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Mystery of Mortlake Mansion Giveaway
$19.95
EXPIRED

Game Giveaway of the day — Mystery of Mortlake Mansion

The old mansion has been living a mysterious life of its own. Explore the dark rooms of the house and discover the secrets that haunt this eerie place. Meet the talking raven and the Spirit, the enigmatic captives of the mansion.
$19.95 EXPIRED
User rating: 364 44 comments

Mystery of Mortlake Mansion was available as a giveaway on May 11, 2014!

Today Giveaway of the Day
$5.00
free today
Crazy Desert Car is an exciting game in the arcade genre.

The old mansion has been living a mysterious life of its own. Explore the dark rooms of the house and discover the secrets that haunt this eerie place. Meet the talking raven and the Spirit, the enigmatic captives of the mansion. Confront the insidious lord, break the evil spells, set the captives free and become the owner of the gorgeous mansion. Numerous hours of adventures and discoveries await you in the Mortlake Mansion.

  • Over 700 unique items to find.
  • 34 locations to scour.
  • 30 mini-games to enjoy.
  • Tricky puzzles.
  • Unravel the mystery of the dark mansion!

System Requirements:

Windows XP/ Vista/ 7; CPU: 2 GHz; RAM: 512 MB; DirectX: 9 or higher; Video: 128 MB

Publisher:

Xing Interactive

Homepage:

http://www.playrix.com/games/pc/mystery-of-mortlake-mansion.html

File Size:

175 MB

Price:

$19.95

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Comments on Mystery of Mortlake Mansion

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Please add a comment explaining the reason behind your vote.
#44

Thanks for the game!
I was very happy to find out how the map works, and that it shows unfinished tasks. This is probably the best of all the nice details this game has.
If you need a constructive input, I could say that the menus could be less intrusive - I think there is too much happening, when you draw a mouse over a menu item.

Reply   |   Comment by Mike  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#43

This game plays well on Windows7.

After playing through a few times, I experienced a recoverable mini-crash. The game did not react after I added all of the potion ingredients as if waiting for another item. I could not progress and closed the game. I waited only a minute before restarting the game and it resumed to the same point, offered the last two items again, accepted them and continued without problem.

A similar glitch occurred a few games later when one of the mini-games got stuck and the skip timer stopped. Again, a simple close, wait about a minute, and then restart, the game resumed at the same point but acted correctly.

I'm very pleased with the game itself, but it does have one of my personal pet peeves: you must create a new player every time you play to the end. I much prefer games that allow a player to play again without that step.

I give this game a 9.5 out of 10. Thank you!


.....................Moderator Comment....................

Thank you for your feedback Java

Reply   |   Comment by Java Winters  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#42

Darn you White Rabbit! :) Came home from a long business trip to lots of work, but have been lost in Mortlake Mansion instead of working since yesterday! Just about out and loving it. Can I have a doctor's note? :)




............................Moderator Comment.................................

Sorry for the late moderation (Wednesday). It's always good to take a break from work. (at least for a short while). Glad you enjoyed the game.


:)

Reply   |   Comment by hecate  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#41

This game is amazing and fun! I'm impressed with the graphics. I had to reduce my resolution to 1080 x 800 to make it fit on the screen, and the graphics still look great.


............................Moderator Comment.................................

Sorry for the late moderation. Glad you are enjoying the game

Reply   |   Comment by DeanV  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#40

I don't normally like Hidden Object Games (HOGs) at all, but this one has a variety of other puzzles as well. It held my attention when I got it last time it was offered, and it has enough different things to do that I enjoyed it very much. (I enjoyed it more than once since I played it with both the male and the female narrator, changed by the gender selection of the player.) Playrix always has classy games and I'm grateful for their participation here, as I am for yours as well Whiterabbit (aka Stephen). Thanks, GGOTD!

............................Moderator Comment.................................

Glad you liked it.


:)

Reply   |   Comment by Dan  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#39

I have played this game many times before and love it every time I play. It's just long enough and just hard enough in skill to keep you interested. 2 thumbs up.


............................Moderator Comment.................................


