HOGs! Finally, a monthly theme that really grabs me. It so happens that I have several Artifex Mundi bundles that I’ve never even touched (in total, 30 AM games and 2 Nancy Drew HOGs too) - plus they are great games to play on the sofa with my partner - so I think it’s pretty likely I’ll be getting through at least a couple over the coming month.
I’ve already beat my first HOG, the first Grim Legends - which was very enjoyable, and I’m looking forward to getting stuck into the next two (in fact, we started the second one last night and got over halfway into it). I’m suffering a little from an embarrassment of riches - I have so many more to chose from, but no real idea about their relative quality, so any suggestions for games I shouldn’t miss from the following list would be welcome:
- 9 Clues (1 & 2)
- Abyss: The Wraiths of Eden
- Crime Secrets: Crimson Lily
- Dark Arcana: The Carnival
- Dark Heritage: Guardians of Hope
- The Emerald Maiden: Symphony of Dreams
- Enigmatis (1 & 2)
- Eventide: Slavic Fable
- Fairy Tale Mysteries 2: The Beanstalk
- The Last Dream
- Left in the Dark
- Left in the Dark: No One on Board
- Lost Civilization
- Mind Snares: Alice’s Journey
- Mythic Wonders: The Philosopher’s Stone
- Nightmares from the Deep (1, 2 & 3)
- Portal of Evil: Stolen Runes
- The Secret Order (2 & 3)
- Tibetan Quest: Beyond the World’s End
- Time Mysteries (1, 2 & 3)
- Vampire Legends: The True Story of Kisilova
But yes, generally very excited to get my teeth into all these HOGs - thanks for a great theme!
The Nightmares from the Deep and Enigmatis series get the best reviews I believe. Nightmares series are pretty fun :)
I liked Dark Arcana because of the whole ‘haunted carnaval’ theme, and Abyss: The Wraiths of Eden reminded me of Bioshock which was pretty cool.
If you don’t know, maybe start with the ones that have been in your library the longest.
Good luck beating your HOGS! I’m currently playing 9 Clues 2.
Thanks for the info - that’s really helpful! I have a feeling I got most of these HOGs in the same bundle (or two bundles in very close succession), so in theory I’ve owned them all for approximately the same length of time - so time in library won’t be much help sadly.
Yay! Another hog hunter!
Welcome aboard the monthly theme :)
About the choice: Non of the games are not recommendable. I now, that sounds pretty stupid. But all I have played so far (and you also have), where nice ones. But I didn’t play all yet, so…. ha, although being the Host, I can’t recommend one to you :(
But let’s see: I liked 9 clues, although they where a bit crazy. One of them plays in a psychiatric institute (dunno what that is called) and the other one….. I can’t recall right now O.O I loved the British accent :D
Abyss: Under water. Was a nice one actually.
Crime Secrets: Plays during WWII (supposedly, though they use different symbols, but it’s pretty clear who we are talking about) and we have to hunt a myth and get it before the enemy does. We’re actually encountering death, which I’m in that way not that familiar with in hogs. Shooting somebody and/or being in a other way responsible for the death of a npc o.o But I wasn’t bad :)
Dark Arcana: I think I remember struggling with this one a bit. In the means of working out, what I have to to. Apart from that, it was a good one.
Fairy Tale Mysteries 2: I’m not really familiar with the fairytale to this one. I know it, but it’s not that popular in Germany I think. So Beans and plants and hunting down bad ppl :D
Mythic Wonders: I was actually disappointed by this one. Although it is a solid hog, it wasn’t satisfying for me. The end was just so… why?? Dunno, I didn’t really like it :/
I think that is all I have played so far :D
Maybe that helps a bit. Anyway just play them and tell me what you think of them ;)
Have fun!
Happy hog killing!
Most of the ones on your list are good, but I personally recommend the 9 clues series (especially the second), the Nightmares from the deep trilogy, Abyss and the Enigmatis series (even though I’ve only played the first one yet).
Also if you decide to give a try to the Time mysteries trilogy, be aware that the first one is quite dated and a bit bugged, but the 2 others are better ;)
9 clues flows nicely, and is pretty ridiculous. i don’t know much about HOGs but those are fun to play
Enigmatis and Mythic Wonders: The Philosopher’s Stone are my favorites from that list. Tbh, they are all decent, except Tibetan Quest: Beyond the World’s End. Stay away from that piece of garbage and you’ll be fine xD
I second tibetan quest being super crappy.
I loved the Enigmatis series (the first one was the first hidden object game I ever played!) as well as mind snares: alice’s journey. I really liked the introspective storyline in Mind Snares - for once, it’s not about murders or… murders, or more murders (people get murdered a LOT in these games) but it’s about Alice recovering her true self after trauma.
In what concerns Artifex Mundi games, I find that their older creations have more substange and hence the quality is higher. In the recent past, they reoriented themselves towards publishing games instead of developing them and to me it feels that the Artifex Mundi spark is not present any more in their recent released games (in the past 12 - 18 months).
Therefore, I would recommend Nightmares from the Deep series as one of the best HOG series out there. I also enjoyed Abyss.
From the games outside of Artifex Mundi, I enjoyed Portal of Evil: Stolen Runes.
The Last Dream is a different kind of HOG, keep in mind that one of the achievements is not that easy to obtain. It’s a mini game that requires a lot of trial and error; and luck, since it’s based on randomness.
Tastes are tastes, of course - chacun a son gout. My least favorites from your list, and I haven’t played all of them, are Lost Civilization and Crime Secrets: Crimson Lily. I agree that Nightmares from the Deep is pretty amazing - I don’t think Artifex Mundi has lost its spark, necessarily, but I do think they are putting out a lot of games, and many of them are by-the-numbers things, some of which seem to me to be aimed at kids. Even now when they dig in and make a good one, they really make a good one. And I also agree that the Enigmatis and 9 Clues games are great fun. The Grim Legends series is also fantastic.
I’ve played enough HOGs that I appreciate when devs try something new, and The Last Dream and Mind Snares: Alice’s Journey are very interesting that way: they aren’t the usual settings, and they aren’t the usual tropes. Enjoy your puzzling!
I quite enjoyed the two 9 clues games. The first one feels like it does not quite live up to its potential, with some mechanics being underdeveloped, but the second one fixes that.