Myths of the World: Stolen Spring feels a bit like business as usual for a casual adventure game. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, though. While it’s far from the hardest game to complete, it tells quite the interesting story in …
Myths of the World: Stolen Spring feels a bit like business as usual for a casual adventure game. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, though. While it’s far from the hardest game to complete, it tells quite the interesting story in its brief running time. It’s sure to intrigue you.
Set in an old Slavic land, your mission is to save the world from eternal winter — all thanks to a fairly evil Goddess of Winter who’s decided to hijack springtime and throw everyone into peril. Fortunately you’ve got some assistance available to you. For one thing, you have a Spring Brush, allowing you to melt ice and clear the way to victory.
Early on in the game you’ll unlock the assistance of a cute, furry friend too, in the form of a rather charming ermine. Besides looking rather sweet, the little guy can also help you use items more effectively. He can do things like gnaw down on a piece of wood, turning it into a useful tool such as a screwdriver. His uses aren’t as all encompassing as they could be, but they add a charming twist to an already charming tale. You can dress him up too, which might not serve much purpose, but it’s still appealing.
The meat of the game, however, comes from its mixture of inventory based puzzling and casual mini-games. The former has you working your way through various locations, learning when and where items must be applied. It’s all fairly straight forward. This isn’t the kind of game to have you holding onto the same item for a great length of time. Oftentimes you’ll pick something up then use it only a few moments later. At most you might need to pass it onto your cuddly friend, but it’s easily done. Usually you can quickly look in your inventory and soon deduce what needs to happen. A fast travel mode further speeds things up, along with a hint button that’s very comprehensive. Backtracking is kept to a minimum.
Outside of these simplistic inventory puzzles, there are Hidden Object scenes, mini-games, and a Match-3 mode. Often you’ll finish up a significant sequence within a scene and be led to a small puzzle. These tend to be things like jigsaw puzzles or basic logic conundrums. They break things up nicely, but rarely was I particularly challenged by what unfolded.
What does work well is being able to choose between Hidden Object hunting or a Match-3 game. The Hidden Object scenes are reasonably varied, having you either pick out a bunch of written items or playing spot the silhouette. You’re usually required to find a lot of different items, which can turn a little samey. That’s where the Match-3 mode comes into play. At any point you can switch over to a Match-3 game that has you aiming for particular ‘special’ icons, which go towards one item on the Hidden Object list.
The Match-3 game is incredibly simple. While there are some power-ups to deal with, it’s mostly just a matter of spending a few moments lining things up. It’s quite fun for a brief time though, especially when you’re stuck trying to find an awkward item on the list. It encourages you to not take the even easier route of just hitting the hints button all the time.
Such variety, combined with an interesting story, helps Myths of the World: Stolen Spring a lot. It’s a little too easy for comfort, only taking a few hours to complete, but fans of the genre will enjoy their time with it.