:D

Reply   |   Comment by Deborah1962  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#38

I an enjoying this game but am now stumped on the clock. I watch the lights and go there but the lights keep changing and the person keeps repeating over and over what time... ahhhhhh / any hints on what time it really wants? Otherwise I am enjoying this game and the puzzles.


............................Moderator Comment.................................

Sorry for the late moderation (Wednesday). If you are still having problems, try posting the issue over in the game discussion forums.

Reply   |   Comment by Jackie R.  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#37

Hi, all. I've downloaded a few games here, but never commented before. So, I just wanted to take a moment to thank you for the games and for everyone who leaves a comment with a special thanks to those (like Whiterabbit) who give so much detail about the games. I appreciate all you do & give to us. So, thank you!

BTW, I did just finish downloading this game & played it for a few minutes. It looks really intriguing. My biggest problem now is whethe to play it or keep with The Gates Of Fame that I've been enjoying since my last download. :-)


............................Moderator Comment.................................

I hope to see more comments from you in the furture


:)

Reply   |   Comment by Kris  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#36

Downloaded and installed on Win 7 64 just fine. Played about 35 minutes into the game, and the more I played, the more the game cursor was off sync from the mouse cursor. I don't know how it got that way, or how to fix it, but most of the time have two cursors moving around now on the screen. This became annoying over time & I stopped. Any help with this issue would be appreciated--never had it before on any other GGAOTD games. Thanks.


............................Moderator Comment.................................

Really sorry for the late response. Try adjusting the settings via the compatibility tab. (right click on the game shortcut or the actual executable and select settings from the drop down menu, then click on the compatibility tab


:)

Reply   |   Comment by blueboomerang  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#35

I installed, uninstalled, and reinstalled and this program won't open. It starts oppening for an instant but quickly stops.

First time I have ewer had a problem with a program installing on Game Giveaway.

I will be very disappointed If I can't get this working. I had it from a previous offering and lost it in an upgrade to Windows 7 64 Pro. I was excited to see it here again.




................................ModeratorComment.............................

Check the FAQ's post in the Game discussion sticky. I've linked to it my my review (see comment number 1)

Reply   |   Comment by David Forness  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#34

@#20 "I wish that the developers could incorporate a change-up of the hidden objects on replay. As it stands, a few times through and you know where everything is."

One of the Fishdom games is a HOG which does this. Each screen is full of items but you must find different ones each time you play.

Reply   |   Comment by jgf  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#33

So far, so much fun. I do like HOGs, so this is up my alley. Only part way through, but after being away for a long business trip, it's nice to come home to some mindless relaxation ;). BTW, this installed in Win 8.1 64 bit just fine for me with no need for right-click compatibility or anything.

Reply   |   Comment by hecate  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#32

Not getting this one, as I already got it earlier, can't remember if it was here or on Big Fish. I enjoyed it with the mrs, It's a very good specimen of the Hidden Object variety. Recommended, two thumbs up!

Reply   |   Comment by bovi  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#31

This looks like fun!

Reply   |   Comment by wyrwolf  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#30

Gorgeous game, good gameplay and typical Playrix quality. Thanks so much!

Reply   |   Comment by Gypsi  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#29

LOVE this game it is the very best of the very best. Great graphics.
Sometimes it take a while to get the puzzle so I use the save button and try again later.
I have not seen this game mentioned in a long long time and was going to ask you about it.
Glad its back.

Reply   |   Comment by Myrna  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#28

Just an A+ game that shouldn't be missed. Stella Games made another recently called "Alexander the Great". Thanks again, Playrix.

Reply   |   Comment by Derek  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#27

Re PLANTS v. ZOMBIES - great game! BUT - download requires a HUMONGOUS download (100s of MBs) of the ELECTRONIC ARTS/Origin game engine. Also: when I de-installed all this, there were 1000s of file-leftovers, left untouched by the EA-deinstallation program. So if you want to play this game: install both game and Origin engine using an program to monitor these installatiobs, otherwise you'll a huge job of getting rid of all these files later on ( a game in itself! ).
On the UP side: If you installed all this you can also play other EA games for free ( like Need for speed ).
Hope this is of help.

