Demon Hunter 3: Revelation

I really enjoy the games from this development team. The graphics are great. Stories are great. Even the cut scenes and voice overs are really good. I do wish this game was just a bit longer as I became very invested in the story but I haven't yet played the bonus story as of writing this review. Already played Yuletide Legends and looking to play some other games like this.

8th Hidden Object game I've 100%'d/reviewed. This one was alright. Decent theming, puzzles & hidden object scenes for the most part, but the 'combat' minigame that appears near the end & reappears in the bonus story is insultingly easy and silly. Has the usual silly & cheesy story. Achievements are weirdly balanced with most of the story ones coming in the last 5 minutes of gameplay. Bonus chapter has no achievements and also felt really pointless story-wise. But this felt better than some of the others I have played for sure.

Another good entry, though I guess generally I just like hidden object games. This one is also a direct sequel, still starring Dawn as well as having a cameo from a certain policeman that Dawn may know from a previous game, and I always like when characters come back like that to make little cameos. The story to me is more for fun in these games, but this one definitely goes in the direction of fleshing out the demon hunters and Dawn's history, which I though was interesting. While the other games had these cheesy kinds of 30s and 50s aesthetics, this one has a much more gothic tone to it that seems like it could be at home in any day and age; a crumbling house and the surrounding grounds with gargoyles, stonework, statues, and all kinds of things. The tone to me seems much more serious and "spooky" than fantastical or campy like the other games felt. The music and voice acting is very standard. I didn't find it to be really bad, but the music to me was more ambient than anything meant to be catchy or stand out, just background music to play while you explore the rest of the game. The levels are kind of a mix of the first two games? You are given some much larger areas to explore that can be backtracked to, but at certain points a story-related even may cause you to move to a new area that isn't connected to the previous one, but you weren't hopping between locations as much as the previous game--and even when you did, it wasn't an airplane ride away or something, it was a different area of that same property you're investigating. There are more collectibles to find here, and this game also includes a bonus adventure, a first for the series so far. (And the bonus adventure even includes brand new locations not used in the main game, which I was really surprised about! Usually bonus adventures reuse the same scenes from the main game but change a few things up...) The game also has an innovation that I love in games like these where there is a part of the HUD that will tell you when a collectible is in the scene to still be found. I understand that for some people that might ruin the challenge, but seeing as how missing one might require you to play the whole game all over again, I really appreciate having it and would rather use it than not. The hidden object scenes and puzzles in the game were also serviceable. Similar to the first two games, I never found them to be really super challenging nor super innovative, but they are engaging enough for me to want to play through and I had fun doing the puzzles and fishing out all the objects and things. Not a lot to say that's super negative about it, I think maybe some people might find the story content hit or miss, but I didn't mind it. This game does have collectibles. This game does have a bonus adventure. This game does not have a difficulty-related achievement. I did not have any technical issues with this game.

Feels more in line with the catalog than the previous two outings meaning there are fewer HOG scenes and more straight-up brainteasers and normal adventure game puzzles. Take that as you will. In terms of frustrating stuff, the morphing objects are still around though they felt less-obtrusive this time, and this marks the first time the three-wheel puzzle with all the stupid little beads makes its appearance in this series. I [i]hate[/i] that puzzle. It's in so many of these games and I can't stand it. It's the only time I ever look up solutions because it's just too exhausting to even think about. I swear that thing exists for the kind of people who like Rubik's cube and I am certainly not counted among that population. Blech. Production values are higher on this one, too. It's in full HD, the characters are now art instead of creepy uncanny photos and even the big bad guy got a facelift. All of the scenes look better and play better and there's a ton of details to be seen now, but be prepared to see a lot of it as the backtracking from previous games is definitely in play here. In any case, for the curious bypasser, this isn't the worst choice to start on. There's little connection to the prior games so you're safe jumping in here to get the more contemporary designs that Artifex Mundi is known for. I guess they whipped Brave Giant into shape for this one.

Sadly, even at an extreme discount, I cannot recommend this game. I bought it because I purchased DH5 and really enjoyed it, and read the reviews of the other Demon Hunter series games, sadly most of them were poorly rated, except this one had mixed but mostly positive reviews, so I bought it on sale. But the game is far too easy (beaten in 2.5 hours), puzzles are WAY too easy, even tiresome. There's too many things to keep track of that it becomes tedious. There's too many rooms to explore just for 1 or 2 items, a lot of going back and forth that feels bothersome, and truly, there's little to no story to actually enjoy. [spoiler] You find out who you are at the very end, which makes no sense since you've been a demon hunter for awhile already, the demon(s) keep trapping you in cellars and prisons, and yet there are others in the building(s) or areas with you that never help, but you have no idea how they got there ahead of you! You only find out the truth of who helped you and who died in the story at the very end after you finish the game, by collecting all the family tree scrolls, who tell you who's who and why that matters! [/spoiler] Never good to finish playing a game and feel irritated. 1/5 Stars. What a disappointment.

Wer Wimmelbildspiele mit zusätzlichen Rätseln mag, wird dieses Spiel mögen. Gut durchdacht und nette Story.

This is one of the Better HOGs 7.5/10