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Casual Friday

We’re looking at an image from Hidden Mysteries: Notre Dame - Secrets of Paris. It’s a nice little game that ought to take you about five or six hours to complete the first time. Second time, if you don’t finish it under two hours, your not trying hard enough. I’m not saying there is no replay value. Sometimes it’s fun to see how fast you can do something once you know how it’s done. Because of a “bug” crabapple and I were both stuck in the game A Vampyre Story. We had already played the game up to the point where the bug kicked in. Even though we were forced to replay from the beginning. We were able to play the first half of the story in about 1.5 hours.

The basic story here is that you have been assigned to investigate the theft of a valuable relic that was on display at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. During the investigation you will meet with some well known, and not so well known ghosts who are in some way connected to the church. Napoleon, Joan of Arc and Victor Hugo are three of the well knowns.

There are some interesting puzzles. For example you have to find the right path through a grid of stones in order to find which stone to move. You have to solve a combination lock using equations written in roman numerals. But this is essentially a hidden object game. That’s not surprising since the game came out in early 2011. Most games of that era were based on HO scenes.

The investigation takes place in less than one day’s time. You arrive at the cathedral when it is night time, and it is still dark when you finish. You are one fast detective!

There are several games in this Hidden Mysteries series. All are from Gunnar Games. One I remember was based on the Salem witch trials. Another dealt with vampires. I enjoyed all the ones I played. But they all lacked the advanced story telling and plotting that started to appear around 2013. (That’s a generality!)

One final thought: I have never visited Notre Dame Cathedral. (Stop! I have visited the one on the campus of the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, because that’s where I went to school. The real name though is Holy Name Cathedral. I’ll explain privately to anyone who is interested.) But not the one in Paris. The exterior in the above screenshot looks good to me. I have no way of knowing whether the interiors or any of the exterior locations bear even a passing grade when it comes to authenticity. Never having been there, I was able to play with a degree of innocense. Those of you who have seen the real thing might be put off if there is a lack of authenticity.

Too bad the screenshot is so empty. It’s in the middle of Paris, there are people 24/7.

Aside from the five ghosts you meet, there is only one living character in the game. Aside from you, of course.

I enjoyed this and the other games in the series.

Although I had not played the game, Lady K also posted a Notre Dame adventure AGSOTD a few Saturdays ago. Maybe that’s the one you are thinking of.