Reply   |   Comment by hugo  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#26

It looks like Stephen used the previous review for this time with his references to not moving into his house yet and that MyPlayCity has over 800 games. MyPlayCity is now over 1000!

This game is available 24/7 from all 4 of what I call the "Freebie Circuit" comprising MyPlayCity.com, FreeGamePick.com Jenkat.com and GameTop.com.

MyPlayCity and Jenkat give no choice of where to install. All but Jenkat want to hijack such as the home page and the search engine but are pretty easily dissuaded from that by just unchecking the option boxes.

The MyPlayCity and Jenkat problems with the install location can be circumvented by moving them, re-creating the shortcut and then fixing the uninstall pointers in the registry (recommend using Revo or CCleaner to access the registry rather than trying to search yourself).

I found this one of the most enjoyable games. If you get in a point where you need help and all the help says is "nothing to do here" - look at the map. You can usually see where something needs done.




.............................Moderator Comment.............................

I thought I'd removed all reference to moving house, lol.


:)

Reply   |   Comment by Diane  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#25

This is a great game,lots of fun and challenging.
Thank You Playrix and GOTD,you guys ROCK!!!

Reply   |   Comment by Davey  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#24

Also played before and much enjoyed first half. Yes some screens here appear different than remember but likely come later in game. Wore off on me as not a big HOG fan but game is quite good for what it is.
Colorful, engaging, but got to be one more batch of 'find me' setups. Don't know how they can improve the genre so seem stuck with the basic formula though well done in this case.

Reply   |   Comment by beergas  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#23

Great game! Got it last time. Good playability, graphics, and mini games. Plays well on win 64.

Reply   |   Comment by Glenrd  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#22

Hi, I too would recommend this Game to anyone, and not just HOG lovers! I played it so many times now I nearly know it by heart:) - yet each time it gives me the same thrill (and smile..) when dark and messy rooms become 'orderly', when tasks are done.. (I only skip these mini games where you suppose to untangle beams of light from criss-crossing each other, as it does my head, lol)

Each time (played under different name, as once completed one cannot 'better' themselves by going over to, say, score more points..) - provided 'easier option' is chosen (high difficulty button not pressed in) - to stop you wondering aimlessly to different locations - best practice is to go straight to the Map and see where exclamations marks are and head for these locations, it will speed things up!

For me, personally, the last scene (played over and over thoroughly without skipping and cheating:) - is slightly disappointing, as I am not sure if I really beat that Shadowy Ghost, or NOT, ha ha. Ah well, it vanishes, and the whole Mansion looks properly restored. Perhaps leaving that lingering mystery of the last Challenge gives a chance to create next Chapter of 'Mystery of Mortlake Mansion..II? I do hope so!:)

As for graphics - I don't mind in a least the little 'cartoonization' of objects, as it is done in really arty and most pleasing way! Those affected by 'flashing lights' in some (not many) scenes, but definitely in the beginning when Game is loading up - should really look away to avoid head 'wobbles', as I tend to do.

I downloaded today's Giveaway (for the third time!:) - in hope there is something slightly different in it (yes, not exactly recognizing, like others, all related screenshots), but I doubt it, so far it looks exactly the same.
Thanks for giving away this Game again, and those who see it here for the first time - go for it, it's hours of pure fun!



..........................Moderator comment..............................

Yes, it's the same version. Thanks for your feedback

Reply   |   Comment by fran  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#21

Thanks for reminding me I already own it:) I purchased this one several years back. Very good game. If you love HOGs this is a must-have game. Even if you feel you're over HOGs as a genre, as I am, this is one of the better ones and definitely worth a download.

Reply   |   Comment by Pea  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#20

One of my favorite HOGs -- there's a lot more to it than finding hidden objects in a scene. Excellent graphics and effects, puzzles made sense, lots of variety, story was a part of the game and not an afterthought. Like Margaret said (#5) you feel like you accomplished something at the end. So many games seem to just stop. This one left me wanting more.

Reply   |   Comment by Mr.Dave  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#19

Great game! Beautiful to look at, easy to play, fun. A couple of things - during the installation and running of the game several times I found myself outside of the game, and the game reduce to an icon in the taskbar. I run multiple monitors, perhaps that's the issue, but there seems to be some issues with the game boundaries.
Thanks, this is a great game.

