Fatal Hearts Review

If you're a big fan of stories in casual games then you won't want to miss Fatal Hearts. From independent game developer Hanako Games (the makers of Cute Knight), Fatal Hearts features a deep choose-your-own-adventure story where the choices you make affect not only the ending of the game, but how you get there.

The story centers on fifteen-year-old Christina, a high school student who's enjoying spending her summer vacation hanging out with her new best friend Lucy. Through text narrative and dialogue presented overtop of charming backgrounds drawn in the style of Japanese anime, you'll soon learn that things aren't exactly peachy in the girls' lives. Lucy's parents are behaving strangely, going out at odd hours of the night and carrying around a strange old book. Christina starts having vivid dreams featuring a young man and woman who are somehow familiar, she swears she can hear wolves howling at night, and, to top it off, there appears to be a killer on the loose who preys on young woman.

The story features some graphic images and scary situations, and for that reason Fatal Hearts is something that younger children should probably steer clear of. (The publisher gives the game a rating of "Teen.") However, older players will relish the chance to explore a mature story that explores themes of love, death and friendship with a supernatural twist.

One of the most enjoyable features of Fatal Hearts is that you get to control what happens next by making choices at certain key points in the game. After spending the day with Lucy, does Christina walk home or call her Mom for a ride? Does she go to the party hosted by the two strange boys, or reject their advances? Does she lie to her Mom after staying out late, or tell her the truth? Although these decisions might seem trivial at the time, they can set certain events in motion that will drastically alter the gameplay experience and send you down a path to one of fourteen possible endings.

The game might also throw a puzzle your way to break up the narrative and test your reflexes or problem-solving skills. These brain-teasers are each cleverly woven into the plot - for example, when Christina complains that she can't think because of the spider-webs in her head, you're presented with a puzzle to clear away the web by using the mouse to drag away the tangled strands. There are board games to navigate, locks to break, and several arcane codes to decipher based on clues that you will hopefully have picked up on earlier - or, if all else fails, you can hop onto the Internet and research the answers. One of my favorite puzzles is a turn-based battle reminiscent of classic role-playing games like Final Fantasy.

If you finish Fatal Hearts and want to play again to try for a different ending, the game makes it easier to do so by giving you the option to automatically skip the dialogue you've already read. You can also skip puzzles you've already completed if you don't feel like attempting them a second time - but a new story arc will introduce new puzzles as well.

The game's production values - especially the mechanics on some of the puzzles - do leave a bit to be desired. The visuals are appealing, but sometimes I found myself wishing that more of the action was shown instead of simply described. (For example, at one point Lucy and Christina spend the whole day at the mall together but all we ever get to see is the food court as the rest of their adventure is described through text.)

Then again, it all depends on your perspective. I found it best to think of Fatal Hearts as less of a game and more of an interactive novel with some great descriptive passages, cool illustrations, well-placed sound effects and atmospheric music. And the best part is that you can read it over and over again and it's never the same twice.

It's wonderful!

Wonderful!!

While I've only played the demo so far, it seems excellent so far. I'm a big fan of puzzles, especially when I have issues solving them. :D

Wow, sorry the graphics is really bad looking. It reminds of of some fan art, not professional at all.

I'm stuck at the police puzzle

Oh come on. The art is inconsistent perhaps, there's certainly nothing there I'd consider "bad".

hey anyone no the secret code for the cell fone riddle thanks

Sarah - The policeman only chases you if he can see you. So the first thing you want to do is HIDE. If you start the puzzle by moving down twice and right once, you'll end up behind a bush and the policeman can't see you. If you move down from there, the bush is still between you and the cop, so the cop can't see you and won't chase you. (Obviously this isn't the whole solution, but it might get you started.)

To everyone - For hints on all the puzzles, visit the forums at http://hanako.informe.com/fatal-hearts-df4.html and you'll find lots of players to help you!

I am stuck at the book puzzel. Where do the rings go!?

Interesting.
I haven't seen a Text Adventure with Puzzle for a long time. The low production value artwork reminds me of the doujin game scene in Japan, where often a game is build by only a small handful of people or on rare case a one man show.
Games from Hanako seems to be heavy influenced by Japanese game. Cute Knight was fun but I prefer the depth found in Princess Maker.

9xhev - Look at the pattern on the surfaces of the rings. Turn them so they form a consistent pattern with the center piece, the one you can't turn.

There's another explanation at http://hanako.informe.com/viewtopic.php?t=43 (or if you download the strategy guide, there are pictures)

heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeelp pls help me with that cellphone

Imagine the numbers upside-down and some of them will look like letters...

see http://hanako.informe.com/cell-puzzle-dt51.html for more explanation

I've played the full version of Fatal Hearts and have gotten all the endings for it. I really love this game. It's like Cute Knight in that you can get multiple endings but the gameplay here lasts longer, which is great.

Personally, I love the artwork. That's part of the appeal of Fatal Hearts. And the puzzles are difficult but lots of fun. :)

Very creative! I've played the demo and was instantly addicted to the story and puzzles. The puzzles, some I have never seen before in a game, so it made the game challenging and kept players entertained and involved and wanting more.

Only con, close to the beginning when the two friends are talking (can't remember their names)you can see the shutters in the background through one of the characters. Not sure if this is a bug, but it kept me from buying the game for now. :P The art work is overall really good, perhaps a better than Cute Knight.

I just wish it didn't cost quite so much... *sigh* I'm just a poor broke college student, so it'll be awhile before I can actually afford it.

