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Casual Games Thread

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Bit embarrassing this, but that’s life.

A friend was asking for a recommendation as to a decent game or game series as an introduction to Casual Games. There’s loads that could be nominated of course but I was thinking of a specific game that fitted his criteria (it’s a fairly narrow one as he intends to play with his young daughter) but for the life of me I can’t think of the title nor can I find it any of my various game libraries Mini Frown

You start off by trying to get into a theater where a little girls is trapped. You can’t get in via the front door and have to go in via the roof. Once you’ve done all the normal bits and pieces to succeed you find that it’s been a ruse and the little girl has been used to get you and your compatriot out of your headquarters so that a certain artifact(s) can be stolen. Two guards have been put to sleep to facilitate this.
If anyone can help it would be appreciated - hopefully by my friend as well Smile

     

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The game I remember that most closely fits your description is Rite of Passage: The Perfect Show. It’s the second game in the series. The first was titled Rite of Passage: Child of the Forest. There were several more games after the second, but, in my opinion, the series started a rapid descent in quality after Perfect Show.

     

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rtrooney - 10 December 2019 02:15 PM

The game I remember that most closely fits your description is Rite of Passage: The Perfect Show. It’s the second game in the series. The first was titled Rite of Passage: Child of the Forest. There were several more games after the second, but, in my opinion, the series started a rapid descent in quality after Perfect Show.

Thanks Tim, but that’s not it.
I’ve dredged up a couple of other memories about the game. The person who sets up the diversion is someone who was kicked out (or left; can’t remember) of the organisation concerned and, near the end, it transpires that he, and the female protagonist, are actually twins although they were completely unaware of this as they’d been separated at birth.

     

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Sorry. That was as close as I could get. Your additional information didn’t help much.

I went through my purchase history at BigFish, slightly more than 400 games, to see if I could spot a title that matched what you are looking for, and drew a blank. Granted, I’ve been playing games purchased from BFG since 2010. Some of the games from the early years are hard to remember. So I might very well have played the game you;re looking for. I just can’t remember it.

     

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Some random questions to try narrowing this down:

An organization of…agents? Vermillion Watch? Mystery Trackers? Paranormal stuff? Straight detectivating? Fantasy elements? Art style? Older/newer game? Stand-alone or part of a series?

     

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Thanks again to Tim and also to Mike.
This is becoming mildly infuriating and I’m going to want to replay the game myself now - if I can get the name of course.
The reason I thought of this game was down to the requirements of my friend. His daughter has mild learning difficulties and he wanted a game that the two could play that was interesting, involved, tested her without making her uncomfortable, feeling insecure or stupid, hence looking at casual games rather than full-blown adventures.
My first thoughts were for the Enigmatis trilogy, mainly due to the character introduced in Part 3, but that was quickly quashed when the wider requirements became known (bodies in Part 1 and, particularly, the raven in Part 2).
I then thought of this game, couldn’t remember the title but thought it would be easy to find out by going through my collection. Ho Ho to that Smile

Let’s see what I can remember overall to answer Mike’s questions.
As best I can remember it fits the above requirements.

Definitely of the science fantasy genre.
Lead protagonist is female, her boss male.
Starts at night when you’re called out to rescue a young girl trapped in a theatre.
You have to find your way onto the roof and across onto a glass dome and from there down into the theatre.
Since I’ve only played a few casual games, about 20 I’d guess (and you’d think it would be easy from that small base Smile ), it’s not going to be very old.
Artwork is of the Artifex Mundi standard and it might well be one of their games.
Nothing paranormal as such, although some of the science fantasy could be considered that way.
Most scenes are set at night (I think but could be wrong there).
I definitely had a CE version as there was a bonus chapter whereby you had to get out of your cell at the start and I think that this was as the “opponent” in the main game
I think it was a standalone game.
You’re part of a defence organisation (think the Griffons against the Dragons in The Secret Order series).
There’s a knight that gets frozen defending your boss.
You have to get into the sewers where he is frozen.
Hopefully that might jog someone’s memory but, alas, not mine Smile

     

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Jabod - 11 December 2019 05:44 AM

Lead protagonist is female, her boss male.
Starts at night when you’re called out to rescue a young girl trapped in a theatre.
You have to find your way onto the roof and across onto a glass dome and from there down into the theatre.
Since I’ve only played a few casual games, about 20 I’d guess (and you’d think it would be easy from that small base Smile ), it’s not going to be very old.
Artwork is of the Artifex Mundi standard and it might well be one of their games.
Nothing paranormal as such, although some of the science fantasy could be considered that way.
Most scenes are set at night (I think but could be wrong there).
I definitely had a CE version as there was a bonus chapter whereby you had to get out of your cell at the start and I think that this was as the “opponent” in the main game
I think it was a standalone game.
You’re part of a defence organisation (think the Griffons against the Dragons in The Secret Order series).
There’s a knight that gets frozen defending your boss.
You have to get into the sewers where he is frozen.)

I can remember playing a game where you break into a theatre at night, I think through the roof or a high place, to rescue someone.
Unfortunately I don’t remember the name of it, and though I think I played the whole game, I may have only played the demo.
I was wondering if it was a Secret Order game, but you already mentioned that series and when I checked YouTube playthroughs of the beginnings of the Secret Order games I have they didn’t have the theatre.
I’ll let you know if I figure out what the game was.