Reply   |   Comment by promytius  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#18

I enjoy HOGs and this is a good one. Nice story line and not too short. My issue is with Hogs is the replayability. I wish that the developers could incorporate a change-up of the hidden objects on replay. As it stands, a few times through and you know where everything is.

Reply   |   Comment by David  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#17

"Unfortunately HOG’s became very popular ‘again’ from about 2007. If you check out places like Big Fish, you’ll find they have well over a thousand titles on offer. I actually cancelled my BFG membership because out of every game of the day, at least 6 out of 7 were HOG’s."

:) My wife feels the same way... about Steam & Greenman -- far too many shooters! :)

Happy Mothers Day to all the moms out there!

Reply   |   Comment by mike  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#16

I actually already own this game. I downloaded it from the Playrix site back when it was possible to download their games without accepting a toolbar or homepage change.

I COULDN'T GET IN THE HOUSE! I tried and TRIED to open the front door until I TIRED of trying. I ALMOST quit. FORGET THIS GAME! But I searched online for help instead and made it inside.

It's an interesting game. I ENJOYED the hidden object part of it. You often had to open desk drawers, closets, ETC to find your items.

I did not particularly like the puzzles that periodically popped up. I guess I'm not that smart because I had problems solving many of them. You do have the option of skipping them if you want to though.

THAT DARN CROW!

I wound up quitting the game long before its end (I THINK) because I reached a point where I just couldn't figure out what to do next. I clicked the HELP button but all I got was THERE IS NOTHING TO DO HERE NOW. DUH! THAT'S WHY I NEEDED HELP!!!

I guess I might be to ADD to spend too much time figuring something out.

Good game. Worth downloading.



..........................Moderator comment..............................

Thanks for your feedback Swampy

Reply   |   Comment by Swamp Thing  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#15

Is this gaotd the same edition as the one offered here last year?




..........................Moderator comment..............................

Yes

Reply   |   Comment by Andrea  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#14

This game is one that I really enjoyed playing. Anyone who has not gotten it yet, you will not be disappointed.
Thanks to Playrix and GOTD for your generosity.

Reply   |   Comment by emmy  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#13

Can I play this game in French?



..........................Moderator comment..............................

Probably not; tohugh you could try mixing up the files from the giveaway version and a demo of the french version (which I assume will be available from French gaming sites) and see if you get a french language option

Reply   |   Comment by Angelaure  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#12

I have downloaded this game without any problems, I have played it for ten minutes and can tell I will love playing it.Thank you


....................Moderator comment..........................

Glad you like it.


:)

Reply   |   Comment by Pamela Brooke  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#11

I love Hidden object games, I downloaded this although I have windows 8 and wondered if it would work OK. It downloaded without any problems and I have tried playing it for ten minutes and no problems so far. It looks to be a great game and I will enjoy it. Thank you.


....................Moderator comment..........................

Thanks for your feedback Pamela

Reply   |   Comment by Pamela Brooke  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#10

Installs and runs fine in Vista 32, activation is automatic. An interesting point: when I first started the game and went to create a player, my name from another Playrix game was already filled in. So while it defaults to installing in "Program Files" (nothing goes there on my system) there must be some common Playrix files somewhere.

The HOG graphics have a "comic book" illustration style which I don't particularly like, and this makes some objects difficult to identify ("3 nuts" were merely small, brown, round things). Some items are rather broadly named, I spent an eternity looking for "matches" when the item they wanted was a matchbox (which looked more like a deck of cards). And I wonder if this game were originally not in English - I clicked on numerous items while seeking a "casket" on a desk ...(spoiler) it was a small round container which I thought was a jewelry box. The game isn't linear, you will run back and forth as you find things you needed for a previous room, but this makes it more interesting (to me at least).

Haven't played enough to determine what replay value there is (important to me) but it certainly looks to be fun for at least one run through.


....................Moderator comment..........................

Thank you for your feedback jgf


:)

Reply   |   Comment by jgf  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#9

Another find hidde nobjects game. Ho Hum!



