Our heroine is charmed by her recently met suitor so when he invites her to his castle, she happily agrees. She barely knows him? Who cares, their love is powerful and everlasting for sure. Before spending some Christmasy time together the lover boy has to arrange some things, so he allows her to roam through the castle and search for the secrets. Beware though the castle is in renovation so some places could be off-limits. Is it truly because of the renovation or is he keeping some hideous secrets locked there? Well, it appears that letting your next sacrifice to uncover you devilish plans isn't the brightest idea.

The art is pretty. No voice-acting so you have to pay attention during the cutscenes. I liked the premise. Each time different scenery (he locks the souls of the girls in the pictures he draws, you then enter their dimensions and have to save those girls from their torment), but it's rather shallow. There are a lot of them and later you are quickly done with it. If they concentrated properly on two or three it would offer better immersion. It just got rather repetitive - enter, do minigame, do hidden object scene, move to next.
I didn't like the backtracking, the castle is rather big and you can go anywhere, after saving the girls their pictures are turned inactive at least, and search for another hidden object scene or just to find some missing item you have overlooked. There were moments I didn't know what to do and just went through the rooms again and again. I think that it happened two times that some of the items in the hidden object scenes were in Russian - you had to translate or click on everything to find it. Searching for different items than suggested is becoming a standard I think. Luckily no achievements were limiting you. Also there is no proper journal to hint you on what to do next.

Very nice adaptation of a classic fairy tales The Wild Swans by Hans Christian Andersen and The Six Swans by the Brothers Grimm. Big celebrations are held in the Eagle kingdom as the young prince was born. Happiness is clouded by the Queen's mysterious illness. King has summoned you to find a cure for her. After your first check up the whole situation turns to worse as the young prince is kidnapped and the Queen accused of practicing the black magic, which is in Eagle kingdom punishable by death! Not everything is as it seems and you have to uncover the truth hidden in the past.

The art is pretty, lively and full of colors. Puzzles were good, clever, and some of them challenging. There weren't many classic hidden object scenes where you search for a particular item by its name, but instead by shapes you collect fragments of the item you need. This time you aren't forced to play it for a second time, because there is no Mahjong or Domino game instead of hidden object scenes.
There are hidden collectibles to be found and extra chapter open after the completion of the main story.

Also, what surprised me was that there are two characters that will die and no, they won't be resurrected at the end. I think it's the first time I am seeing something like this in a HOG.

Looks like a combination of Thief and Assassin's Creed - you are running over rooftops, jumping from highs, lockpicking and stealing valuables. ;)
Sylvia is a member of an old order of monster hunters, although she doesn't remember much as she has lost her memory. While she and her master, Solomon, are investigating the presence of a demon in the city, valuable and dangerous artifact is stolen from their headquarters. Some time after that supernatural powers are awakened in the city of Lichtenheim. It's certain that their artifact is being used for a dark purpose. Will Sylvia manage to save the city and its citizens from being destroyed? And how are these events connected to her memory loss?

Story is fine, I have just wondered that their super dangerous artifact was protected by just two guards and that the order has apparently only 5 people in? XD Nevermind. It has good action and you are always moving forward. Graphics are really good, darker than the second game in the series. Hidden object scenes were good, varied, but getting it done under 20 seconds is really a pain in the back. Puzzles were mostly fun. One little rant though - there are five mirror puzzles that you have to complete in under 2 minutes for an achievement, I have made all but one during my first run. The last mirror is the hardest of them, logically, but it's unfair. If you don't make it you can play the whole game again as the minigame is almost at the end. Even though I was doing it with a guide for the second time I was pretty nervous that I wouldn't make it in time as it's pretty complicated and I would need to play it again. Luckily I got it right. :)

For achievement hunters - you have to finish the tutorial and to play on expert difficulty. On expert you have no tutorial, so you need to make two playthroughs (first easy then expert) or after playing on expert you start a new game under new name and do just the tutorial (if you play first the expert and then start the game again on easy, you won’t get the tutorial). Luckily you don't need to have all of the achievements under the same profile.

Vivien is visiting her father, when he mysteriously disappears into the thin air. In a moment she learns that her family, Ambrose family, is full of magicians, scientists and most importantly time travelers. When searching for clues of father's whereabouts, she finds a mysterious talking crystal ball and seven magic rings, which then teleports her into the Time Museum. Sadly she collides with the abductor and the rings get lost. She has to visit different time epochs and find family rings which will then help her to track her father. Who is the mysterious abductor and what does he want with the Ambrose family? Travel through time and space to find the ultimate answer.