I played the demo though, and it is fun! I actually like the artwork the way it is, despite what alot of people are saying. It gives the game character! And, I think it is done by one person? Impressive!

This game is wonderful--a bit of a departure from Georgina's other work, but I love the 'choose your own adventure' style. This game is worth the price of a full-length game because it IS full length. In my opinion, it's a steal at it's current price.

Stop by www.hanakogames.com --Georgina (the guru behind Hanako. Seriously, she's the sole designer for ALL the games on her site. How impressive is that? She and Amanda from www.amaranthgames.com are my heroes!! Stop by that site too for other awesome games (Grimm's Hatchery is AWESOME!).

Support the female designers--they make it look easy but we all know how many years of work go into each of their games.

IM REALLY REALLY REALLY STUCK ON THE POLICE PUZZLE ITS SO! CPMFUSING COULD U TELL ME HOW TO DO IT PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

if u press F10 and put Skip_level() and then 975 u can skip that level

thats not the right code and putting in random codes will break your game, get the strategy guide to be sure you have the right codes

i need help with the piggy bank puzzle does anybody know how to so it?

If you go to hanakogames.com and go to the forum, then sign up and go to the secrets section, you'll find guides to ALL of the puzzles! The walkthrough is excellent, with pictures and everything so you can see what you're supposed to do visually too.

There's nothing "bad" about the art. Though I find that some pictures are better than others...For example, I really prefer the glossy, anime style that you see with Jeremy or Bastian more than the painted style of Randy. But that's just me. It varies, and they use a lot of stock pictures over and over again, but I really do like the music and top-rate narrative. And really, that's all that matters.

Help I can't even do the first book puzzle.

Imagine that the rings have a round bump to them - and that they're reflecting something with circular patterns on. You need to rotate the rings around so that the reflected patterns match up; IIRC the single large loop reflection on the smallest ring you can move goes down, from then on you should be able to match up the smaller, brighter circles all the way around.

Remember that each ring, when it's in its correct position, will be symmetrical along the vertical axis - so the left half will look like the mirror of the right half... so if you get stuck, remember that and just try all the possible combinations, I think (can't remember offhand whether there are three or four movable rings) there's only eight combinations if you just try each ring both ways up.

Dude, I followed all the reviews and the hints from the site. They DON'T WORK. And as far as the cell phone...does anyone remember back to elementary school when you learned how to type boobs upside down? Same thing with the cell phone and hello!

Well I think its great, and really like the art style. I'm really enjoying it, even more than Cute Knight which was also a lot of fun. The multiple endings are great because it extends the game play. The puzzles are original and creative. I'm really impressed on so many levels!

the hints from the forum do work, how do you think we all finished the game? :)

Can anyone tell me exactly how you do the cultist hook maze? I've been trying to do it for an hour and just cant get past it at all. Please Help!

whats the skip_puzzle() number for skipping lucys dads safe puzzle?

what does Wolfriemen suppose to mean in a foreign language?

look up 'riemen' in german

thank you emichan

how do u get pass the wolf belt

i stuck what must i done when they say wolfriemen...what must i wrote...pls elp

sprich hier eig. au jemand deutsch...lol kann mir jemand weiterhelfen

well for the cellphone u just have to type 5552747 (as I remember ^^' ) anyway great game

EMICHAN:look up 'riemen' in german

what do you mean

you need a german-to-english translation dictionary or babelfish

yes but i can german but wolfriemen...:(( must i wrote that of english or german...

what did you wrote...??

ahhhh i must wrote wolf strap..:)

How do you stop game without menu.I love puzzle games and so far I am getting into this one.But I am having problem with the webs and is there a quit game menu I can't find ?
Thanks for the help,
Counting the seconds until the next Dream game comes out. Thanks, Melly.

Just press Escape - that'll give you an option to quit or go back to the main menu.

im stuk with the futhrank runes im hopeless and desparate

Christina which ruins? The safe or the metal door? The safe is more difficult but the metal door the code is found at the beginning in the diary. It is on the left side written in and circled in red.

klara, what do you mean next dream game?

i really luv this game!!the art work is great..and i love the story..so far i have mannaged 2 find 6 endings,but i really like the ending in which christina ends up with bastian...it's souch a romantic story...

IM REALLY REALLY REALLY STUCK ON THE BOOK OF MOSES(THE SIMBOLS) CAN U HELLP ME ...OR U CAN GIVE ME THE CODE TO SKIP THE LEVEL.....I REALLY NIDE IT:((( PLISSSSS

FInished the game! It's totally worth it to find the 14 ends. LOVE THIS! Anyone know another game like this, a visual novel where you can choose the storyline?

could any one help me im stuck on the rune keypad its doing my head right in pleasseeeeeeee help ty

If you are looking for the rune keypad, for the metal door, the code is found at the beginning when you unlocked the diary. It is on the left page written in and circled in red.

Overall, it was an interesting game. After discovering the "Fresh Start" ending, I wasn't able to look at it the same way (not in a good way). The puzzles range from prohibitively hard to laughably easy. I liked the music most of all. Who wrote it?

Can someone help me i'm stuck on the safe for 3hours. Is there a way to skip it? If so please tell me i like to continue a good game and i want to know what happens >_

Yes, it can be skipped. Visit the forums at http://hanako.informe.com/ for hints and to download the strategy guide, which has codes to skip all the puzzles.

thank you so much ^_^.

Gosh. I've been stuck in the puzzle were you have to pick a lock open with a hairclip.
Dous anyone knows how to pick it open?

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