....................Moderator comment..........................

Unfortunately HOG's became very popular 'again' from about 2007. If you check out places like Big Fish, you'll find they have well over a thousand titles on offer. I actually cancelled my BFG membership becasue out of every game of the day, at least 6 out of 7 were HOG's. They are still popular with the general community, which is probably why we have so many given away here. This one is one of the better ones.

Reply   |   Comment by TerryB  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#8

I have this game from prevoius giveaway. It works fine on Windows XP SP3. I liked it, but it was bit too short for me. It has a bit silly main story but great mini puzzle games in between. My score 8 of 10.

Reply   |   Comment by Anna  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#7

I caught this one last time round, and certainly enjoyed it. Thanks for finding these Stephen.

Reply   |   Comment by Another Stephen  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#6

Hello Steven,

First I want to say hello and thank you for your explanation of the games that are really Great!

You can not occasionally have a few games like this (hidden objects, or search for specific items) with subtitles in Italian? I know him a little bit of English but not all of the words (if you tell me to look for a saw or a drill, for example, it is difficult to know all the words in English, and so they are not forced to download the game.

I do not understand then the whole meaning of the story of the game is nerve-wracking, I think it's you who can understand.

I do not say always, but sometimes.

A Hug and Thanks




...............................Moderator Comment.................................


Sarebbe bello se abbiamo ottenuto oprions lingua, ma non è possibile la maggior parte del tempo. Grazie per le vostre risposte

Reply   |   Comment by tullio  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#5

I thoroughly recommend this game to those who enjoy Adventure, HOG, Puzzle type games. It's got gorgeous graphics, a decent story and is of a very good length. I downloaded it last time it was given away here and have played it several times, but I still can't get through one of the "untangling" puzzles without skipping! I'm pleased that it has a Skip facility for the puzzles and also that it doesn't rely on quick reflexes.

It's a game that will give you a real sense of achievement when you get to the end.


...............................Moderator Comment.................................


Thank you for your feedback Margaret

Reply   |   Comment by Margaret  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#4

I have this game from the last time it was offered. I love HOGs and this is a good one. Thanks to Playrix and GOTD for your generosity.

Reply   |   Comment by Angel  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#3

Thumbs up from me based on downloading and playing this the last time it was offered. It really is one of the best of the HOG genre, beautiful to look at, and hours of playing challenge. Highly recommended for puzzle lovers!

Thanks to Playrix and GGOTD for offering this again.

Reply   |   Comment by mac  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#2

Thank you for the game. I thought I had played it before but a lot of the screenshots don't look familiar.

I enjoyed last weeks download even if the graphics for the people were a little odd.

I found the list of bundles from your link last week and ended up lost in games this entire week. Thanks you.


...............................Moderator Comment.................................


There's more bundles this week. Also you can get Plants & Zombies (a really cool tower defense game) totally free this week from Origin. you do need to install the Origin client and create a free account. Once that's done click on the Free games tab along the top of the store front page and select 'On the House'.


You can find the deal HERE.

Reply   |   Comment by Gina  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#1

Mystery of Mortlake Mansion:






099b Mysteryof Mortlake Manor
099 Mysteryof Mortlake Manor
Installation:

Mystery of Mortlake Mansion downloads to an 175 MB zip file that unpacks to a read me and a wrapped setup file (the orange colored file with the key symbol), plus there's a setup file with security (setup.gcd) that's protected from being hacked (because the previous giveaway system was easily cracked). This file may case some security software to alert the user to a possible malware attack, but it will be a false positive.

The game giveaway team check all game giveaways for malware using several well known anti -malware suites. There has never been a game giveaway infected with malware since the project started back in Dec 2006. (The owners know that allowing such things would compromise their buisness, so they make sure all software given away via the giveaway and gamegiveaway sites are throughly checked for all types of malware before allowing community members to download any files.

Some community members have been having problems installing games since the security software was added. It's been found that turning off your security temporarily or configuring it to accept the setup.cgd file usually sorts the problem out.

