Eventide: Slavic Fable Review (Jaime)
Eventide: Slavic Fable is first game of the Eventide series published by Artifex Mundi, following with Eventide 2: The Sorcerers Mirror and Eventide 3: Legacy of Legends. It's a point & click mystery adventure hidden object game. It's loosely based on slavic folklore creatures and mythology.
Plot summary - Your name is Mary Gilbert and you work as endangered species savior or botanist what would you call it. You get a letter from your dear grandma 'baba', who is asking you to save the endangered flower that keeps the whole Moorland village alive, but this turns out to be least of your concern. You meet with a man named Boruta, who seems nice and helpful at first. Turns out they aren't what they claimed to be and they are just a maniac who wants power over humans and eternal life. You are helped by mythical creatures of the forest who are friends with your grandma and for in return you promise to provide them with the magical powder that makes them human again. Boruta kidnaps your grandma to use them as human sacrifice in their midnight ritual, you need to save them and the forest before it's too late.
Extra chapter plot doesn't have anything to do with the main story, it has same characters and places, but no indications to the main game story. You are small girl, i assume it's Mary's mother in this story, but not completely sure if i caught any names that indicate that. They live with their mother - Baba/grandma from the main story. Mother is sick and little girl wants to save her, for that they need the endangered pink mythical flower. You escape from the house in the night and travel to the forest where you have to help creatures to prove you have pure heart, that is needed to get to the flower.
My personal opinion about the plot is that it's nothing special. I like to play more of the realistic stories that are taking place in modern/modernish times, but this wasn't so bad. Plot is your typical one you see in these games. I have started to notice that almost all or at least good amount of Artifex Mundi games follow the exact same plot line. You have the main character who is helped by a person at first, they turn out to be the evil bad guy and then you have to chase them down and make world a better place again. I'm amused how often the evil in the game first are seen as the helping good guy. Even though the plot was cookie cutter same as in others, i think it was decently executed in this one so it wasn't extremely boring.
Mechanics and game play of the game were good. You don't have map in the first part of the game, but you obtain it quite early which makes the in game moving easier. Gotta point out minor oddity in this game, map is 2 sided and you need to flip it, haven't seen that before. You have your basic journal, where you can see your notes and stories you have found. You have three (3) difficulty levels, i played this on expert even though i usually like to play on advanced, but that choice was only because the one achievement you can get, i'll explain it later in the review.
There was plenty of HO scenes, few of them were repetitive, but that isn't a problem if it only stays in a few. I think over half of the HO's were find by shape ones, instead find by the word/names. I like the name ones more personally, but i think overall in this game there's a good balance in the HO's. You have extra chapter after the main story, which is always a plus in my books. I have played so many of these type of games so far that almost every game seems to be same kind, that is where i come to the mini games. They are same, same ones i have played hundred times across the genre. There wasn't any rare or special mini game that you don't see often, because all of them were the sames that you see often, specially in Artifex Mundi games. I ain't game developer just a gamer, but i think that there should be many new options for the mini games in the world or am i wrong? Something new and refreshing would be cool, because at the moment it's just that i know how they work, what is the logic behind the puzzles to solve them, so it's just me brainless clicking the puzzle in less than few minutes to solve it. Also what comes to the puzzles in this game, some of the so claimed 'puzzles' didn't even feel like ones, they were more like interactive stories. Too easy for to even be called puzzle, you just place the symbols/pictures over the obvious spots while there is story telling.
You can also find extra materials in the main menu, like music, wallpapers, mini games and so on. That is always a plus in my opinion. I liked the art work, but Artifex Mundi rarely disappoints in that category to be honest. It gave me a children's book dreamy magical forest vibes. Music was fitting and good, didn't feel repetitive. Voice acting was between decent and good. I don't have my hopes up what comes to the acting in these types of games, but in this one i think it was OK.
Achievements were good in my opinion. Only achievement i didn't like was the complete the game in hard difficulty. When it might not be a problem for me to play the game on hard, i think it leaves out some players, specially the ones who haven't played these games much and want to get some help in the game. These type of games are usually played pass time like in a light casual way. There are missable achievements like the collect all cards one and there isn't clear indicator that there is card seen on the scene like some games do, but i would say overall still it's kinda hard to miss the cards or flowers for example since often they aren't so well hidden. Most of the achievements come with the story as you go, few of them are based on the mini games and HO scenes, like find all objects in less than minute etc. I got all the achievements quite easily. Even if you miss one flower like for example in the first part of the game, you can go back there almost always since there isn't really blocked places.
What comes to the game length, it didn't take me so long to play little bit over 3 hours on hard adding the extra chapter, played on pc. I would say for someone not so familiar of this genre, maybe 5 hours or so. It's not that long and that is what is considered in my next statement. This game is 14,79 euros (16,09 USD) without sale, i would not recommend this unless it's on a sale. Personally i can't justify myself buying a game with that price when i only get few hours of play from it and probably never going to play again. I would wait it to come to a like over 50% sale.
Pros
• Extra chapter.
• Plot is decent.
• Extra material in main menu.
• Good amount of HO's.
• Plenty of mini games.
• 3 difficulty levels.
• You can get achievements in one game play.
• Great for people who are new to these type of games or want casual chill game to play.
Cons
• Most of the puzzles are way too easy, same ones that you see in other games. Some of them i wouldn't even call puzzles.
• High price, unless in sale.
• No indicator if there is collectible present.
• You have to play the game on hard to get all the achievements.
Story
□ Bad
□ Could be better
☑ Decent
□ Good
□ Enjoyable
□ Immersive
Artwork
□ Bad
□ Could be better
□ Decent
□ Pretty good
☑ Beautiful
□ Amazing
Soundtrack
□ Bad
□ Could be better
□ Decent
☑ Good
□ Immersive
□ Eargasm
Minigames difficulty
□ Toddler could solve
☑ Easy
□ Medium
□ Advanced
□ Hard
□ Had to check on google
Overal gameplay difficulty
□ Toddler could solve
☑ Easy
□ Medium
□ Advanced
□ Hard
□ Had to check on google
Audience
☑ Kids
☑ Teens
☑ Young adults
☑ Adults
☑ Seniors