Enigmatis: The Ghosts of Maple Creek
I was going through playthrough lists of different hidden object games to inspire me with my folio work and lo and behold I was drawn to one particular title. ‘Enigmatis: The Ghosts of Maple Creek’. If my memory serves me right, it’s the very first hidden object game I played well before my teens.
Enigmatis: The Ghosts of Maple Creek is part of a series of puzzle/adventure hidden objects games developed by Artifex Mundi. With the goal of saving a kidnapped girl and recovering the protagonist’s memory, Enigmatis leads the player on a journey filled with mysterious and engaging storytelling with its detailed animated visuals and its atmospheric sound effects. These apply well to the themes of investigative detective work and the importance of uncovering the truth.
With the same type of semi-photorealistic artwork, cleverly simple animations and winding narratives, not to mention core gameplay mechanics such as hint sparkles and updating journals, Hidden Object games rarely stray too far from the base. Unlike other genres of games that strive to stand out, Hidden Object games draw their strength from being similar to each other because the players of these games tend to be a niche audience that enjoys the same formula.
In terms of how this work contributes to the field of gaming or even the somewhat niche corner of Hidden Objects, I can’t say it does. However, this is the perfect game to pick apart for game mechanics as it has impressively crammed in as many Hidden Objects game tropes as possible.
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