Dark Tales: Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven Collector's Edition

In order to enjoy an adventure that features supernatural beings and similar concepts, the story must be strong enough to make you believe at least for a short while that the events could actually unfold in real life. Hence, a well-written ghost story can make you check twice before going to bed, and that’s the whole purpose of the genre anyway: To scare people.

Dark Tales: Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven is a hidden object adventure game in which you have to solve a mystery and tackle various puzzles along the way. It’s a pretty straightforward adventure, on the other hand, since it doesn’t feature too many new elements or interesting mechanics. On the other hand, the atmosphere is quite intriguing, especially if you are a fan of dark fantasy.

In short, the story starts with an apparent suicide that’s actually more than that, according to one person. Hence, even if the dead man left a suicide note, someone is convinced that a murder took place, so it’s your task to investigate the mystery. Naturally, detective Lupin helps you along, although “helps” is a very generous word. An elusive character by the name of White Crow makes an appearance as well, who is the main antagonist of the story.

Most of your time is spent looking for useful objects that can be used to unlock the way forward, but every now and again you also have to tackle puzzles. These require a bit more dedication and attention, but ultimately they are as simple as the hidden object scenes. The same patterns are used over and over again by the designers, so it’s easy to guess the solution after the first couple of puzzles.

Lastly, at the least the visual and audio presentations are top-notch, which is great when it comes to the atmosphere. You get the chills whenever dark places and unusual sounds try your patience, but don’t expect a truly traumatizing experience either. There’s voice acting for every dialog line, as well as a creepy soundtrack playing in the background.

In the end, Dark Tales: Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven does nothing to truly take the series to the next level, since it’s just more of the same with a weaker story. However, the adventure still has the potential to keep you busy for a while.

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

To buy the product you need to register with Big Fish. The registration is free and the account will let you earn free games, play community games or participate in game forums, write reviews as well as offer you significant discounts.