     
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The League of Light series matches some of the parameters. But, since the “mascot” in the series is a rather cute scarecrow, that would be a hard game to forget. If you think the game is from Artifex, have you tried doing a search of their games?

     

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Maybe one of the Hidden Expedition games? They all have a female protagonist with a male boss.

     
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Thanks once more folks but no to current suggestions.

What I’m finding almost unbelievable is that I can’t find the game anywhere in my PC library, my Steam account, my GoG account nor my GamersGate account. I’ve also checked back on my banking spreadsheet and I can’t find it there either! I’m sure I’m not getting delusional Smile

What’s even odder is that I thought of this game pretty quickly so something about it stuck in my head (and there’s so much empty space in there it should have been easy to find Grin ).
At the very end of either the main game or the bonus chapter you have to use a number of (blue?) crystals to heal one of the two main protagonists (boss has died by now but made it up with the male twin once explanations had been made).

Tim, I’ve checked against the Steam Artifex Mundi games (and the Alawar games) but nothing there. There’s a BD-5 or something producer so tomorrow I’m going to check that out.

What’s the betting that, once discovered, the game will be totally unsuitable for my friend’s little girl Smile

     

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Portal of Evil: Stolen Runes?

     
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Jabod - 11 December 2019 03:55 PM

Thanks once more folks but no to current suggestions.

There is one more possibility, but it’s a long shot. Foremost, you had to have played the game on the computer you’re currently using. If that’s the case, right click on My Computer. Then follow this trail - C:/Users/(Name)/AppData/Roaming.
Name is your name on the computer.

Here you will find scraps of most applications you’ve ever used ... including games. If nothing pops out at you, you’ll need to open the folders that contain game info. They might be titled by the game’s title. Or, they might be a master folder titled Alawar, for example, which contains sub folders of Alawar game data. There’s no particular rhyme or reason to it. At least none that I’ve found. But if you played the game on this computer, and haven’t done anything drastic to your HD, the title of the game is probably contained in this mishmash.

     

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rtrooney - 11 December 2019 06:55 PM
Jabod - 11 December 2019 03:55 PM

Thanks once more folks but no to current suggestions.

There is one more possibility, but it’s a long shot. Foremost, you had to have played the game on the computer you’re currently using. If that’s the case, right click on My Computer. Then follow this trail - C:/Users/(Name)/AppData/Roaming.
Name is your name on the computer.

Here you will find scraps of most applications you’ve ever used ... including games. If nothing pops out at you, you’ll need to open the folders that contain game info. They might be titled by the game’s title. Or, they might be a master folder titled Alawar, for example, which contains sub folders of Alawar game data. There’s no particular rhyme or reason to it. At least none that I’ve found. But if you played the game on this computer, and haven’t done anything drastic to your HD, the title of the game is probably contained in this mishmash.

I’ve also found leftovers from uninstalled casual games in subfolders of the C:\Program Data folder. Usually the subfolders are named after the developer.

     
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Also a good clue, Crabapple.

I REALLY hope Jabod finds this game and lets us know what it is. I’ll be pissed if I find out I’ve played it, and didn’t recognize it from the description. And, if I haven’t played it, I really want to after all the suspense.

     

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Jackpot!  Tongue

Firstly thanks to Tim and CrabApple for the thoughts regarding searching game programme areas (don’t forget to remind people to unhide the hidden folders first Smile ). It didn’t help me at all but it was a good thought and one that I really should have come up with myself. I haven’t spent nearly 50 years in IT and not learned a few things Wink

Anyway, the game. Now I know what it is I can give a better idea to those of you trying to help me out as to what it actually is and see if you can now recognise it - which I’m sure you will. The reason I didn’t pick up on it straight away was being certain that it was a standalone game (which it sort of is) but it’s actually part of a series that are standalone games but with a common denominator of a sort and I was blipping over these games in my Steam Library as definitely not what I was looking for. Silly me Smile

My memory of the start was accurate, which I was sure that it was but I can now add some extra bits to the overall story. What wasn’t accurate was the type of game as it’s definitely under the fantasy banner but much darker in story tone and colour palette than the 2 previous games in the series.
You play the part of a young lady who is a member of a group of monster hunters (and I’m going to have to play the game for certain now to ensure that I haven’t forgotten anything that may have an impact on my friend’s daughter) and you and your boss are hoodwinked into going to the theatre where you have to get in via the roof to save the little girl who is actually part of the deception, albeit a relatively innocent one. One thing I remembered overnight, which may have been the trigger to finding the game, is that you have to get to play a record backwards in the theatre to get a message from your opponent. Whilst your doing all of this said opponent is attacking your HQ and stealing a stone that has incarcerated a demon. You’re then off, in typical casual HOG fashion, to get the stone back and to ensure the demon stays where it’s meant to be.

I think the major reason I hadn’t picked up on the correct game much earlier was due to the fact that this, the third and final episode in the series, was much darker and more serious than its two predecessors and is by far the best game of the series. Is it a good game? I’ll have to come back to that once I’ve replayed it but it must have had something about it to have lodged in my head the way it did, albeit not in an exactly concise way Grin

Thanks to all of you for trying to help. Appreciated. I’ll pass on what the game actually is, assuming that no-one works it out but I think that you will, over the weekend.

     

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