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Graven: The Purple Moon Prophecy
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Graphics & Sound:
Graven: The Purple Moon Prophecy is a very pretty Hidden Object Adventure that takes place in the quiet fishing village of Brittany, France. You are an archaeologist who receives a letter from a man claiming to need your help. Once you arrive in the spooky town, all is not what it seems.
You'll travel through the town, visiting a shop or two and a home, along with the docks, an island, the lighthouse, and of course, a cemetery. You'll even find yourself visiting the mystical land of the Druids, beautiful and magical Avalon! All of the locations are quite beautiful to look at and very detailed, from the shimmering water at the docks and lighthouse area, to the quaint restaurant with its odd proprietor, the frightening secret hideout of the Druid organization, and the glistening shores of Avalon, itself.
Of special note is the voice acting, which is absolutely excellent. A lot of times, the voicework in Hidden Object Adventures can be a bit overdone, but everyone was spot-on in Graven: The Purple Moon Prophecy, whether it was the grizzled old fisherman, the angry restaurant owner, Michael, the man who has enlisted your help, or even the Druids themselves. Sound effects also worked quite well for the game, and the background music was appropriately creepy, menacing or mystical, depending on the situation.
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Gameplay:
Graven: The Purple Moon Prophecy finds you in Brittany after receiving a letter from a man named Michael who claims to need your expertise in deciphering some ancient menheirs relating to the Druids. However, not long after you arrive, you realize that you have actually been drawn into a prophecy about to be fulfilled. Many years before, the Druids trapped a demon to protect the earth, but with a meteor set to pass by the moon in a matter of hours, the demon will be able to escape. You become drawn in to the quest to keep the world safe and the demon trapped, but who can you trust?
You'll find yourself getting locked into a dungeon, attacked, and forced to run all over town in an attempt to uncover the location of the powerful menheir symbols that were hidden by the Druids so many years ago. You'll encounter tricky puzzles along the way and fetch quest after fetch quest. You'll also watch the body count rise as well, so you'd do best to hurry or you'll be among them.
The Hidden Object scenes were varied in that sometimes you'd have a list of objects to collect and other times, it would be the silhouettes of items, so these could be tough. Also, if items were purple, it means you'll have to do an additional action to locate the item, such as turning on or refocusing a light or breaking a glass, etc. You'll revisit locations several times, so it pays to remember the things you noticed while in that Hidden Object scene, as you will be back.
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Difficulty:
Graven: The Purple Moon Prophecy has three difficulty settings: Casual, Advanced and Expert. In Casual, your Hint and Skip buttons recharge quickly and active areas will glimmer, however just because you see a glimmer, it doesn't mean you can actually do something there at that moment, so the glimmers can be a bit deceiving. On the Advanced setting, the Hint and Skip buttons don't charge quite as quickly, but your glimmers are still in place. On the Expert setting, your Hint and Skip buttons will recharge very slowly and you won't have any glimmer assistance at all.
That being said, even on the Casual setting, some of the puzzles can be quite challenging. While they were enjoyable, some were really detailed and tricky and I was glad for the Skip button. Also, the Map doesn't really do you any favors. It simply shows available areas and where you are currently. You can tap to quick travel to a location, but it won't show you an area with a task left to do or an area you can't yet access, like some other games of this type tend to do. I also found that I would get "lost" in the town of Brittany. In other words, the areas didn't really seem to connect together well, so if I wasn't sure which direction I needed to go to get somewhere, I'd just use a Hint and be on my way.
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Game Mechanics:
Graven: The Purple Moon Prophecy also includes some quests within the game to be on the lookout for, in addition to trying to save the world. Early on in the game, you'll come across a shattered mosaic and from then on out, you need to be on the lookout for tiny mosaic pieces everywhere. You'll need all of them to put the mosaic back together to progress in the game, but although I was shy a few, it didn't seem to hold me back. You can also find mistletoe twigs which will refill your Hint button faster. Collecting all of these can earn you an Achievement, of which there are quite a few to earn.
I found the puzzles in Graven: The Purple Moon Prophecy to be really intriguing. There are sorting puzzles; a number of picture rearranging puzzles where you spin circles within circles to line up the picture; some numbers-based puzzles; memory puzzles and more. There were environmental puzzles where you had to gather items to complete a potion recipe or melt metal to fill a mold. There was also a lot of running back and forth to areas once you had collected the requisite key or needed item.
Overall, I had fun with Graven: The Purple Moon Prophecy. The map could have been more helpful and I would have preferred a bit less running back and forth, but it's a good game and worth your time if you like an interesting adventure.
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-Psibabe, GameVortex Communications AKA Ashley Perkins |
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Related Links:
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