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The story follows a simple family with big hearts. A ranger and a seamstress had two daughters; one of them took more to their mother, and you as the protagonist took more towards your father. While a simple family, they led a life filled with danger not unlike the rest of their village, and we aren’t only talking about the creatures roaming the forests at night. The village is overlooked by an eerie mountain, which on its top holds the lair of the most evil of wizards. This old craven thirsts for eternal life, and has for years held the whole village hostage so, once a year, he can harvest the souls of two unlucky individuals.
Every year, people live in fear of being the next in line, and your family over the past decades as they are spared such wretched fates. Yet everything changes this time, as, at the time of the harvest, you wanted to take a look at the harpies that take people annually. Your parents rush out of their house to come to look for you, to get you back into hiding, yet this puts them in the eye of the creatures and thus, are taken. This is where the game begins, embarking on your quest to save your family.
In terms of visuals, the game has some gorgeous backgrounds to look at, which are quite filled with details telling their own story of the world. This is to be expected, since the core gameplay involves looking carefully at the backgrounds for clues and items. What is less expected is that every character is fully voice acted. The characters are also animated, with amazing lip sync to boot; it is not truly 3D, but it gets the job done and along with everything else in the visual and audio department, you can’t help but be immersed in what is going on.
The color palette keeps everything moody and darkened, keeping with the tone of dark fantasy. It is however accentuated with plenty of vibrant colors, which is also in keeping with the overall theme of the game; the light that triumphs against overwhelming darkness. It really is a goth-themed game that can be straight out of a fictional novel which appeals to players of every age and background!
Gameplay follows the classic gist of horror games. You travel from area to area looking for objects, and investigate interactable zones to get even more objects. Some zones require objects themselves, others are puzzles that award useful items. These puzzles are very varied between one another, and they are where most of the fantastical things in the game happen. This makes it so you never truly know the reward for completing a puzzle, therefore you get double the enjoyment from completing them; from the challenge itself, and from the surprising effects that might happen!
As you collect things, you have to use them in order to advance to the newer areas. Plenty of times you will find yourself backtracking in order to solve previous puzzles, since all areas are interconnected like that. This means that if you miss one area, you can go back and look through the previous area again to find out what you have missed. In this way, you are able to retrace your steps and correct your mistakes easily.
Imagine yourself immersed in a game where the primary challenge revolves around 'The List'. Picture a scene brimming with a multitude of items, seemingly scattered haphazardly. Your task? To identify and select the ones that match those on your list. Now, this list isn't always presented in words. Sometimes, it's composed of objects that you'll need to strategically place within the scene. These List puzzles are sprinkled generously throughout the game, often requiring you to revisit and re-solve them to gather multiple valuable objects. If you're intrigued by this concept and want to play games similar to clutter, then you're definitely in for a treat!
Keep in mind that if you get otherwise stuck, you can always use the hint button to show you were to go next. While it takes a while to recharge, it is always useful in a pinch. You can even use it to skip most puzzles, quite handy!
Dark Heart: Flight of the Harpies is a rollercoaster of sorts, with plenty of exciting moments in the ride that make you almost feel like in an action game. The world is a memorable one that even when it uses the usual tropes, the quality and presentation of it all makes it a worthwhile experience.
If you enjoy these free games, you will love this list of our 10 Best Hidden Object Games!
