Adventure Gamers - Forums

Casual Friday

I really never planned on doing the first AGSotD of the new year. I’m posting a bit early because in all likelihood I will be in the same condition tomorrow as I pose for my fellow players in the paragraph just below the screenshot.

Happy New Year’s Day everyone! For those of you who celebrated a little too much, you have my sincere sympathy. A Bloody Mary, some black coffee and several aspirin ought to do the trick.

Today’s game is a little off the beaten path, although I have referred to it on several occasions. Its title is Echoes of Sorrow. It was developed by Alawar Games back in the day when I think they were doing their best work.The earliest review on BFG is dated November 2011, but my purchase history says I bought it in April 2011. I was able to locate a release date of April 20, 2011, so I think my date is accurate.

I say this, because 2011 puts this game squarely in the middle of “The Golden Age of Hidden Object Scenes.” From that perspective, Echoes of Sorrow does not disappoint. Additionally, the puzzles are relatively simple. Very few of them present much of a challenge. There was one puzzle that requires you to place a series of events in the correct sequence based on clues you uncover in the surrounding environment. I found that puzzle to be a bit more difficult than I thought it would be.

So what makes this little game the gem I think it is?

First, the game contains more adult themes than any game, casual or adventure, I’ve ever played. Try fitting child murder, stalking, rape, wrongful execution plus a few more of the worst things human beings are capable of doing to each other into a single cohesive story.

Our protagonist/antagonist is a woman who is trying to piece together bits of her memory. She is a protagonist because we have a rooting interest in seeing her succeed. She is also an antagonist because she was (perhaps unwittingly) involved in some of the game’s worst situations. Starting when she witnessed her twin sister killed by a hit and run driver as the two were playing. The game continues through her college years where she finds her boyfriend murdered; her years trying to find life’s meaning in church; to a prison visit where a possible wrongful execution took place; to the current day where she is finally coming to grips with all that has happened in her relatively short life. And the conclusion of that episode is truly stunning.

You may be wondering how I chose this for today’s game. Well, as I mentioned in the beginning, for those of you that arose with a whopper of a hangover and are wondering if things could possibly get any worse, this is the game that will tell you, “Yeah! Things could be a lot worse.”

It’s an older game, and it shows its age. But for those of you who haven’t played it, I think you should give it a try. There isn’t another game out there that, as far as I know, is anything like it.

I should have mentioned that way back when our fearless leader Jackal wrote a review of the game. It can be found here

I kept the game loaded after I posted the screenshot, and went back and played/finished it. It was pretty much as I remembered, except for Rose’s role. The only thing she actively participated in was accusing the wrong person for the murder of her boyfriend.
And while that is pretty bad by itself, she was set up to do exactly what she did by another party.

I was surprised by how naive she was. Maybe this is what Becky had in mind. I just wanted to slap the stupid out of her.