Mysteries of the Past: Shadow of the Daemon

Many cultures from around the world believe that there are evil spirits out there doing bad things, and they sometimes interact with people as well. In some cases, they can even take possession of their victim’s body and force them to do their bidding. Naturally, there are always ways to stop these demons from getting too close, as well as rituals to banish them.

Mysteries of the Past: Shadow of the Daemon is a hidden object adventure game in which you have to investigate a missing persons case and figure out what happened before it’s too late to rescue the victims. The gameplay is more or less standard for the genre, which means that you have to pick up useful objects, try to solve puzzles and generally enjoy the ride and the story.

Speaking of which, it all starts when a father and his son go missing on their holiday trip somewhere around a remote mountain chalet. Your role is that of a detective trying to figure out what happened to them, by retracing their last known steps. As it turns out, paranormal forces are at play, which means that you’ll have to deal with ghosts and various other vicious spirits.

In case you are already familiar with the HOG genre, you shouldn’t have any trouble figuring out what to do here. Each scene contains a few active regions that can be examined closer, and each region may contain either a puzzle or a useful object that may come in handy later on. Some of these objects can be combined to obtain something else, while others are just there to help you open doors or containers.

As usual, the graphics are hand drawn in most parts, which means that you do not need a very powerful computer in order to run the game smoothly. Each scene is very detailed and full of interesting objects you can examine, and the paranormal elements are quite well designed as well. There’s a creepy soundtrack playing in the background to keep you on edge at all times.

Even if Mysteries of the Past: Shadow of the Daemon does not bring anything new to the genre, the adventure is fun enough to be enjoyable for everyone, especially HOG fans. Hence, this certainly deserves a spot in your library.