Riddles Of The Past

This was an interesting HOG game. Very easy to complete and not very long. The story was a bit melodramatic for a HOG game, but overall this wasn't a terrible game for this genre.

Riddles Of The Past is point & click, "hidden object", mystery puzzle game from the publisher who made Hope Lake. I explain the apostrophes later in this review.

I gave negative review for the Hope Lake and this game wasn't too far from getting it too, but i'd say this is better than the one mentioned before since Hope lake had actual bugs and all. This game has flaws and some things that i didn't like, but i'd say they are mostly personal preferences therefore i give this an thumbs up.

Plot summary - It begins with Emily (You as a player), who have had amnesia for multiple years is starting to find some bits and pieces from their past. They travel to a abandoned post apocalyptic looking town which resembles like american road side village with iconic diners in the 60's. Town is called Riverside and it's taken over by robots. You meet some familiar faces from your past who help you reveal more what has happened to you. It's hard to tell any more specific without spoiling the whole game.

I wouldn't say the plot is anything spectacular, it's kinda boring and used already if you ask me. Basic popular kid and nerd fighting for the same girl and if i can say it's kinda like 'teenager high school drama' type of a plot. It wasn't completely terrible tho, just not interesting, wouldn't recommend this game for the plot.

What comes to the game play and mechanics. Really big negative thing about this game is that they say it is a HO game and to certain level it is, but also it isn't typical one. There's no HO scenes at all and by that i mean like the ones where you have pile of trash for example and you need to find 10 mentioned items from there by name, shape or something else. This game when said hidden object, means you have to find items around the map and connect them to proceed in the game. Not actual hidden object scenes, which was a bummer. I usually just categorize games like that to more point & click genre (Like Deponia, Monkey island etc.) than HO's like Artifex Mundi games, but i do understand why they can say their game is also HO. So kinda my own fault i didn't make sure what type of a game i bought.

Otherwise the game play at least for me was decent, it's pretty straightforward and not too hard. Sometimes i noticed that it was hard to find some objects, because they blend to the background due to the graphics being little bit low quality and items same color as the background, but i don't think i had to use google not even once. There was no steam achievements to get, that was kinda let down since i like to collect complete games to my profile. I have started to notice this pattern in older games and also games that are published by some small publisher. Sometimes it seems like the game is made originally for another device like mobile and just posted without thinking too much to steam.

Even tho i said earlier the items blending to the background sometimes, i liked the artwork and ambient music. I didn't find the music or sounds too repetitive, at least not that much that i would have noticed anything like that. There was voice acting, which wasn't terrible, but would say that wasn't the best. So kinda have mixed feelings about that, but i'd say voice acting in these types of games probably doesn't have huge budget or anything so it's kinda predictable that they also don't sound that high quality.

Price isn't crazy high for this genres games, but still when it only took me a couple hours to play i wouldn't pay 6,99 EUR (7,61 USD) for a game like this. I bought it from sale so i think it might come to sale sometime again.

Plot and game wise it wasn't that scary or didn't have anything crazy spooky or gore content nor it wasn't that hard to play, i would recommend this to all ages except for really young kids and that is only because there is robots, fighting etc to some extend even if its not blood splattering everywhere. I'd say this is something like 12+ game.

Pros
• Artwork
• Music
• Straightforward, not too hard or easy puzzles.
• Good amount of mini games

Cons
• No actual HO scenes
• Items sometimes blend in tho the background
• Plot was below average

Story
□ Bad
☑ Could be better
□ Decent
□ Good
□ Enjoyable
□ Immersive

Artwork
□ Bad
□ Could be better
□ Decent
☑ Pretty good
□ Beautiful
□ Amazing

Soundtrack
□ Bad
□ Could be better
□ Decent
☑ Good
□ Immersive
□ Eargasm

Minigames difficulty
□ Toddler could solve
□ Easy
☑ Medium
□ Advanced
□ Hard
□ Had to check on google

Overal gameplay difficulty
□ Toddler could solve
□ Easy
☑ Medium
□ Advanced
□ Hard
□ Had to check on google

