The Secret Monster Society: Chapter 1 –
Monsters, Fires and Forbidden Forests
Deceptive Games
Ever wondered where your dreams
come from? Apparently it’s a result of the world within our world, an
underworld if you will. Inhabited by what we would call monsters, it is
they who have responsibility for feeding us our dreams.
One such monster is Blithe
Dalrich, who managed to save both worlds. This is his story.
All of this we know from the
opening dialogue, told by a bespectacled moustachioed creature
reminiscent of many a Dr Seuss critter. Then we are off to start our
adventure with Blithe.
About 45 minutes to an hour
later, Blithe is on his way somewhere/when with his friend Aphonic,
blipped out of existence in a bubble. I suspect the real story is just
beginning, but it will have to wait until Chapter 2.
The time in between is a gentle,
animated point and click inventory quest that, while it doesn’t reach
any great heights, delivers a colourful, almost childlike, animated
outing.
The monsters are engaging, a
motley monstery crew, each different from the other. They look and sound
like these sorts of monsters should; think Monsters Inc rather than
Godzilla. A variety of jaunty musical pieces accompanies things.
Everything is done with the left
mouse. Click once to interact and again to pick the desired action
curser; at most there will be two, either look or talk, or look or take.
Move the mouse to the top of the screen to reveal the inventory, and
just drag items onto each other or into the game world. Press escape to
access the menu, including save at will. It’s all very straightforward.
The conundrums are pretty much
inventory based, save for a few near the end. Navigating the forbidden
forest involves trial and error to determine which direction to go, a
wrong one returning you to the start, and would have felt like filler
but for the nature of the Forbidden Forest and its limited duration.
Ditto the glittering object treasure hunt.
I didn’t know Deceptive Games,
but a visit to their website suggests their other non-VR game might be
more up my alley. Based on the information on the site, the two games
couldn’t be more different, but kudos to them to trying to provide for
different tastes. This game does what it does to a nicely polished
degree, and will undoubtedly find an audience. I am not really part of
it, but nonetheless you would be a hardhearted soul to feel negatively
about the first chapter.
I played on:
OS: Windows 10, 64 Bit
Processor: Intel i7-6700 4GHz
RAM: 32GB GDDR5
Video card: AMD Radeon
RX 470 8192MB
GameBoomers Review Guidelines
January 2017
design copyright© 2017
GameBoomers
Group
