The description of Enigma Agency: The Case of Shadows really drew me in – hunting through Central American jungles searching for clues to ancient curses sounded awesome! I admit, the unique location is what inspired me to play, I’ve always been interested in ancient American cultures. The storyline sounds familiar but the new perspective gave it a fresh appeal.
Enigma Agency: The Case of Shadows follows Missy who is awoken from a strange dream, convinced her friend, John, is in trouble. When she wanders into her bathroom and finds his address written in the steam on her mirror, she rushes to his house to investigate.
It’s apparent something is not right by the ominous clouds swirling above John’s house and Missy sets off to investigate. She eventually discovers John in the front hall, and he explains a mysterious client (picture the villain from Temple of Doom - creeptastic painted face and all) hired him to find an ancient map. John easily discovered the map, but, since taking possession, everything in his home has been cursed. John needs Missy to uncover the secret of the ancient curse and release him from its grasp.
The graphics in Enigma Agency: The Case of Shadows were well done and definitely creepy (like the statue that grows fangs and the refrigerator chained closed and rattling from within). I was really looking forward to some exotic scenery, but perhaps I didn’t get to play far enough – I never left John’s house… and I played a lot longer than I probably should have…
The music and ambient noise set the tone for the game – eerie and foreboding – but blended well into the background and were unobtrusive. The beginning of the game has a lot of voice over and Missy’s voice got on my nerves after a little bit. She also spoke out loud to herself an unnecessary amount of times, but maybe I just felt that way because I found her annoying.
I really enjoyed the Hidden Object scenes I found in Enigma Agency: The Case of Shadows - they were unique and challenging but not frustrating. There were traditional HOS that contain a list of objects as well as a few you needed to interact with to uncover the pieces.
The ones I really enjoyed were completely different – interact with various pieces in the scene in the right order to operate contraptions and find the object you need. The first one is to find the green ball you need to complete a mini-game and it reminded me of the 80s board game Mouse Trap. It was tricky to determine which pieces to use in which order to release the ball but feasible to figure out with some patience.
Hints are readily available in casual mode if you run out of patience or turn to the Strategy Guide for the step-by-step solution. Either way it was a really fun break from the traditional HOS!
The mini-games were definitely challenging and to me somewhat frustrating. The first game contains four marbles where each one must fall into their color-coordinating corners. It’s not unlike games I’ve played and solved before, but this one seemed more difficult with the board and pieces rotating in opposite directions.
In the interest of time, I turned to the strategy guide for help but unfortunately the solution there contained a mistake. After a few tries, I ended up skipping the game because I was too anxious to move on.
Overall, I enjoyed Enigma Agency: The Case of Shadows and I’m anxious to play more. The game is well made and the unique twist on a familiar storyline gives it new life.
I don’t consider myself an advanced player so I found the game more challenging than most I have tried, but still reasonable to complete for an average player, given the hint and skip functions and some added time. Enigma Agency: The Case of Shadows is a refreshingly challenging hidden object game that’s worth a download.