Dark Parables: The Thief and the Tinderbox Collector's Edition

Fire can be both a savior and a hazard, since although it brought humanity to where it is today, it still has the power to send us back to sticks and stones. Massive forest fires are unstoppable even today, especially when they synchronize with terrible weather. On the other hand, we depend on its properties to achieve a variety of useful things, so it’s definitely not going away anytime soon.

Dark Parables: The Thief and the Tinderbox is a hidden object adventure game in which you play the role of an investigator trying to catch an arson. The game features classic HOPA gameplay mechanics, in the sense that it should be easy to pick it up if you are familiar with other titles like this. Thus, your goal is to investigate every scene for hidden objects and pick them up in your inventory.

The story starts with a wedding gone wrong, because the arson in question sets the legendary Mountain Kingdom forest on fire. While investigating the fire and looking for the one responsible, you also find out about a recently unearthed artifact, which has the power to put the whole world in danger. Naturally, the task to save everyone falls onto you yet again, which is how the adventure kicks off.

Although most of the time you are trying to spot useful items in the background, there are other mini-games to enjoy as well. In fact, there are all sorts of puzzles you have to tackle in order to open doors or containers, each one of which requires attention to detail and patience. Granted, you can always skip those that are too difficult, at least if you choose to play on the lower difficulty levels and the option is available.

As it’s always the case with top-notch adventure games of this type, the graphics are gorgeous, especially when you consider the fact that many of the environments are hand-drawn. All sorts of particle and special effects are added on top, plus the occasional animation that makes everything seem more lively. There’s also a soundtrack and voice acting, and they actually contribute a lot to the atmosphere.

When it’s all said and done, Dark Parables: The Thief and the Tinderbox may not be very original when it comes to gameplay mechanics, but it features enough beautiful landscapes and challenging puzzles to keep you engaged. The story is quite intriguing from the first few minutes.

NOTE: This is a downloader for the game. Once run, the application will automatically download and install the game on your computer.

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