Audience
□ Kids
☑ Teens
☑ Young adults
☑ Adults
☑ Seniors

Bought this game cause this was the same developer that made hope lake, which I enjoyed. Some parts of this game feel mobile game-like, which I'm not a fan of but still managed to enjoy the game to my surprise. Also the hint system dog sounds and movement annoyed me. This game does not have regular HOG scenes. Instead, you need collect much more items on the regular scenes and add those items together to unlock devices which allow the progression. Haven't seen that in a HOG before at least to this extent and appreciated the different choice. I enjoyed the art style in the comic cutscenes. The voice acting was alright. Would recommend this game but not at full price. If you are between buying this and Hope Lake I would recommend hope lake more.

The story is very very bad. It's based on a motive nerd vs jock fighting over a girl, but this time the nerd is the bad one. The dubbing of the main character is ridiculous. Art is good. Gameplay is just meh. Warning: no hidden objects puzzles per se but you need to find a lot of stuff hidden on the levels. I spent a mediocre 2 hours with this game and finished it but when we have so many options on the market, it was just a waste of time.

Well done 7.4

Good graphics and simple puzzles; annoying voice acting. The storyline is decent. Incredibly easy without much to hold your focus and attention. May be worth a deep sale price.

it was only ok. no real logic, just pixel hunting.
The story was dumb. Who would live for ten years without looking into their lost memories? Also Who the hell calls American football soccer? Not impressed.

Another older game that I played years ago. I really enjoyed this all over again...
Good story, fun puzzles(actually very easy puzzles or maybe I am getting smarter...lol)
The objects to be found are easily found and I got all the achievements for basically playing the game , no extra effort needed; lol
I simply HATE the hint pup though. UGH. I covered it with a post it note and that worked pretty well. Cannot imagine why a game developer would think such an addition to be a good one....
Look past that and you can enjoy the game though.

another proof that older HOGs are much better than newer ones. really awesome game. not a typical HOG per say. but great.

pros.
great story
nice art design
straight forward
fun sound effects
not bad sound tracks


cons.
pretty short (only two hours of game play)
no bonus story
the voice acting is not that great. very awkward pauses between sentences.
football is not soccer. normally the confusion is the other way around were people from the US call football, soccer but here american football is called soccer....

overall i highly recommend this one just for casual quick time wasting :) get it on sale if possible.

7/10 for the game +1 for the cards =9/10

The story is a little silly. And while the side character voices are normal the main character sounds like a robot. Fine but not great. I wouldn't pay full price for sure.

Boring storyline, bad voice acting. There are so many other good games out there for the same prices, save your money and get artifex mundi game instead.

Recommended if it's cheap and/or in a bundle. Well made and drawn, but way too simple, especially the HO scenes. Be good for beginner HOG players - veterans look elsewhere. A 60/100 effort.

The good

Good artwork and animation
Reasonable soundtrack
Despite being very easy overall, some of the puzzles are challenging
Engaging once it gets going

The bad

Far too easy, especially the HO scenes
Ludicrous story (but aren't they all?)
Minimal replay value
Some of the puzzles are annoying
A few translation issues

Riddles of the past is a hidden object game but it dont has the usual hidden object scenes other HoGs have.

Instead, you need collect much more items on the regular scenes and add multiple items to unlock some devices which allow the progression. This might be an old method for HoGs but for me it was a bit refreshing compared to other games from this genre.

The game itself is entertaining, the fact that the game is in a modern, but abandoned city which was taken over by robots granted the promised post apocalytptic atmosphere and i really liked it.

The puzzles arent hard, i would call this as a very casual HoG, dont expect much challenge.

This game usually very cheap during sales so if you like puzzle games or HoGs i highly recommend to pick this one.

Hey, iam an achievement hunter!

