New York Mysteries: The Lantern of Souls Demo

Crime novels are as popular as ever nowadays, not to mention the fact that you can also opt for dozens of TV shows that feature a new kind of murder or psychopath every week. However, it’s that much more exciting to actually be a part of the investigation, which is why mystery video games are pretty sought after as well, especially casual ones that do not require too much experience with computers.

New York Mysteries: The Lantern of Souls is a hidden object adventure game in which you play the role of a journalist sent to investigate a murder and unravel the mystery that has the entire police force perplexed. The actual gameplay mechanics are more or less the same as in every other game in the genre, but that’s less important than the actual journey and the mystery itself.

Hence, it all takes place in the late 1950 in New York, where a rich woman gets murdered and no one seems to know how exactly it happened. As you start to investigate, things get darker and creepier, not to mention the fact that other conspiracies come to light as well. In short, it’s not a brilliant story, but it’s intriguing enough to keep you engaged from start to finish if you enjoy playing detective.

In case this is your first encounter with the genre, you should know that most of your time is spent examining scenes and picking up every object that appears to be useful. Granted, you can only pick up those that are eventually required to advance, so the only challenge is to click on the right stuff. On the other hand, there are also actual puzzles you have to solve, some of which are quite difficult, or at the very least tedious.

The best part about the game is how everything is designed from a visual standpoint, because each scene is oozing with details. They are obviously static, but that doesn’t make them any less impressive, especially since it works wonders for the atmosphere. Speaking of which, the music goes very well with what’s happening on the screen, and the voice acting is pretty decent, too.

Even if it doesn’t bring anything new to the genre, New York Mysteries: The Lantern of Souls is quite the mystery game, which is great news for the wannabe detectives out there. Moreover, the game is very polished in the visual department as well.