I am starting a new thread (part seven) of What Casual Games Are You Playing Right Now? so that we can continue our discussion, as the previous thread was getting quite long.

For those wishing to read the previous thread which was part six, it can be found here.

Laughed out loud while playing Twilight Phenomena (Lodgers) when the ape guy did the hand signal that he was keeping his eyes on me. It's a nice little game, a lot of puzzles but not too hard. I'm still playing.

I finished Twilight Phenomena: The Lodgers of House 13 tonight. I think I will start Spirit Legends: Finding Balance tomorrow. I have also been playing RestorArt: Fairwood Hills and Summer in Italy Mosaic Edition as well as some "paint" games, and still working on Secret Investigations: Revelation.

Glad you enjoyed the Twight game, oldbroad.
I’m nearly at the end of the bonus chapter of my second one - Strange Menagerie - and will then play the last of the three 👍
(And if there were more, I’d have just carried on !! 😬)

Glad to hear you liked the Lodgers of House 13, ob!

And I do wish there had been more in this series.

I just finished The Legacy: Forgotten Gates CE. I always enjoy 5 BN games.

Next is Shop it Up! This has been in my Purchase History for over a decade and it's time to play it.

Don't spend all your money, Marian! I had to look Shop It Up up because I don't have it. No wonder; time management.

Yes, it's time management. Level 19 out of 75. Not sure how far I will get with it, but it will be fun to see.

I have been working around some internet issues since yesterday. Yesterday we had an outage lasting 6-1/2 hours and then it came back. Today it was out for about 9-1/2 hours and then it came back again, within 30 minutes of when it came back on Saturday. I put in a work order yesterday and the earliest they could get anyone over here is tomorrow morning. Anyway, it's kept the weekend interesting. Hopefully tomorrow something will get fixed.

Heck, Marian !!

I hope it gets sorted for you very quickly 🤞🤞🤞

Yes, I hope so too, Marian! Some days I lose my connection on and off all day but I don't know for sure if it's my internet or my computer.

I should NEVER play these Mosaic games. I just spent about 5 hours playing and kept telling myself to stop and play something else. The last couple of nights I was falling asleep but kept trying to complete a level. They really rope me in, just like a Match 3 does.

Please remind me to never get started on Mosaic games.

Thank you both for your good wishes on my internet. Hopefully it will be a simple fix.

I finished Spirit Legends: Finding Balance. I think I will play Shtriga: Summer Camp next.

I played Shtriga: Summer Camp a few years ago and enjoyed it overall.

I am still playing Shop it Up! and I have also started European Mystery: Flowers of Death, which so far is a very nice game.

I finished RestorArt and Summer in Italy Mosaics yesterday. Tonight I finished Shtriga. It was pretty good, a lot to do it seemed like. I did skip one puzzle after a not too long time that I wasn't sure I was doing right. I sure wasn't getting anywhere with it anyway.

I think I will play Tearstone 2: Thieves of the Heart next.

I haven't played Tearstone 2.

I am liking European Mystery: Flowers of Death a lot - I think it's just really nicely done. I will for sure play the other two games in the series.

I have the European Mystery games installed on my Win 7. Hopefully, I will get to them one of these days.

And now I made the mistake of starting Jewel Match Origins: Palais Imperial According to Steam I played for 3.9 hours.

I finished Tearstone 2 and will move on to Mystery Trackers: Blackrow's Secret next.

What did you think of Tearstone 2?

I started Mystery of the Ancients: Curse of the Black Water and played for five hours yesterday. This is my second time playing the game.

Tearstone 2 was enjoyable. If you liked the first game, you'll like this one. They're both good, but not games that stand out to me and stay in my mind. In fact, I couldn't remember what the first game was about and had to look it up to refresh my memory before I started the second game, and I played it earlier this year, not years ago. I didn't find all of the collectibles but that didn't affect anything so I don't care.

I haven't played any of the Mystery of the Ancients games yet, though I do have some of them installed and waiting.

