Mystic Saga

Mystic Saga is part of the "find the objects" genre, but it introduces a unique challenge with its energy system. The most difficult aspect of the game is that your energy refills over time, meaning you can't play continuously. This forces you to wait between sessions, which can be frustrating.

In many ways, it feels like an advanced version of typical phone games that rely on clicks and time-based mechanics.

6/10 – Interesting concept, but the energy system limits the fun.

Mystic Saga is a 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, mostly published by Artifex Mundi, many of them free on mobile app stores, but this one will cost you money on Steam. There's a eastern/fantasy 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, the game 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.

The game features mostly static, barely animated 2D images, the kind of thing you expect to see in browser/flash games. While the artwork itself, while mediocre, might be considered passable, the visual presentation here is negligible, it might as well be a slideshow or a Youtube video. Pac-Man, Space Invaders and Asteroids had more advanced animation and visuals going on than this game does.

The controls can't be customised because the game has such a dumbed down, simplified interface that it's just point and click stuff like a browser/Flash game. The fact that the interface is this dumbed down might be seen as a problem in itself, however... this is a fairly shallow experience if you're the kind of gamer that likes to play games with deep, rich control schemes and interaction. You'll get none of that here.

These technical defects push this game below acceptable standards for any modern PC game.

Mystic Saga didn't appeal much to the people who own a copy of the game, either. It has achievements, and they show us a very clear picture that the game didn't really capture any interest from gamers. The most commonly and easily attained achievement is for finishing the first hidden object puzzle area, trivial to get, but less than 12 percent of players bothered to get that far before uninstalling the game. Hardly a success story, gamers just weren't all that interested in the game.

Reviewing SteamDB to check how popular this game was with players reveals a surprise... there's a very healthy spike in player counts for the game. But this only happened once, and isn't consistent with the achievement stats, that show less than 12 percent of players bothered playing the game for any reasonable amount of time. How is it possible for this game to have so many concurrent players who didn't bother engaging with this game? Trading cards. People will use card idling software to collect the cards and sell them, but this won't trigger any achievements in-game.

That tells us people only really bought this game for trading cards, and that's a damning indictment of the woeful quality. 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 little merit as a serious game, that only generate sales from people idling and selling the trading cards.

So, should you buy this game? Is this one of the best of the 100,000+ games on Steam?

Mystic Saga has the ridiculous, laughable price of around $5 USD, it's not worth it given the defects and shortcomings with the product, especially considering the sheer number of completely free, much higher quality games on Steam. For comparison, the $5 asking price for this game could get you games like "X-Com: Enemy Unknown", "Ark: Survival Evolved" or "X-Com 2". Quality, professionally made games like those are frequently on sale cheaper than this.

An awesome hidden object adventure game!

Travel to distinct locations, finding items hidden within in places like an underwater city or a mysterious forest! Complete quests for the locals and a few strange individuals by slaying monsters or finding items they need!

The game works on an energy basis, meaning after using up all your energy, you'll have to wait for it to replenish, or you can buy items to replenish it faster, if you're impatient like me.

It's really fun actually. I like what they did with the whole, only five items are able to be collected at a time, to prevent just spam clicking everywhere. It's still a viable option but not as effective. I think there could've been a penalty put in place if you clicked somewhere where an object wasn't, like loss of time or something, but hey, it still makes for a fun time killer!

My only issue would be a few minor ones such as when you tab out and back in, the game would sometimes lock you in it, not letting you do anything until closing the game. This can easily be avoided if you close the game once you're done with it though. Another issue was that a few of the achievements on steam are jumbled around, but it isn't a train smash. The last issue was a few errors with collecting data when completing quests, sometimes it wouldn't count, this could be fixed by closing the game and opening it again!

Overall, a strong recommend from me, you can sink many hours into this if you aren't careful!

Cool
Mystic Saga 6/10
Heisen

The game called Mystic Saga is among the games that we call finding objects.Energy in the game that makes the game the most difficult thing that makes the game the most difficult thing is that these energies are filled for a period of time, you can not play continuously because they are filled.We can call this game a click advanced version of phone games.