To register and install the game click on the orange colored icon. The installed game is 184 MB in size (1MB larger than the previous version we were given last year) and installs to the following path by default:


C:\Program Files (x86)\Playrix Entertainment\Mystery of Mortlake Mansion

The path can be changed to suit whatever your wishes are. Once the game is installed you can delete the giveaway setup files. The game installs shortcuts to the desktop and start menu programs list together with a link to a help document and a link to the developers web site.








091 Mysteryof Mortlake Manor
090 Mysteryof Mortlake Manor







Mystery of Mortlake Manor works on both my Win 7 & Win 8 computers.
I don't have a Vista or XP installation set up at the moment (and won't for several months until we move house later this year).

You can play the game online HERE and, if you miss the giveaway you can get it 24/7 from MyPlayCity (watch out for the toolbars etc) HERE


Introduction:

Mystery of Mortlake Manor has been given away twice previously; last year, May 18th 2013, where it received 83% of 390 votes with 54 comments that can be read can be read HERE and April 15th 2012, where it received a positive 87% out of 593 votes with 126 mainly positive comments; that can be read HERE

The old mansion has been living a mysterious life of its own. Explore the dark rooms of the house and discover the secrets that haunt this eerie place. Meet the talking raven and the Spirit, the enigmatic captives of the mansion. Confront the insidious lord, break the evil spells, set the captives free and become the owner of the gorgeous mansion. Numerous hours of adventures and discoveries await you in the Mortlake Mansion.


Reference accessed HERE May 17th 2013

You can read 89 user reviews from Amazon HERE. :)


screen1
screen3
The Game:








I don't usually like playing Hidden Object games any more. I've sort of had my fill of them after purchasing 'vast' numbers of the things a few years ago, but got so engrossed in this one that I left no time to actually write up a review of the game. That alone should indicate what a good game this is. It's already an hour into the giveaway, so rather than spend another three hours writing up a full review I'm going to post Gamezebo's review below, fully referenced just in case you wish to visit the site for their fully featured walkthrough of the game, which you'll find HERE







mystery of mortlake mansion 640x480 screenshot 1
066 Mysteryof Mortlake Manor









Stella Games and Playrix bring us Mystery of Mortlake Mansion, a combination hidden object and puzzle game that expertly balances gameplay repetition, variety and challenge to create an experience that is a joy to undertake from beginning to end.
Gameplay places you in the role of either a male or female main character (your choice) who is summoned to Mortlake Mansion by an elderly gentleman named R, who was so obsessed with magic that he dedicated his entire life to tracking down and learning the secrets of his favorite magician. His search brought him to Mortlake Mansion, but the magic within the mansion was so great the R became trapped, thus needing your help to escape.







097 Mysteryof Mortlake Manor
094 Mysteryof Mortlake Manor








The story in Mystery of Mortlake Mansion is actually one of the best I’ve seen in a casual PC title. You’ll quickly find yourself trapped within the mansion yourself, as you discover more about R and his true motives, along with the famed magician who has cursed the entire mansion and all those who enter it (all in the hope of immortality).
It would be wrong to classify Mystery of Mortlake Mansion as just a hidden object title, as it is just as much a game of puzzle-solving and logic. While it’s true that each room of the expansive mansion contains a hidden object scene to explore, this is just a sliver of the gameplay. You’ll find objects on a list, and at the end of your search you’ll be rewarded with an item that will help you in your quest to escape the mansion.
The rest of the time, you are traveling from room to room collecting items (the cursor changes when you hover over an object you can either investigate or interact with), solving a huge variety of puzzles, or simply picking up R’s diary entries, giving even more depth to the story.




089 Mysteryof Mortlake Manor
082 Mysteryof Mortlake Manor





In terms of puzzles, there are the general symbol matching games, tile-sliding puzzles, jigsaw puzzles, and even match-three puzzles, but there are also those puzzles that require logic and reasoning. For instance, in the dining room, you’re asked to move all of the red chairs to one side of the table, and all of the green chairs to the other, but you can only do so by moving the chairs one space at a time, with only two empty spaces. It’s puzzles like these that not only keep the game from going stale, but add challenge to a genre that is more often lacking in that department than not.