I have Scent of Desire and The Face of Envy - and, of course, can't remember if I've played either one

[So it's a case of saving up my pennies now, if I want the other one 👀]

Thanks for the rundown on Tearstone 2, ob.

Mad, I started keeping a list of casual games played and finished; I started the list in March 2020. Otherwise, I would not remember for sure what games I have played either. Number of games finished in a little more than five years is 391. That number amazes me - it doesn't seem like that many at all.

Marian, is that number just casual games? To date from 2020, I have played (or am playing) 326 casuals. The number includes some games that are never ending (such as jigsaw puzzles games) so it's not exactly accurate.

I started keeping my played list in 2018 and I list adventures as well as casuals. I keep each year on a separate spreadsheet tab and do some sorts on it here and there so at the end of the year I can tally up the adventures and the casuals separately.

That number was just for casual games, ob.

Having long since retired from my profession in Accounting - and now also my voluntary accounts work, I find myself reluctant to initiate spreadsheets or any other sensible way of cataloguing my huge collection of games.

I'm just content to be totally unprofessional about the whole thing

However, I have caved in and bought the remaining European Mystery game - so that's how strong willed I AM !!!!

So understandable, Mad!

Mad

My list is just a notepad list that I keep on my desktop - very primitive, and nothing fancy about it at all. I have no desire whatsoever to look at spreadsheets!

I started Small Town Terrors: Livingston yesterday. I had tried it for about 10 minutes a couple of times in the past and was put off by the fact that it starts out in a grungy-looking hospital setting. I am really glad that I decided to persist this time because the game got a lot better and now I am quite enjoying it. It is well done and has reasonable puzzles and good use of inventory (no moon logic). I will try to remember in future not to dismiss a game so hastily and give it more time before making that decision.

Just took a look at it. Seems it has a 'health meter.' Does that mean if you run out of health it's game over? I don't like that.

Heavens, no. It is a very simple thing where you have a certain amount of health at any given time and can gain more health by finding first aid kits and other stuff to boost your health. There are a few tasks in the game that require a certain amount of health before you can perform them. It does not detract from the game at all and there is no pressure or anything, including no dying. I think it's actually kind of fun.

I am finding it to be just a pleasant, solid game that is not a Collector's Edition. I am pretty sure I picked it up with a free game code (this game came out in 2012 on Big Fish).

I am pretty sure that I enjoyed all of the Small Town Terror games although, off hand, I can't remember what they were about. Even your mention of this "health meter" doesn't ring a bell.

I finished Mystery Trackers: Blackrow's Secret and have a very brief start on Mountain Crime Requital. Hopefully, I will get farther into that today.

Mountain Crime Requital is something that I have been thinking of picking up for years. Please let us know what you think of it.

Will do!

That WAS the kind of list I started, years ago, but which hardly ever gets updates these days.

[Shame On Me !! ]

I finished Jewel Match Origins: Palais Imperial very early this morning before going to bed at around 5 am. It took me a short while to get into because there is a lot of bling but then it was enjoyable, however three times when I exited out of the game my computer was froze up and I had to use my windows key to shut down or restart my computer. Could not use my mouse to get to the start button area nor could I use task manager once I remembered to try Control/Alt/Delete to get there. It would not shut down. I was able to use the mouse to power off once I used the windows key to get there. Steam game if that means anything.

I just now finished Mountain Crime: Requital. It was an interesting game and I did enjoy it, but ... I did get lost trying to follow the story and some things didn't seem right (like some of the conversations and some other little things). Also, while the main character's voice was nice enough, I did not think it went well at all with the character. Most of the puzzles were easy enough. I did not need any hints or skips. It is certainly worth playing though, especially if you already have the game in your library.

Thank you for that very nice description of Mountain Requital. It sounds like it's worth a look.

I don't have that Jewel Match Origins game, but I am sorry it was freezing like that. Congrats on finishing!

I am playing House of 1000 Doors: Serpent Flame and am in the bonus game now. A great game, one that I only played once years ago upon release. I am really enjoying it.

And I just finished Secret Investigations: Revelation which I have been playing since 2021 .