I love hidden object games, and was excited to play this one. I like how they have different positions of where the items can be as it makes it more dynamic. Alternating between written words, shape of words and night is also beautiful. However, I think the game is designed to be waaaayy to long! I have played 7 h and am level 15, the last stage unlocks at level 38. Some quests don't give you enough rewards considering how hard it is to complete them. Also, when you find an object in the picture, the reward icons ( experience, energy, items) stay on top, making it difficult to click behind them and the time it takes to claim them makes that the bar that indicated you get better rewards for finding items fast will disappear because instead of you finding items you are too busy collecting rewards... Moreover, the time it takes for the items to disappear from the list once you found it is too long, making you think you still need to look for it. Also, the drop rate for the important & high used items is too low. Multiple times I had to replay a level/sell to vendors 6-7 times to get the 1 items i needed for the quest. Overall, the idea of the game is nice and has some good elements but it's too lengthy & grindy for my liking.

The game is really well made and very entertaining... but it's one of those game where they let you think that you may succeed only with your sharp mind and quick reflexes without having the need to buy those items that allow you to progress with real money up until you make it to the very end and you notice that it's simply too complicated for a mere mortal to complete those tasks.

Quite frankly I am still in awe that there is an actual in game transaction system to buy those gems to make special purchases, like chests or actual items you need to progress, and that it redirect you to your steam wallet directly. Like they knew it would be pretty convenient for you to spend a lot of money to finally complete this game...

If only it would be a real game and not a money grabbing scam (because this is what it really is) it would be a really awesome game.

It's like plenty of those mobile phone games that you can download for free. You have an energy bar and can only do so many actions before it runs out, and you can spend diamonds (purchased through micro-transactions) to get more energy rather than wait for hours for the bar to fill. The game is also full of mini-tasks that have zero relevance to any supposed storyline, they're just there to keep you grinding and using up energy.

When it asked me to find the smithery it just highlighted a river next to the smithery and would not actually let me click on the building. I restarted about 5 times to try and fix this to no avail. Even if it worked, it sounds like this game wouldve been pretty awful anyways because apparently you need to pay for energy.... so no matter how you look at it this game is pretty crummy.

Slightly repetitive. But enjoyable nonetheless. It's kind of just a Hidden Object game that you can pay to play more? I feel a strong urge to play this game and discover all the locations without paying.

NOTE: I have already paid for more time...BUT my resolve is strong so once that's gone, no more. I will get all the locations :)

This is the kind of game that you can put away and come back to. It's not hugely challenging, just time consuming and slowly you gain all the things you need to move on. Not for enthusiasts that want to get it done!

Plays like a mobile game. pay for time through gems (paid for rarely dropped). Can play about 1 hour first time, then after you run out of the gems they give you for free, you can play about 14 minutes until you can no longer do anything.

This is one of those games that is very much like games that would normally be free. The game requires you to spend energy to search for things and even though your energy increases by levels, it does not increase enough to continue to match the higher energy costs of different rooms. The bonus awards from the combos fill the screen and make it difficult to continue combos as they block your view. That said, the music for this game is nice and the story and world are both interesting. I wouldn't recommend paying full price and would say to get it in a bundle where possible.

I'm enjoying Mystic Saga a lot more than I thought I would. The scenery is gorgeous, finding some of the hidden objects can be challenging which is nice than having it all too easy and the music is very pretty. Mystic Saga is relaxing and enjoyable for me. I launch the game for a quick session to work on the objectives until my energy runs out then come back later for more when I've regained energy. There are some items that can drop that give you energy boosts so that's really nice for when I want to play a bit longer. It's fun collecting the pretty items, too.

[ENG]
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[HUN]
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Pretty fun hidden objects game! It is a very casual game, considering you have to wait real time for more energy.