Riddles of the past has only storyline achievements so upon completion all achievements are earned. This means you can use skip or hints if you got stuck. Completion time: 2-3h

This review was created for Average Achievement Hunter curator

Follow my curator if you like to see achievement related informations (completion time, difficulty to get all achievements) on store page of the games.

https://store.steampowered.com/curator/30168383-Average-Achievement-Hunter/

The curator group dont mark any game as recommended so it shows useful information about achievements on the store page of the games without influencing the main store page of steam with recommendations + all games sorted to lists based on expected completion times. No point not to follow!:-)

Riddles of the Past is a fairly easy and fast to finish hidden object game. Short and without a lot of unnecessary jumping around, it's the very definition of casual in my opinon.

The game is a detective story in a mysteriously abandoned town in the 1960’s. There’s a good quantity of puzzles. I found none of them too difficult. Most of the game was a breeze. It took me slightly over 3 hrs with a few small interruptions. I found the story interesting and finished it in one sit-down. The art and animation is pretty good. The voice over is decent, at least when compared to other HoGs and the music was very nice. The only thing annoying and out of place is the puppy that is parked above the hint button. He’s unnecessary, makes too much noise and is a distraction

+ Good story. Has a good plot and a couple unexpected twists.
+ I really liked the puzzles. They were easy and well designed.
+ Audio was very good.
+ Art and animation were good.
+ All achievements work and DO NOT require multiple play-throughs!

- The Hint Puppy is very annoying.

That’s about it. There’s really nothing at all bad about this – except for that puppy. And he can be ignored with a bit of effort 😊

Fun hidden object game, with an interesting story. Puzzles are not too hard, but offer some challenge. Took me about two hours to finish it without using any hints. If you are in to these type of games, it will be worth a buy. Especially when it's on sale. (And if you like collection achievements, this is an easy 100% game)

Riddles of the past is a very short game with multiple twists. This game is the definition of casual point and click, you just sit there and enjoy the comic style cutscenes and extra easy puzzles. The story is average, music is ok, voice over was not bad. The graphics and characters design is really good except for the poor little puppy who they used for the hint button, he is out of the place.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1168494193

The hidden objects scenes are different from the usual. When you interact with a spot in an area, five to six objects needed appears in a circle which you have to collect from the same area then you can proceed.

Pros:
+Fast travel map.
+OK music (a little bit repetitive)
+Good graphics.
+Good journal.
+So many locations to visit.
+Steam achievements.

Cons:
-Short game.
-No bonus chapter.
-Orange hint button puppy.
-Not so good ending.

It isn't a completely bad game, give it a go if you find it with a good discount or in a bundle because you'll at least enjoy the visuals!
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1168561713

[quote]𝐹𝑜𝑟 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑣𝑖𝑒𝑤𝑠 𝑐𝘩𝑒𝑐𝑘 𝑚𝑦 𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑜𝑟 𝑝𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝐹𝑒𝑒𝑛𝑎'𝑠 𝐶𝘩𝑜𝑖𝑐𝑒[/quote]

I wouldn't really recommend buying htis game, even if you are a Hidden Objects Game fan. The puzzles are simplistic and finding the objects is quite easy too. Also sometimes objects were put in such a position that the hitn dog would get in the way or you risked going to the previous screen because you would click on the back arrow instead of the object.
My biggest problem with the game was the story. It's really cringe worthy.

I did like that they added a map with all the locations so you could quickly travel to where you wanted to go (including a preview of the location so you knew exactly where you were going). Also it told you if you are done with that particular scene or still have something to do there.

Honestly, I actually liked the gameplay, although I think it was more of a point and click than a hidden object game. The art style was okay, the music was simple and after a while a bit annoying but I can deal with that. The voice acting was not so good but not too bad either. The story itself was silly and a bit cringy. Beacuse of this, I would say its an okay game to pass the time if you don't have anything else to do, but if you are looking for a good story, then you need to look elsewhere.
However... that dog... just why? Who thought that this will be a good idea?! Why does the hint button have to be a continuously moving object with annoying sounds which cannot be muted?! This made an otherwise okay game to kill time into one of the most irritating gaming experience I ever had (well at least in HOG). I'm sorry I just can't recommend it.