076 Mysteryof Mortlake Manor
075 Mysteryof Mortlake Manor




As for your overall gameplay goal, you’ll be tasked with entering the figural Heart of the household, where you can destroy the curse trapping you within it. This is done by collecting crystals to open portals to the Shadow World, where magic is very much real, and items float and glow as if possessed. You’ll find glowing ingredients during your journey, with five ingredients being needed to create a single key, unlocking part of the gate blocking your access to the Heart of the home.






065 Mysteryof Mortlake Manor
067 Mysteryof Mortlake Manor








With seven keys to find in all, the game does take on a bit of a pattern (in that you’ll need to find the five ingredients to make a key and then repeat the process for the next key), but with so much gameplay variety, the title never becomes boring, as you move back and forth between the real world and the Shadow World at will, using either the portals that you create, or the map which offers quick travel (it also conveniently marks rooms that are either entirely finished, or still have tasks remaining, in case you get stuck).
Technically speaking, Mystery of Mortlake Mansion is a great looking game. The title has fantastic production values, with an almost cel-shaded graphical presentation that is quite pleasing to the eye, and a gloomy transition in the Shadow World, as the entire landscape takes on a blue/gray color palette. The game is full of animation and life, rather than just static images (although there are many items that do not move) and comes with complete voice-acting, as your character interacts with spirits and a talking raven that will both help and hinder your progress.






039 Mysteryof Mortlake Manor
049 Mysteryof Mortlake Manor







All told, Mystery of Mortlake Mansion isn’t a light experience, as it will last you into the 4-5 hour range, or more depending on your dependence (or lack thereof) on the unlimited hints and puzzle skips. You can make the game even more challenging by turning the difficulty to high, causing the hint button to refill more slowly.
If you’re looking for a hidden object or puzzle game experience that will serve you well from beginning to end, with a deep story and tons of polish, Mystery of Mortlake Mansion is an instant recommendation.



Reference accessed HERE April 2012






050 Mysteryof Mortlake Manor
051 Mysteryof Mortlake Manor
Features:


* Over 700 unique items to find
* 34 locations to scour
* 30 mini-games to enjoy
* Tricky puzzles
* Unravel the mystery of the dark mansion!




Music:


You can't change the in game music, so, if you want to lose it without losing the sound on your computer right click on the speaker icon and select 'Open volume mixer' This allows you to turn off sound for individual programs/games.








Video & Images:

You can see several videos via the following you tube Video. Just look to the left of the video for more links to videos about this game, including video walkthroughs HERE you can see several pages of walkthrough videos HERE


You can also see a large collection of a hundred images from the game via a slideshow HERE




057 Mysteryof Mortlake Manor
063 Mysteryof Mortlake Manor
System Requirements:


Operating system: XP, Vista, Win 7
C.P.U. - 2GHz
System RAM - 512MB
Video RAM - 128Mb
Direct X - 9.0 or higher.




Conclusion:

I highly recommend this excellent Hidden Object Game. Everything about this game is good, with a depth of gameplay rarely seen in many arcade games, great graphics and excellent mini games. I though last weeks Mahjong game was a winner, this one is even more so and I would expect this game to out strip Mahjong's 21000 plus downloads by the end of the day.

I'm not a HOG aficionado, finding most HOG's a little boring, but this one held me for hours yesterday and this morning. Get it while it's hot.


Scoring:

I've removed the audio score because I find it's always the one to lower the overall score. The game is easily worth 8.5 out of 10. Game play is exemplary and the mix of still and animated cut scenes and a pastelish style to many of the hidden object panels adds to the overall quality graphics and which accounts for a score of 9 for each of those categories. I'd be tempted to give higher scores for replayability and originality as well, but that wouldn't be honest as HOG's are rather short on originality and replayability these days due to the plethora of releases made every month for the past three or four years; however there is enough variability in this well balanced HOG to make it re playable after a fashion and there are some original concepts included in the game to warrant a score of 8 for originality. Overall this game is well worth the 8.5 I've scored it.

Game play - 9
Graphics - 9
Replayability - 8
Originality - 8

Suggestions:

This is too well balanced to add anything of note. Maybe enable the user to add music from their collection.