Short verdict: If you are looking for a rewarding and challenging puzzle game with meaningful story... this is not it. The game is one long grind for the purpose of grinding, and due to the energy meter system you cannot even play when you want to, but rather have to wait a lot, play too often to even make slight progress or pay up money in micro transactions.

On the positive side: The game is very pretty, both graphics and music. Items can appear in quite a few locations and transmutations which makes it a little bit more challenging.

On the negative side: The setting is a purposly convoluted mix of various Asian cultures, heavy on stereotypes. There is quite a bit of written dialogue and back story but it is difficult to care less since nothing really impacts your choices and since you don't need to know any of the story to play successfuly. Modern objects such as binocular kind of brakes the atmosphere anyway.
Even though the music is nice it is only about 3 or so tracks looping over and over again, which gets quite boring.
The game is superficially about finding hidden objects but feels more like a never ending sequence of unlocking new places, "collections", and NPCs for the purpose of endless grinding. After 21 hours into the game I have perhaps unlocked half of the content. There are quests that have you go to specific locations where you may retrieve quest items that will let you solve the quest and get a reward. A lot of these are very repetitive and reused to infinity. E.g. there is one question for trading with the monk once, then another for trading twice and another for trading fourteen times a.s.o.
The object seeking part of the game is quite polished but hit detection is way to strict. When you manage to hit an object lot of popups appear on the middle of the screen blocking your view and preventing you from finishing a streak, thereby loosing potential bonus. This is highly annoying.
In the end there is very little sense of achievement and playing mostly makes me tired. Perhaps the only reason I play is for the Steam achievements some of which are relatively rare, just because few living souls can be bothered to torture themselves by trying to finish the game.
The game can be played infinately but the quests are finite. Even afterfter completing all the achievements afer around 50 hours play time or so, there are stil more quests, mainly of the type: "complete x more collection y". The final quest cannot even be completed as the mirror shards needed do not seem to exist in game, meaning the ending seems incomplete.
Finally I have to deduct a million points for including micro-transactions in this game. I feel sorry for anyone being fooled into spending money in order to not have to wait until the next game round once the energy bar has filled up.

You could buy the game very cheap, for a dollar or so, on sale and play it for a few minutes worth of fun. If you spend more or if you play longer, you are just wasting your money and time.

This game costs money but still makes me wait for energy. Sure, it recovers faster than Lost Lands: A Hidden Object Adventure, but I think I should just have the choice when I want to stop gaming, not because I'm out of energy.

There's also not a lot of things to do compared to Lost Lands: A Hidden Object Adventure.

So no, I wouldn't recommend this game unless it's free.

To call this game terrible is really an insult to all the horrible, useless, terrible, asinine games on steam. One of the few games I wish I Steam would let me give a lower score to. Not only do you have to BUY this game, (which I admittedly did in a package deal) they don't let you play the damn thing. You need energy and you have to wait for it to fill up so you can do more actions. I mean I get that on a FREE game. It's only fair as the developer should get something for their time. However, if you pay for the game, you should be able to play the god damned game. I can choose to pay MORE money to play the game I've already bought, but why should I. Mind you, this isn't for new content. It's just to play the exact same content I've already paid for. That's horse shit and although I have several games from this developer and publisher, I'm voting with my money. These thieves (which is probably the nicest thing I can think to call them) will never get another cent from me. I've got tons of time on this game as I forced myself to play it to see if I would change my opinion, however after almost 40 hours I can say with authority, this game is shit and not worth the .50 cents I paid. I'd get a refund for even that paltry sum because it offends me that I paid for this. I kept waiting for this to get better and it just never does.

I am recommending this game because I did enjoy playing it. Was it my favorite game ever? No but I still had fun. If you like hogs then it works well and has good graphics. The story is pretty good, too. Now if you are impatient and poor this is not the game for you. If you can afford to spend the money then you will be able to get all the achievements faster than I did (58 hours) but I did accomplish that feat without spending any thing more than the .49 USD I paid when it was on sale. Now it was originally a free to play game so it does have an energy bar but I got plenty of energizers to replenish that energy bar while playing so that was good. Does it have a lot of grind? Of course, that is the nature of the beast but if you are patient and don't mind sometimes having to wait for the energy bar to replenish (or have money to spend) then this could be a fun game for you, too. Just don't pay full price.

