Can lightning strike twice? Playdom is sure hoping so. The Disney-owned studio single-handedly popularized the hidden object genre on Facebook with Gardens of Time last year, and while we’ve seen a few other games follow in its footsteps since (Hidden Chronicles, Hidden Haunts), we haven’t seen another HOG from Playdom directly – at least not until now.
Can lightning strike twice? Playdom is sure hoping so. The Disney-owned studio single-handedly popularized the hidden object genre on Facebook with Gardens of Time last year, and while we’ve seen a few other games follow in its footsteps since (Hidden Chronicles, Hidden Haunts), we haven’t seen another HOG from Playdom directly – at least not until now.
Blackwood & Bell Mysteries launched on Facebook earlier today, and from our first impressions, it seems to have an awful lot in common with the overall Gardens of Time formula. That being said, there’s a much larger focus on story in Blackwood & Bell Mysteries, and Playdom’s executive producer Joey Klein is hoping that it will be enough to set them apart: “We’d be really excited if this can broaden the market with its edgier feel,” Klein told Inside Social Games. “Each chapter will have a distinct feel and it’ll be a little darker — we’ll toe the line between actual reality and fictional exciting characters like vampires. That’s where this game fits into the space.”
The game features a pair of detectives, James Blackwood and Catherine Bell, who travel the world solving crimes during the Victorian period. Clues discovered in each scene will help players solve the crimes presented in the game.
Klein goes on to tell Inside Social Games that while the game is certainly similar in play to Gardens of Time, “the theme and the story and the small tweaks make a better game overall.” And when speaking with VentureBeat, Klein reinforced this focus on narrative, telling Dean Takahashi that “we think there is space in the market for top-quality storytelling games.”
If you’re already a fan of Gardens of Time, chances are that you’ve stopped reading this article long ago and have already logged into Playdom’s latest release. If you’re still not sold though, be sure to stay tuned to Gamezebo for our full review to decide if Blackwood & Bell Mysteries is the social hidden object game for you.