From the first glance you can tell that it's an older game. It reminds me a lot of old point and click adventures, it has a similar vibe as Atlantis (one of my favorite games by the way) for example. Graphics are older, but full of details and colorful. Character animation offers great laughs as their heads are so strangely moving during speaking. Gameplay wise there are a lot of hidden object scenes with a lot of items in them. Also there was usually some flashing light or something like that which made the searching a little harder. Puzzles were good.
Only complaint I have is for the UI design. I am now familiar with the concept that on the left side you have a menu with a diary and on the right side you have a hint. Here it is swapped so I had to control my urge to click it when quitting the game as I would hit the hint and would lose my achievement. ;)

You can't quite compare it to the newer Artifex Mundi games as it's of course older, more rough and maybe even simpler. But I have a weak spot towards those kinds of games and in the end we had a good time with it.

Such a cute little game. You own a plant shop and you need to satisfy your customers and their varied desires, simple as that. But buying flowers to sell them isn't the right way to earn money, so you have to breed them in your own breeding machine. In a simple but charming way you learn the basics of plant genetics and how dominant and recessive genes work. After that you have to carefully manage your orders as your daily energy for breeding is quite limited. There are also upgrades you can buy for your shop, but be careful with your money as you daily need at least 10 coins for your rent. With the right plants you can even join national flower competition!

Your shop is visited by different casts of customers with their own short stories. They are very nicely written and often bring a smile on your face. Every one of them is also voiced and although you can tell it is rather an indie voice acting, it's fitting and pleasant. Graphic design is very soft, calm and suits the game nicely. Plants are nicely varied, their species are very cute and funny. Would love to have some of the Catcuses or Bunnyons at my home! Music is quiet and corresponds with the old feeling of the early 20th century.

You can complete the game rather quickly. We managed to complete it in two runs under 7 hours. All of the achievements are easily obtainable. Crazy Plant Shop is probably targeted at a younger audience as an educational game, but I have found it very enjoyable even in my not targeted age.

First game ended with a promise of a direct continuation, but it was more like a prequel. Also the story was slightly confusing at the beginning as the main villain is a dangerous witch named Vivian. It got me thinking what possibly happened to our previous heroine that instead of saving the world she turned to the dark side… I think that it wasn't the best idea to use such similar names in the series. Vivien in the first and Vivian in the second. Really, where is some creativity?

Ok, confusion aside. Ester was for her whole life orphaned, but her dreams were haunted by mysterious images. One day she learns from a letter that she belongs to a large wealthy family and with that she also inherits an old mansion in London. When she explores the old ruined place she uncovers secrets about the Ambrose family. With the help of a time traveling device she has to find a way to surpass an awakened witch who threatens the whole world.

This time you will visit only two locations through time traveling, but in different years and your acts in the past can bring fruits in the present. I have enjoyed this aspect, though playing on an advanced difficulty proved to be slightly annoying as you spent most of your time searching all the rooms in all of the different years for new hidden object scenes or some overlooked item. Hidden object scenes were yet again full of items and of a higher difficulty. Puzzles were ok, nothing too hard, although I really hate Color Wheel puzzle, which we have to solve two times… yay!

The UI is still swapped and still brings me confusion. If there wasn't so much backtracking and searching for what to do next I would give it a higher mark.

The circle closed. But it won't be Vivien who will save the future world, it will be Ester! What a twist.

After destroying the crystal and with it the dangerous witch Vivian, Ester can live her life in peace. Not for long as this time she needs to lift a horrible spell from poor witch Vivian, save poor Merlin from being an oak for all eternity and stop a devilish scientist from the future from destroying the world. Pretty complicated.

Gameplay remains the same as in the second game. You have to visit a few locations that are going to change in the time. Graphics are fine, pretty varied (cutscenes mediocre yet again). This time the game didn't suffer from the backtracking problem, I didn't feel so lost as before and always had an idea on what to do next. Puzzles were fine, some hidden object scenes were recycled from earlier games though.

All in all, we had fun with this series. It's older and with a few flaws, but still enjoyable. :)