A few day ago I started playing Stormhill Mysteries: Family Shadows, a forgotten good one that I played some time ago. I rediscovered it via a circuitous path that seems to work well.

In looking at BFG reviews of a game I did not like yet was rated four stars, I read one from someone who didn't like the game either. The reviewer was not someone who loves and reviews everything. I noticed the reviewer liked a lot of the same games that I do, so a tried a few games that person recommended I either hadn't tried yet or had forgotten.

I have used the same system tracing the steps of reviewers of games I like; I hadn't tried the system based on mutual dislikes and so far it is working well.

Both the old casual review thread and Marian's series of threads on what we're playing now are helpful as well.

What other systems do you use?

In the past, I have acquired some games on the recommendation of a reviewer or two with whom I shared similar likes and dislikes. One big deciding factor for me has been who is the developer, which invariably leads to further research as to what games they have released prior. And of course the threads here have prompted me to investigate (and play) some titles that I had overlooked.

Off topic, but I have Stormhill Mysteries: Family Shadows but haven't played it yet. Thank you for the reminder.

Oh, yes, Marian. You have reminded me that after I restarted Stormhill and realized it was a good one, I went to the Specialbits Studio website to find their other games.

The BFG search system has been terrible for a few years now, so I begin by googling reviews of a casual game, for example, "review big fish game the last dream." It is downloading now. For all I know, the title might have turned up through the current BFG system but it so often doesn't I usually don't bother with it.

I also was reminded that Specialbits made Haunted Hotel Charles Dexter Ward which is one of my all time favorites.

Yes, I love Haunted Hotel: Charles Dexter Ward. Specialbit posted on GameBoomers years ago and I was happy that I was able to tell one of the developers how much I liked the game as well as the music in it. He was pleased. You can still find those posts if you look up Specialbit in the User List.

I hope the company is still around. They were located in Ukraine.