I played House of 1000 Doors: Serpent Flame some time last year.

I'm not yet sure what I will play next. I'm thinking Darkarta: A Broken Heart's Quest which I have installed from Steam on my Win 7 computer. The last of the Steam games I will probably be playing on there although I did leave a couple of Adventure games installed. Most of the Steam games got uninstalled when they stopped supporting Win 7 and I was going to uninstall Steam but then I didn't.

Definitely worthy of a major reward!

I have Darkarta but haven't played it yet.

I finished Darkarta today. It was on the different side and had some different puzzles, both things I usually like in a game but, I didn't really like the game much.

I also started Twin Minds: Nobody's Here today. It seems okay so far.

That is interesting, your impression of Darkarta. I have often asked myself why I haven't given it a whirl and for some reason it did not look terribly appealing to me, even though it had mostly good reviews. Maybe I will check it out this year.

I finished House of 1000 Doors: Serpent Flame and then played Eternal Journey: New Atlantis again.

Now I am playing Myths of the World: Under the Surface.

I'd really like to know what you think of Darkarta if you get around to playing it, Marian. Has anybody else reading this played? If so, how did you like it? I can't really put my finger on why I didn't like it too much.

I haven't played any Myths of the World games yet.

You know I like the Mosaics games so I bought some Fantasy Mosaics games at the Steam sale and have been playing one of those into the wee hours of the morning. But I also bought some of the Nonograms games and have done a few of them so far. They are pretty hard! No color changing when you get stuck. It's just the one grid.

I will be sure to let you know what I think of Darkarta when I get around to playing it.

It sounds like you are enjoying your Mosaics and nonograms.

I finished Myths of the World: Under the Surface. It was a nice game. Eipix maintained a certain level of consistency in the quality of their games.

Now I am playing Icebound Secrets: The Frostwood Bane. I was initially not all that interested in this game, knowing that it was a mobile game that had been ported to PC. However, I am finding it quite good. No voiceovers but I adjusted quite quickly to that, and I am glad that I picked it up. So far it's playing more like adventure lite.

That's good to know, Marian. I haven't bought Icebound Secrets yet. It's on my list. I haven't hit the BOGO yet. Trying to decide. I've let too many games build up on my "to buy" list and now I've spent a lot of money at Steam.

Decisions, decisions...

Well, Icebound Secrets was a pretty long game and well worth the asking price. No strategy guide but I never needed one. I did skip several puzzles due to lack of patience. It was indicated there would be a sequel and I will certainly pick it up if there is one.

Now I am playing Mystery Murders: The Sleeping Palace, a game that 8dognight recommended in the Casual Games Recommendations thread. I picked it up a few years ago after reading what she said about it, and I am glad that I did. A very nice HOPA that is well put together. I would recommend it. Interestingly the developer is Casual Arts, creators of the Park Ranger and Cruise Director series among others. Mystery Murders appears to have been their only HOPA.

I played Mystery Murders: The Sleeping Palace last year but I don't really remember it. There is also a Mystery Murders: Jack the Ripper which I played a few years back, also developed by Casual Arts.

I finished the main game of Twin Minds: Nobody's Here but still have to play the bonus chapter. I don't like that they have "choices" in the games and if you choose one thing you might miss some stuff. I also finished the Fantasy Mosaics game I was playing. Mostly it was fine but there were some grids that you had to guess at and when I made a mistake with my guess it ticked me off!

Oh yes, I wasn't even associating this "Mystery Murders" thing as being part of a series. Thanks for the reminder (and I do have Mystery Murders: Jack the Ripper, which I haven't yet played).

I think the idea of the "choose one thing" is that it gives the game some replay value. Which might hold some appeal if I only had 10 games in my Purchase History (!).

I don't like those grids where you have to guess. But they always seem to crop up somewhere.

There is no guessing with the Nonograms game (at least not yet). The grids go to 35 x 35 I think, but I have only done some 20 x 20's so far. My only problem with the game is it is hard to see if some of the cells are filled in or not and I've made a couple of mistakes counting because I just couldn't see them right. I know I can change the background but I don't know about the actual grid and cell coloring. I'll have to check it out. I like it though!

