do not waste your money as Steam will not refund you for a faulty product that lies. The remastered Time Mysteries 1 and Time Mysteries 3 work just fine.

The game with the clovers of the egg got bugged, so i had to skip it, i lost that achievment. I also lost the achievment of hidden objetc games without using hints cause a card in one of the games got bugged and WAS INVISIBLE.

This is a good HO game. Maybe a little older? If you really like the hidden object parts this is good. There are constantly hidden scenes to find. A little difficult, you might need your reading glasses. If you don't want to do HO scenes the alternative is a kind of match 3. Story is pretty good. Mini games about average level. There is a fast travel feature using the time device, it has maps of different locations and different times. A few fiddly places where I knew what I wanted to do but had to click all around to get the right pixel to click, but only about 2 places for that. HO scenes had words to describe what to find which i prefer to outlines. A few in each scene required multiple steps. Bonus chapter was good. Some people might get annoyed that they re-use some HO scenes a couple times, but you are looking for different things.

This was pretty bad but I recognise that their games have significantly improved since this. From the automated voice to the blurry animation, I found myself just clicking through trying to get the game over an done with. This has nothing on the Enigmatis, Eventide or Grim Legends games.

Game was very frustrating as a few of the HOG mini games were literally impossible to find an item, even when clicking all over the screen, then when i HAD to press the hint button, it lead to a blank space with nothing there. was going for the 15 hog games with no hints, no uninstalled!

This is better HO game and worth twice as much as the first in this series. Lots of time travel between years though, so use hints, take notes, or be much younger than me. Many HO scenes - not many puzzles. The HO scenes are harder than average.

Some pretty tough puzzles, but I found help online so I managed to get all the achievements. It's an older game, so the graphics aren't as crisp, making HO scenes more difficult. This is definitely heavy on the HO scenes, and there is a lot of traveling back and forth, but this game has a fast travel map, and you don't have to win it on Expert to get all the achievements, so if you get really stuck you can just open the map and see where you should go next. I had fun playing it despite the flaws.

The good:
If you like HO puzzles, there are lots of them! Also, the story is reasonably interesting, as well as being a direct lead-in to Time Mysteries 3. Switching between times and altering the past/future is fun and the mechanic is well-conceived without being over-thought (best not to, with time travel!). The music is slightly repetitive, but quite good, and the overall feel of the game is nicely atmospheric (and appropriately creepy in places).

The less good:
The puzzles are decent but have no explanations, and are occasionally... less then intuitive. I dislike spending more time figuring out what the puzzle *is* than I spend solving it. On the other hand, kudos for immersion, since I suppose the protagonist has to guess as she goes along as well!

The least good, which is to say the bad:
There were a handful of places where the use of, or lack of, plurals was very confusing. Translations were generally pretty good, but not quite good enough for two solid thumbs up. A ladle isn't a spoon, and looking for "cherries" is different than looking for a (single) cherry (sounds minor, but there were just a few too many). I'd like to offer my services to Artifex Mundi as a proofreader.
That said, the REAL problem was in a HO scene where you open three chests (with keys) the first time you are there. When you return, the chests are still open (as they should be, since there is no random box-closer ghost). Unfortunately, there are objects behind the lids of the boxes, and the game doesn't handle that properly. I spent a very long time looking for a card that literally could not be seen. Eventually, the potential problem dawned on me and I started randomly clicking the open lids. Poof! Suddenly my last card appeared.

Final note: this is a decent game, it just needed a wee bit more care. That, and a little less pixel-hunting on a few of the HO scenes. The graphics quality is a big improvement over the first game (we won't talk about the Squidgy Head Faces thing that happened in Time Mysteries 1, because it just has to be seen to be believed). Too much aggravation with the HO scenes, but well worth buying on sale in my opinion.

A good quality game of its type:

The Artifex Mundi engine is very good, puzzles all good with a lot of variation. Not my favourite Artifex Mundi game and I have played all of their games that are currently on Steam, but definitely worth playing by any fan of the genre.

I should mention that apart from the game engine, which is very slick and for instance auto zooms when you need it to, it has the standard map feature which is present in all but one (the oldest) Artifex Mundi game currently on Steam which allows fast travel by clicking on the location in the map screen.

The artwork is the usual high standard I come to expect from Artifex Mundi.

The games main feature which sets it apart from other Artifex Mundi games it involves time travel, such that you have travel to the past, change something and then return to the present, or to a later time to advance the plot of the game.

So in closing I would recommend the game, as I said not my favourite, but well worth playing and playing this game did cause me to purchase and play all of the other Artifex Mundi games on Steam which is a recommendation in itself.

You play as Esther, a lady trying to learn more about your lost family after you receive a letter from a distant relative that suggests you to investigate an old mansion, which is, of course, full of mysteries.

During your adventure you'll come across multiple hidden object scenes and puzzles of all sorts of difficulty. The hidden object scenes are nicely drawn, but it's often hard to find the objects because they're quite well hidden and undistinguishable from the others. Most scenes come with a color palette containing many shades of gold, orange or brown, and these can be incredibly difficult to complete. Nevertheless, there is a hint button that recharges almost instantly, in case you get stuck.

The novelty that this game brings is the travel device that allows you to travel to important moments in your family’s past, and the actions you do will alter the future scenes. The device also serves as an incredibly helpful map - you have different symbols for the rooms you need to visit (those that have incomplete actions), for the unexplored rooms and for the scenes that change due to actions in the past. It also serves as a fast-travel device, even within the same time.

I found the game very enjoyable and interesting, but I wouldn't recommend it to people that are beginners in this genre because the difficulty of the hidden object scenes will probably set them back.

[quote]More reviews on the Lilly's Corner Curator page[/quote]

Personally, I don't mind a HOG. And I have to admit, I'm quite enjoying this one.

There's lots of moving back and forth to get various objects to complete tasks, and the 'time device' you gain quite early on can certainly assist in where you need to go to next, should you get stuck.

A nice touch is the ability to swap to a mini game if you get fed up of the hidden object path.

The only downside so far is the voice acting. it's very meh. As if the actors weren't being paid enough!!

In general though, if you want a bit of a time waster game, with some light challeneges, and something that's not too mind bending to figure out, then this should do the trick.