#24 | HOG Spree

In a desperate attempt to add more screenshots to the monthly theme, I decided to “cheat” a bit and finish a bunch of HOGs over the weekend - since HOGs are full of the most random of things. I managed to find 4 more screenshots, so that wasn’t half bad. I’ve come to accept the fact that I’ll definitely not be able to complete the screenshot challenge, and I think I’ll take a break from HOGs for a while too ^^”.

Fairy Tale Mysteries

• Fairy Tale Mysteries: The Puppet Thief
  

  3 hours playtime

  17 of 17 achievements

• Fairy Tale Mysteries 2: The Beanstalk
  

  4 hours playtime

  11 of 11 achievements

Of the Artifex Mundi games I’ve played, Fairy Tale Mysteries: The Puppet Thief has to be one of the most unexciting. I’m not sure this is related to a fairy tale (since the second one is), but the story didn’t interest me at all. The entire game felt kinda empty - HOGs usually don’t have the deepest of plots, but in Fairy Tale Mysteries I felt like nothing that happened was important. To make things worse, throughout the game you frequently pick up notes left by your supervisors saying that they can’t help you much because they’re blocked by a magic barrier. These notes don’t help to progress the game, and are unnecessary and annoying. This was a disappointing entry in Artifex Mundi’s line up; there’s no need to play this unless you’re the biggest HOG fan.

The second game in the series, Fairy Tale Mysteries 2: The Beanstalk is slightly better, but still a rather mediocre HOG at best. The story is equally uninspiring, but this game introduces a new mechanic that I rather liked. When you encounter a point of interest that requires other items to make use of (e.g. bushes where you’re missing shears, pot where you’re missing ingredients for a potion, etc), the game shows you a list of items you need to find - which effectively turns the whole game into a huge HOS. I’ve mentioned many times previously that HOS are my favourite parts in HOGs, so it was a nice change from the norm.

Eventide: Slavic Fable

• Eventide: Slavic Fable
  

  4 hours playtime

  25 of 25 achievements

Thankfully, Eventide: Slavic Fable is a much better game than the Fairy Tale Mysteries series. For the first time in a long while, I actually felt that voice acting in an Artifex Mundi game was well done. There are many minor characters that only get a line or two, but their voices all fit their characters and didn’t sound out of place. I was pleasantly surprised at that.

The story doesn’t stray far from the usual formula, but the well drawn environment and mixture of different types of HOS (i.e. you’re given a list of items vs pictures of the items you have to find) made it enjoyable. This is certainly one of the better Artifex Mundi offerings I’ve played so far (the Enigmatis series is still better though). If you ever find yourself looking for more HOGs to play, Eventide: Slavic Fable is a good choice.

Screenshot Challenge Summary

Big shout out to SevenDeck for organising such a fun theme. :D It’s a bit of a pity that I didn’t manage to complete the entire challenge, but I did find 16/20 screenshots, and also finished many amazing games this month. So, yes, this was great and I look forward to more similar themes (and more creative themes too!) in the future.

I probably won’t be playing as much in the next month as my exams are coming up. D: All the best for your backlog slaying in the meantime!