House of 1000 Doors 3: Serpent Flame is a Hidden Object game with fantastic and mystical elements. In it, you go back to the titular house as you try to solve an ancient mystery of an apocalyptic scale.
The story of the game starts really strong, even before you press the start button. You see a metropolis completely destroyed, and flying up high is a manor. This can only lead to many questions, leaving the player hungry for answers as they watch the intro cutscene. As it turns out, it is not just this one city but the whole world that has been affected by this calamity.
Can you return things to what it was before and prevent this disaster from happening?
While the setting is certainly fantastic, the tone of the game goes for something quite grim. The color palette is very subdued, with washed out tones that emanate a constant feeling of dread. Beyond this, the backgrounds and characters are very polished and detailed, the areas in particular giving a dark renaissance vibe. Each zone you traverse is filled with elements that are not only for you to interact, but also to tell the story of the house.
Going back to the characters, they really are the stars of the show and the reason why the story can be so engaging. They are fully rendered in 3D, and while they are viewed in the background they have some very well done idle animations. They are not the only moving things in the different scenes, adding to the sense that this is a very real place instead of just a picture. Yet when you interact with them, a fully fledged cutscene starts where the characters look and interact with one another. And yes, they are all fully voice acted which adds a lot to the feeling of immersion.
Beyond talking to characters, the game does not shy away from using cutscenes in plenty of places, especially to introduce a new area. One place in particular has a panning camera spinning around as candles light on their own and form an arcane symbol on the floor, all to unlock some stairs leading up. The feeling of dread an mystery does not let up as you advance through the stages.
As it turns out, it is not just this one city but the whole world that has been affected by the calamity. The source: Giant ancient snakes erupted from deep beneath the ground, waking from a thousand year slumber. They destroyed everything within reach, yet there was one area of the world that escaped their grasp. The famous House of 1000 Doors rose to the sky, protecting its inhabitants from the dangers plaguing the planet.
In all of these happenings, you take the role of Kate, a veteran to the house who is aware of what is going on outside yet is not sure how she got here.
If you have not played the other instalments, do not worry; while most of the characters know each other, they still take some time to introduce themselves and their role in all of this. What is more, there are plenty of new mysteries to uncover, so you certainly will not be feeling left out.
Gameplay follows the classic gist of the genre. 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.
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.
The main puzzle for you to solve is the List. You are shown a scene with plenty of cluttered items, and you have to find and click on the ones shown on a list. Sometimes the list is made of words, other times of objects that you need to place on the scene. These List puzzles are found all throughout the game and sometimes you need to do the same one twice in order to get multiple useful objects.
House of 1000 Doors 3: Serpent Flame is an intriguing mystery story filled with memorable characters and engaging gameplay. Like all Windows 10 games in the series, this is a standalone adventure, therefore if you like this game you should try the other ones to get the full taste of this magical manor.
If you enjoy these free games, you will love this list of our 10 Best Hidden Object Games!