This isn't a "game" as much as it is a money making device for the developers. It does not attempt to be fun... ever. It is horrifyingly repetetive. It actively screws you over repeatedly. You will feel foolish every time you boot it up. They could've taken their interesting Asian mythological/historical world and crafted a good story-based HOG from it and sold it for $10 apiece and people would've bought it. Instead it's this "free" game that desperately tries to trick you out of your money rather than earn it.

EDIT: Apparently, this is no longer ftp but now costs $10. These devs have absolutely no shame. DISGRACEFUL!

It worked a while... now it crashes few seconds after start.
Its not me..Many players report this issue.
If the devs fix the problem..ill give it a thumb up

Well the game itself is okay for short game sessions (10-15min.)
Loooong Grind for achievement hunters...

Started as nice promising hidden object game that turned into an annoying thing, at least for me. So this is a mobile port and it works fine, no glitching, freezing etc, the only issue i can say it doesnt matter if I put it on HDD or SSD it takes around 30 sec to start then it`s fine, I`m guessing it has to do something with windows 10 but who knows.

positives:
-alot of scenes to play on
-objects randomize, change positions
-RPG elements
-limitation on how many times you can explore a region before you deplete your energy and have to wait, this is a good thing forces you to chill and do something else for a change
-extremly long, if you planning on getting everything ingame
-steam achievements
-steam trading cards

negatives:
-replayability NONE, especially when you have to explore the same area/picture so many times in order to progress
-REPETITIVE
-the annoying energy limitation, yeah i said it`s positive but at the same time it is annoying
-even with the objects randomizing after a while you see the pattern and you can beat an area in 30 sec
-some pictures are way too dark so the objects are kinda faded in with the background which was annoying
-some minor bugs, when you click on "Go to area" game crashes, happens randomly for no apparent reason


Well got the game during a sale, steam suggestion seemed nice, payed 50 cents for it and that would be the perfect price for it, if you`re like me wanting to burn through asap and being held back with having to wait for the recharge, and for me the repepetive part was really annoying. But if you`re a person who`s gonna play this occassiaonly then you probably would enjoy it more then I did.

4/10
Reccomended with a caution.

Please disregard the reviews saying that this game is not free. This game is definitely free.

There is an energy system where your actions cost energy and your energy can be refilled using in-system items, but there is no need for using any real money. Your energy refills over time, at 2 mins per energy point, and each new level you achieve both refills and adds more total energy points. You can even earn extra energy points by finding your items quickly.

I spent 3.5 hrs and went from level 1 to level 12 in one sitting- no money used at all. The energy bar system just forces you to evaluate your actions strategically- for instance, I have enough energy to play at the cabin, but not at the library- even though I need loot dropped from the library I will play the cabin, because that will give me enough energy to gain another level and my total energy will be refilled.

This is a casual type game, but it's just right mix of thinking and not thinking to be fairly addictive. I didn't mean to spend 3.5 hrs playing, yet I did. There are various tricks the game implements to keep the game slightly different, but still pretty easy. There's a nighttime mode, a silhouette mode, and around the time you get comfortable enough with a location to identify where certain objects will be, the game adds more items to your list. Also, there are achievements to gain. I already have half the achievements with just a few hours gameplay. Finishing the game completely should give you all the achievements without need for any extra replays.

Please note, this is not a game that you will play through in one sitting unless you want to use a little real money to help. You will need to leave the game periodically to allow your energy bar enough time to refill. However, it is still a fun, slightly challenging, fairly addicting hidden object game that will keep you occupied for a while.

It's free and doesn't use much space on your computer, so I definitely recommend at least trying it out to see whether you personally will like the game or not.