078 Mysteryof Mortlake Manor
mystery of mortlake mansion 640x480 screenshot 2
Problems:


If you have any problems installing or getting to work today's game please go HERE for help. I've posted all of the common problems and solutions in a FAQ thread, which you can find in the sticky section of the forums by following the above link.

If you are posting late in the day I would also suggest posting in the main giveaway forums, in the game discussion section because I cannot moderate 24hrs a day over the weekend. If you've installed the game but it won’t work for some reason, it should still be registered, so someone may be able to help at another time. Unfortunately if your problem is actually installing it then once the giveaway period is over there’s nothing that can be done until the game is given away again (though that isn't guaranteed). Sometimes you can still register the game after the giveaway has ended so long as you managed to start the download before the giveaway ends. I've tested this and sometimes the grace period lasts for up to 2 hours, but more often than not 1 hour is the norm.




It’s always worth checking out the free games sites as sometimes the games we get here are also available for free from them. MyPlayCity (MPC) has the most with over 800 games to choose from. Today's game is available from MPC HERE, you can also get the game for free from Jenkat Games HERE,



If you do download any other games from MPC or the other free game sites (e.g. Jenkatt Games, Gametop or FreeGamePick) 'do' watch out for toolbars, home page changes, browser changes or files install in odd places. Make sure you uncheck the checkboxes during installation .









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Games, Games, and yet more Games plus Download, Installation & Game play Problems:



If you're looking for something other than today's game check the didimatic site via THIS link for some brilliant deals.

Steams weekend deals include 33% off most of the Railway Simulator 2014 dlc, 75% off Bioshock Triple Pack, 75% off Dragonage franchise, 75% off Darksiders franchise, 75% off Terraria, 75% off doom classic complete, 70% off Postal 2, 75% off Guns of Icarus Online, 66% off Scania Truck Driving Simulator, 66% off Crazy Machines franchise, 75% off Ghost Master, 75% off Battle vs Chess, 75% off Anna Extended Edition, 90% off Blood of the Werewolf, 75% off Takedown: Red Sabre, 75% off Holy Avatar vs. Maidens of the Dead, 66% off Warlock: Master of the Arcane. There's over a hundred games and dlc's on sale at the moment.

Also you can get Plants & Zombies (a really cool tower defense game) totally free this week from Origin. you do need to install the Origin client and create a free account. Once that's done click on the Free games tab along the top of the store front page and select 'On the House'. you can find the deal HERE

You'll find many more game deals on Greenmangaming, Gamersgate, Gamestop, and GOG, Desura and Origin. There are too many game deals around too list them all. Just visit the sites I recommend above and I'm sure you'll find something that suits you for a very decent price.


For details of all active indie game bundles check out the thread in the forums HERE.

The latest IndieGameStand game is HERE




A Request for help:

Developers rely on good feedback to improve their games. If you download this game please take some time once you’ve played it a while to leave some constructive feedback either positive or negative. The more constructive feedback we get, the more likely developers are going to give more games away. The giveaway site already has a very good standing with the search engines. Developers want their products out there on the WWW, this site has the potential to do that. The game giveaway project gives away on average between 9 to 17 thousand downloads for each game depending upon what genre and how obscure the game is. That’s a lot of homes these games are being downloaded into and a lot of 'potential' cash that’s being lost by the developers. If we get better games because of better feedback, the community are likely to continue to benefit from the generosity of the developers. Satisfied community members are then more likely to visit the home sites of those developers and purchase games that they may not have bothered with before they discovered the developer via the game giveaway site, thus giving the developers more incentives to give away even more decent games.

Please leave some feedback once you've checked the game out. It can be positive or negative, but please explain what your reasons were for the feedback you post. You could also leave suggestions for improving the game, for example, this game could do with more block types for the levels editor, add more power-ups, describing the ones you think would be suitable, add some mini games (which seem all the rage in some arcade games now) or enable the user to be able to change the in game music easily.

Thank you in advance to all those who take the time to post a constructive comment.


Regards

Whiterabbit aka Stephen




========================================================

Reply   |   Comment by Whiterabbit-uk  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
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