Fairly easy, fairly casual point and click game. Honestly nothing really bad about this game, it is fairly short so you won't struggle with it for days, or even an entire day but it's not unnecessarily bloated either. Interesting storyline, definitely unique and the artwork is not bad either. Fairly average point and click adventure, I enjoyed it. Overall I'd give it a 6 out of 10.

Hey Devs, I just wanted you to know what an AWESOME design decision it was to put a large animation of an epileptic dog with anxiety disorder on the Hint button that moves non-stop throughout the entire game and that even when momentarily semi-sedated via said Hint button still can't be muted without muting the sound for the entire game. Brilliant!

It goes with saying - and I believe I speak for nearly all of humanity that has ever even heard of video gaming and is also over the age of 3 - that such an all-peripheral-vision-consuming-continually-moving-animation has not the slightest possibility of becoming at all annoying in any way whatsoever. Personally, I dream of world where I'm able to have such an unavoidably adorable animated creature in all aspects of my life. Hey, what do think about having an animated paperclip that would pop up whenever it thought you needed help with your work applications? How cool would that be! I bet everyone would just fall in love with that forever and ever.

Seriously though, I want you to know, I honestly don't remember what it was I did to you. Sometimes I just get so caught up in my own bullsh#t that I forget myself and become insensitive and rude. Just know that whatever it was I did, I realize it must have been pretty terrible for you to feel the need to so aggressively exact such a heinous revenge. And for that, I'm truly sorry.

tl;dr - The near non-stop motion of the relatively large animated dog on hint button is so visually/audibly distracting and annoying it makes the game unplayable. Too bad to, because the game otherwise looked like it was going to be okay. Do not recommend.

This game takes about three hours to complete. The main story is a bit silly but it gives you a reason to wander around a semi-abandoned town and solve puzzles. In the translations they seem to have confused North American football with soccer. Aside from that, I did enjoy playing this game - the art work is well executed and the music is pleasant. There are about sixty locations and a few hundred objects to interact with. I bought this game on sale for about two dollars - I definitely got my moneys worth from it. The puzzles were challenging but not impossible - I did not need to use any hints to finish the story. I did see other reviews that complained about the hint dog twitching and flashing in the bottom right corner of the screen. I didn't really notice this issue on my PC but I did play on the higher difficulty level with a large monitor.

I give this game 7/10.

I actually regret the spare change I spent on this bit of silliness. The ridiculously convoluted story was was a bit more asinine than the problem solving which included strange leaps of logic like "use the carousel to move that pile of junk." The hints in the game were generally useless, leaving me to hunt around the screen for things to click randomly and hope that something would start to make sense soon. The only thing that kept me going was my own stubborness and a sort of sick fascination with what the writers were possibly going to do to resolve everything.

Don't waste your spare change on this. Buy a cup of coffee, instead.

The Graphics are good and there are many different locations. But the story and the voice-acting are mediocre. And the puzzles are so simple that it is no fun solving them. Most of the items you need to solve the puzzle are in the same location. I'm sorry to say that I don't recommend this game to people who like fun Hidden Object Games.

The first and the most important aspect in games for me is the story. And this one is soooooo dumb!
It's a story about evil genius, who was in love with a cheerleader, who dated football team captain, so genius gave amnesia to all town inhabitants.
Gameplay is OK, graphics too, but story ruined it all.
So, if you a story fan as myself, I can't recommend you this game.

Okay I know HOGs generally have pretty cheesy stories but this is the worst I've encountered so far. It's not even worth spending energy to comment on the story beyond the fact that it's extremely juvenile and cringe-worthy.

This isn't even really a HOG, it's more like a point-and-click adventure game, but even then, it's extremely simple to solve the puzzles. The mini games are either obnoxiously tedious or painfully easy.

The voice acting is weak; the narrator sounds like she's reading a book to young children.

The writing is poorly done and some things seem to have been missed in translation (e.g. a character is constantly referred to as a soccer star, except he plays American football in the game).

Not worth spending money on, in my opinion. There are better HOGs out there.