I hope you are able to change the grid and cell coloring. Not being able to make things out can be frustrating.

I just finished Mystery Murders: The Sleeping Palace and I loved it. I needed a little nudge towards the very end of the game because I was trying to put an item on a wall without success. I looked at a walkthrough and I just needed to place the item a tiny bit higher above the place where I was clicking. Aside from that, I only skipped a puzzle or two and had a great time otherwise.

Next up is Dark Angels: Masquerade of Shadows.

Thanks Marian. I did figure out how to change the coloring so it is easier on my eyes.

I had to look at part of a video to refresh my memory of The Sleeping Palace. I'm quite sure I enjoyed the game also. I'm glad you had fun with it!

I finished Twin Minds: Nobody's Here. I wish I could say I enjoyed it, but I really didn't. I think I liked the first Twin Minds game a lot but these next three went straight downhill for me. Maybe I am just a cranky old lady.

I have Dark Angels from Steam but haven't played it yet. I hope you like it.

I think I am going to play Dracula's Legacy next. I also moved Matchventures 3 icon to my desktop so I may start that soon.

I have played Dracula's Legacy and I did enjoy it.

I haven't played all the Twin Minds games so can't venture an opinion on that.

I know I have the first Matchventures game but not sure about the other two. Will check.

Dark Angels has been fun so far. I was surprised to hear Lani Minella doing voiceovers in this game.

I finished Dracula's Legacy and I liked it a lot but I can't say I understood the ending at all.

I started a replay of Agatha Christie - 4:50 From Paddington.

Not understanding the ending of Dracula's Legacy rings a bell with me but I don't remember why now. I will look at a walkthrough to see how it ended.

I finished Dark Angels and quite enjoyed it overall.

Since then, I have been playing The Fog.

I just started "Time Mysteries : The Ancient Spectres [CE]" which I've definitely not played before (says she)

And it took me ages to find everything in the very first HOG !!

Hope that's not going to be the case all the way through

I played the game last year, Mad, but I don't remember it. I'm having some trouble finding items in my Agatha Christie game. So far I only had to replay one chapter though. Playing in timed mode.

Phew !!

I would have to be dragged kicking and screaming to play most any game in timed mode 😱

But good luck to YOU for doing so 🤗

I enjoyed those early Agatha Christie casual games that were in timed mode. But you have to be in the mood for it.

I haven't played that Time Mysteries game yet.

I played all three Time Mysteries games last year and just took a look at them for a refresher. I think they were pretty good games so I hope you can find your way through the HO scenes, Mad.

I like a lot of the HOGs timed and most of my Match 3s also. Not my adventures though!

But, the option to not play in timed mode is very welcome!

I finished A C 4:50 From Paddington and started Mystery PI: Lost in Los Angles. I will also be starting Grim Tales: The Wishes soon.

I don't think I've ever played a fully "timed" Agatha Christie game ??
I only have "Death on the Nile" and Peril at End House" from Big Fish though - both of which I bought in 2013.
So if they are timed maybe I haven't played them yet ....

I have several "full adventure" Agatha Christies and they are definitely not timed.

I have Death on the Nile from Big Fish (the casual game) and the hidden object scenes are timed.

I finished The Fog and I also started and finished The Wild Case. The Fog was fun. The Wild Case is an adventure game and while it was a bit on the simplistic side as compared to many others I have played, I quite liked it.

Now playing Exorcist 2, a recommendation of 8dognight, which I am finding very enjoyable.

Ob, there's a game in my Purchase History that I have been thinking of replaying called Hidden Magic. It has an interesting take on timed hidden object scenes, as I recall.

Mad, those are the two games I have only on disc unfortunately. The other two I have from Big Fish. Actually, I think I was given an option to play timed or not. (Can't even remember from just a few days back.) Oh, and I should admit that I did NOT guess the murderer.

