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Casual Friday

The game is Break the Curse - The Crimson Gems. It has been some time since I played this game. So if I don’t get the story exactly right, please forgive me. You, the protagonist, are a detective who has been summoned by Lorenzo, the owner of the Zephyr Circus. Harry and Eliza, two of his star performers have disappeared, and he wants you to find them. He suspects they were abducted by an evil witch who may be in love with Harry. She lives in a rather imposing fortress atop a mountain that can be seen from the circus’ location. Nothing unusual so far.

You encounter the witch shortly after you arrive at the fortress. Something happens, and I’m not sure exactly what that something was. Apparently the witch derives her strength from ten crimson gems, and whatever it was that happened scattered the gems throughout the fortress grounds. If she finds the gems first, you, and probably Harry and Eliza will die. You find them, you vanquish the witch and re-unite Harry and Eliza.

There is a sidekick of sorts in the form of a phoenix-like bird who happens to be Harry. He offers you advice on how to find Eliza. Some of it is helpful. Some of it is not.

While there are some hidden object scenes, they are not of the “random list” variety. More like “find ten poles” one of which will be used to prop open a gate. Or “find ten picture scraps” which will be used to re-create a painting. So, for the most part, I would say that this is an HO-free game.

The puzzles are quite difficult. In fact, Becky, Lady Kestrel and myself were playing this game around the same time, and there was a puzzle that all three of us managed to solve, but each of used different logic to find the solution. Very strange!

The graphics are very good, as is the music. There is no interactive map. In fact there is no map at all, which makes navigation a bit of a chore. There is a Hint button that is quite slow to recharge even when playing in casual mode. And, to be honest, the hints aren’t all that great. Example: you need to put out the fire in the above screenshot. The hint tells you that the things you need to accomplish that task can be found in the street. What street? The one that you are standing on, or the one that runs in front of the fortress? And since the fortress street is about ten moves away from your current location, the lack of a map becomes problematic.

A very challenging game. And a very good game providing you can overlook the minor flaws. No game is perfect….except possibly the Drawn trilogy.

The graphics are really good. They remind me of the House of 1000 Doors style. I know what you mean about most casual games. A muted/pastel/dark palette found in most ERS games, and copied by too many others.

I’ve replayed parts of this game, and I forgot how hard the puzzles are. I remember them being challenging, but some of these are downright brutal.

My initial thought was that this might make an interesting playthrough. But I think the puzzles would have most players running for a walkthrough….or just waiting to the Skip button to charge.