A mysterious knight shrouded by snow and ice. A castle lost in the skies. A young woman trapped in a crystal ball. And a hunter with nothing more than a bow and arrow who must save her. Sounds like the …
A mysterious knight shrouded by snow and ice. A castle lost in the skies. A young woman trapped in a crystal ball. And a hunter with nothing more than a bow and arrow who must save her. Sounds like the perfect setup for a dark fantasy fairy tale! Dark Strokes: The Legend of the Snow Kingdom sends you on a journey of mystery, throwing plot twists and mini-games at you faster than you can say “Oh, neat!”.
Dark Strokes is a sprawling adventure filled with action, creative puzzles, interesting inventory items, and plenty of surprises. Most of the obstacles in your path can be solved by locating a few objects in the general vicinity. To pick up those items, you might have to solve a small mini-puzzle. Then you realize the items need to be combined with something else, sending you on a journey further away. Once you get everything you need, piece it together, solve another short mini-game, and the object is yours. It’s sometimes a roundabout process, but it’s absolutely satisfying and always logical. No guessing required, just good old fashioned detective work.
Dark Strokes uses hidden object scenes sparingly. You’ll encounter several standard list-type sections, each with a handful of interactive items to puzzle over. To make or discover these objects, you’ll usually need to complete a brief mini-game, most of which require minimal interaction and are just fun to watch. There are also a handful of short twists on the HOG layout that pop up from time to time. For example, an early mini-puzzle tasks you with finding items for a locked chest based on their silhouette. These aren’t quite hidden object scenes in full, but they operate in a similar fashion and are great fun to work through.
Have you ever wanted to play a first person horse riding mini-game? The Legend of the Snow Kingdom has that, believe it or not! This game is filled with creative diversions that go well beyond the usual battery of puzzles in a hidden object adventure. In addition to the riding game, you’ll collect cannons for a model, feed a fat statue, and loads more. When you see these puzzles they’ll bring a grin to your face, and when you complete them that grin will return.
Dark Strokes is packed with extra things to do and find. Morphing objects are hidden all over the place, and collectible snowflakes pop up in the most unexpected areas. There are even things you can interact with just for fun, such as a basket of fruit you can nibble off of or icecicles that fall when you click them. Extras like this don’t impact the game, they just reward you for being thorough, and they’re tons of fun to discover.
The core of Dark Strokes: The Legend of the Snow Kingdom is a straightforward dark fantasy hidden object adventure. What sets it apart from other games is its focus on frequent and unique mini-games along with just-for-fun interactive elements. Dark Strokes is full of surprises, making it one of the more amusing adventure games on the market.