Marian, I have both The Fog and The Wild Case installed and waiting. Sometimes those "simplistic" ones are just what's needed for me. In fact, getting more and more so lately it seems. I also have the Exorcist (all 3 games) installed on my Win 7 computer. Hidden Magic is a game I don't seem to have though. I'll take a look at it if it's till available. Okay, I looked at it. No video but I read some of the reviews. Not sure it's for me with that RPG battles??? I'll put it on my list and think about it.

The "battles," as I recall, consist of your trying to finish a hidden object scene before your opponent does. My memory may be a trifle faulty here, but I believe it's something like that. I don't remember there being any combat as we understand it.

Yes, one of the reviews described something like that but still... ??? not sure.

I will see if I can't download it and check it out again after I finish my current game. I have been wanting to replay it at some point.

And lately, simpler games have been a good fit for me. I just want to relax!

Just loaded up Hidden Magic and there is a relaxed mode option where there is no timer and you cannot die. I remember the one issue I had with this game is that some of the pieces of items (the game has fragmented hidden objects) are really tiny so I find myself using the hint button more than I would like.

I just finished Twisted Lands: Shadow Town CE. I have had this game in my Purchase History for roughly 14 years and finally played the entire game plus the bonus game. It is a good one, lots of to-ing and fro-ing if you are in the mood for that sort of thins. Very creepy. My only real complaint is that I found some of the hidden object scenes to be quite dark, which did not do my poor vision any favors. But I found the game to be very worthwhile nonetheless.

There is also a sequel and a prequel. Not sure if I will take a break from this series now for a bit, or get right into the sequel.

I only have the Twisted Lands series on disc. Maybe I will re-purchase from BF one of these days. I have never played the games.

I'm stuck very early on in Grim Tales: The Wishes and have been avoiding it because I don't want to start using the guide already but I am going to have to if I want to play the game. I feel like I am missing a whole area but I went through all of it again yesterday and didn't find anything new. Really, it is probably one little thing that will get the ball rolling. That's how it usually goes. I am having the same issue in my Adventure game.

That happens to me sometimes too and I don't like starting out like that either. And yes, it is almost always that one little thing.

I did end up finding one thing I missed BUT it was not helpful as it was a puzzle without all the necessary pieces. I'll give it one more try before I open up the guide or possibly just try a hint. I don't use the hint button too often.

I did, however, figure out my adventure game mostly by myself. I looked at the walkthrough only up til where I was stuck but did not look at the solution. Reading it made me think though, that I might not have tried all the options and when I did try all the options (I thought), I still hadn't found the solution, but I kept on a little more and got it!

Yes, maybe just try a hint. I try to do as you do when it comes to use of the hint button. Nice you got past your stuck point in the adventure game!

I just started Dark Ritual.

Let us know how you like Dark Ritual. I don't seem to have that game .

I think I remember how I ended up with it. I was looking up a developer's games to see what else they had done (Vogat Interactive) and this was on the list, something I did not have. I picked it up in 2020.

So far it is a nice game. It has more hidden object scenes than I normally prefer, but for what it is, it's nicely done. And so far the hidden object scenes haven't been too dark, which kind of compensates for the frequency of them. The puzzles have been fine so far and nothing too difficult, which I also prefer, and with clear instructions.

I had to use a hint. There was a sofa chair with a note on it and I had looked at the note several times but apparently there was a hot spot to look under the chair which I did not see. It went pretty good for awhile after that but I might be stuck again now. Not sure. I needed to take a break.

Yes, one little thing. No matter how careful and observant I try to be, this sort of thing happens more often than I would like.

I bought some of those Crisp App HOGs at the Steam Summer Sale and tried one out, Aladdin Hidden Objects. I can certainly see why BF reviewers are not interested in this type of game, especially for the price they charge. Unless there is a lot more to the BF versions, they should put these in their "bite size games" section. I must say, I worry about the future of BF.

Anyway, the game was very, very short. I did not understand the "scoring" system. It's not a timed game but I guess you are on a timer of some sort. I actually enjoyed the story until the end when it decided to confuse me. I liked it for a diversion but I would not recommend it.

