Phantasmat: Town of Lost Hope Collector's Edition

Hidden object games can be designed to appeal to a variety of different gamers, but there are some things that cannot be achieved in the genre, no matter how hard the developers might try. Hence, it’s difficult to create a proper horror atmosphere in a hidden object game, given the fact that everything is pretty much static and your regular activities involve finding missing door knobs and putting toys back together.

Phantasmat: Town of Lost Hope is part of a pretty well-respected HOPA series, and it features about as much excitement and content as the previous titles in the series. Thus, if you tackled the franchise before, then you should feel right at home in this episode as well, especially when it comes to gameplay mechanics and the way you move from one puzzle to the other.

The story is obviously different as well, and it tries to be pretty spooky this time around, too. As such, it all starts with a family going out and having to stop for gas at a creepy gas station. While they fuel the car and get ready to go, a serial killer attacks and imprisons them in the town of Collingwood. Naturally, it’s your task to escape and get your family to safety before the serial killer does his thing.

The gameplay is no different from the rest of the hidden object puzzle games out there, but it appears to be a little more engaging here. This is probably because many puzzles have mini sub-puzzles you have to tackle, which keeps your attention and prevents you from getting bored. On top of it all, the environments are full of interesting items you can use to attain your goals.

Still, the action is as linear as it can be, given the fact that there’s no way to change anything about the story or the order you solve the puzzles in. It’s quite a shame, because this seriously hurts replayability, unless you decide to change the difficulty level the second time around. Granted, at least the graphics are great, especially since the environments can really give you the creeps sometimes.

In the end, Phantasmat: Town of Lost Hope has quite the alluring mix of horror, intrigue and quite the challenge, which should be enough to entertain the fans of the series. It’s nice to see something different in a genre for a change.

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