Dale Hardshovel and The Bloomstone Mystery Demo

The great pyramids of Egypt spawned quite a few controversies throughout the ages, due to their imposing nature and seemingly impossible architecture, at least for that time. Thus, even if modern science has already proven everything there was to prove about them, there are still those who find them magical and unexplainable, which usually results in conspiracy theories and unsettling blog posts.

Dale Hardshovel and The Bloomstone Mystery is a casual puzzle game that tackles the mystery of the pyramids in its own way, although it is in no way hysterical about it, just playful. However, at its core, the game is all about having a good time and putting your mind to work for a while, since it requires some wits to pass the levels and get to the end, in order to find out the truth behind the events.

As it happens, you play as Dale Hardshovel, an archaeologist who’s famous for being able to uncover the greatest secrets of long-forgotten civilizations. When it comes to the Egyptians, however, there are plenty of mysteries left to be discovered, as Dale himself finds out one day when he stumbles into some strange writings. In essence, your main purpose throughout the game is to find the so-called Bloomstone, which opens the way to the truth about an Egyptian brotherhood.

Gameplay-wise, the mechanics are physics-based and you only need your mouse in order to solve them. Thus, every level is populated with a certain number of artifacts, although there are multiple types of them. In order to complete the stage, you must pair them together and watch them evaporate all at once, because if one of them remains behind, the entire level restarts and you take it from the top.

Unfortunately, the action gets a bit boring after a while, because clicking on the artifacts is not exactly tons of fun. The rewards are not very satisfying either, since the difficulty level is quite low and you can flash through the stages at the speed of light. There are some other mini-games along the way, but none of them manage to keep you interested for too long either.

In the end, Dale Hardshovel and The Bloomstone Mystery fails to deliver an engaging experience, but that doesn’t mean you cannot give it a go from time to time, just to see the story unfold. You can at least admire the view and find out more about the Egyptian culture.