Aladdin is not one of the games on BF but Time Machine is, which I imagine is the same type of gaming. I think I saw at least one other of these Crisp App games on BF which is what made me look at them on Steam.

Also, I had finished Mystery PI: Lost in Los Angeles a few days back. Usually I go back and replay all the HO scenes after unlocking them but I'm not sure yet if I'm going to do that or not this time. We'll see next time I'm in my Win 7 computer.

Thank you for the information about the Aladdin game, ob. I haven't downloaded Time Machine but it does sound similar to what you are describing.

I don't have that Mystery PI game. I no doubt would have bought them all on BF had I known they would be removed at some point.

And I am playing Grim Tales: The Wishes. After you mentioned it, I got to thinking of how I don't think I have ever played this game all the way through, so I am doing it now.

Marian, are you still playing Grim Tales? I am trying to figure out this well puzzle which doesn't seem to make any sense to me.

I finished it. I remember that puzzle. I kept at it for a while but eventually skipped it as I wasn't getting anywhere.

I just looked at the BF walkthrough that Ana wrote. She gave this tip about the puzzle:



Maybe that will help?

Thanks. I'll try again later using that tip. It just feels like the computer can do whatever it wants but I can't. I didn't really try for too long though. It's one of those - more frustrating than fun - puzzles, IMO.

Have you started anything else yet?

Yes, I have started Grimville: The Gift of Darkness and it's a really nice game.

Another game I never heard of and don't have (yet, even though I see "choices" are required) . I hope you continue to enjoy it.

So, how did you like the Grim Tales game anyway? There is a lot of to-ing and fro-ing but mostly I like it. There was a second incident where I had to use a hint because I just didn't see a hot spot after looking for about 10 times at everything.

I did decide to play all of the "unlocked" ho and match 3 in Mystery PI. I'll probably finish that up today.

I thought Grim Tales was overall a really good game. The to-ing and fro-ing is very much there, but it did not bother me too much. A high-quality game, for sure.

There have been a couple choice screens so far with Grimville but it doesn't seem like it is going to make much difference one way or the other, at least so far. The graphics are beautiful and the game is very atmospheric. Some hidden object scenes but not too many, and more of an adventure lite game otherwise. It has a nice journal too.

Well, I got past the puzzle pretty quickly today. I had lines with a 1, a 1, and a 3. I did the 3, the computer did a 1, and I did the last 1.

That's great!

Just started .. Mystery Case Files : Incident at Pendle Tower [CE] .. and it's lookin' fine right now 😁

I haven't played that one yet, Mad. I hope you enjoy it.

I haven't gotten to that one yet either, Mad. I'm still working on Grim Tales.

(to-ing and fro-ing LOL!) Been there, we do that a lot.

BTW - holding my breath; another MCF coming around mid-November. Played 'em all I have, right from the start, (Huntsville I believe)

Tally Ho, have you played the Mystery Case Files spin-off here? It has generally good reviews. Maybe something to tide you over until November (if you haven't already played it)?

Well, I'm getting close to the end of the main game now but have had to use the Hint Button A LOT ....

[I do like the game and find it addictive - but am not understanding all the puzzles - even some of those I've solved unaided !!]

Go Figure

Mad, I have the same thing with Grim Tales. There were a couple of puzzles I didn't know what I was supposed to be doing but then all of a sudden I had solved them. That was both good and bad I guess. Right now I have played 20 minutes in the bonus chapter and have been stuck for 10 of those minutes. Had to get out of the game. Don't know what the heck I'm missing now.

That sounds familiar.

I finished Grimville and am now playing Gravely Silent: House of Deadlock. It's been really good so far.

I have Gravely Silent installed for *some day*.

I managed to find what I missed without a hint this time and have now finished the game. Whew! I just am amazed at how stuck I can get just because I can't see something that is right in front of my face!

Congrats on finishing, ob!

The same thing happens to me frequently - missing something right in front of me.

Marian - just saw your note regarding MCF spin-off. Downloaded the trial version, and will look at it in a while. Thanks for the tip!

You are welcome, Tally Ho!