Dark Asylum: Mystery Adventure

In Brief

Todays game giveaway has a different take on the usual Adventure HOG, and in my opinion is well worth downloading. I’d score it a 8.5 out of 10 for refreshing game play.

Before you decide to download this game please do check out the in-game videos of gameplay HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE, plus a slideshow of almost 200 images (several repeats) HERE.

Please only post comments about today's game giveaway; other comments either inappropriate, or comments with only one or a few words; for example vg, good, thank you, TY, bad, rubbish, this game is ****** etc , or if the comment has nothing to do with today's game or is complaining (send your complaints to the giveaway team via the contact form that I've linked to below), they may be deleted at the moderator or administrators discretion; however, a little light banter among community members/friends and with the moderator to keep this a friendly place to visit is acceptable and welcomed. All comments not specifically about today's game giveaway will be judged by the moderator and if deemed inappropriate, will be deleted and usually with no explanation. Please see the moderation policy HERE for details about posting comments.

Installation:

Dark Asylum: Mystery Adventure downloads to a 182 MB zip file that unzips to three files, (a setup.gcd security wrapper, the set up file and a read me). Those with multiple hard drives are able to save games on any drive they wish. The newly installed game is 741 MB in size. The game installs to the following path by default, but can be changed by the user if you prefer:

C:\Program Files (x86)\MyPlayCity.com\Dark Asylum - Mystery Adventure

Four shortcuts are installed to the desktop. three of which can be safely deleted (Play Online Games, MyPlayCity Games and shortcuts to a free online game which vary each week). Also, if you don't like icons installed to the quick launch taskbar, make sure you uncheck the box when the additional tasks window appears (after the Select Start Menu Folder window)

Introduction:

Start the descent into darkness today if you dare in the game Dark Asylum: Mystery Adventure! Strange things are happening at the age-old asylum. And you are the detective assigned to figuring out what's going on. To complete your mission, you should perform tasks for the inmates to gain their trust, and then find out what they know. Just don't be distracted by the screams that are echoing down the unlit corridors or the voices that whisper in your ear when you are standing alone... Featuring a captivating combination of adventure and hidden object gameplay, Dark Asylum: Mystery Adventure contains dozens of rooms to explore, each one packed with secrets and pulsating with an undercurrent of dread. To solve the mystery of the asylum, you'll need to search for hundreds of items buried in the decaying rooms and hallways, and use special skills that allow you to locate objects quickly. Do you have a rational mind and a strong heart? Then you just might survive to the end. If not, don't say we didn't warn you. Play the game Dark Asylum: Mystery Adventure and unveil the mystery!

Edited reference accessed HERE. 2nd December 2017

The Game:

With its title of Dark Asylum: Mystery Adventure, you should expect that you are about to enter an environment were everything is not quite what you might expect. And this is certainly the case with this Hidden Object game that has a slight adventure influence the main aspect of object searching game play.

In common with many games of a similar genre, you can make some adjustments to the game’s playing environment. You can set the volume levels for background music and sound effects. These settings do not apply to spoken dialogue as this does not appear in the game. You just get dialogue appearing as text in speech bubbles. The only other option is whether to play the game in full screen mode or not. The progress of individual players will be stored in their named profile.

When playing this game you will quickly notice that the game’s developers are rather over-fond of the program’s title screen. This feature keeps on reappearing whenever you enter a new or previously visited area of the asylum. I would have happily turned off this feature if I had been able.

Dark Asylum: Mystery Adventure casts you in the role of an investigator who is charged with the task of checking out the strange goings-on that have been occurring at this strange asylum. Obviously your superiors, well in name if not ability, who set you on this task, have a high opinion of you because actually assistance to help you complete the various tasks is limited, to say the least as you are thrown into the deep end.

You have to rely on the patients to help get you started and I do not need to remind you that these patients are in an asylum where strange things have been happening. For example, your first encounter with a patient finds you being advised that this is a terrible place and you should escape as soon as possible otherwise the sinister atmosphere would weaken your spirit and destroy your soul. You are then asked to provide the patient with a knife which can be located in the mental ward. This knife will be required to release other patients from the restraint jackets that they have been put in. So be warned!

You move around the asylum using a birds-eye view of a map with some rooms being currently blocked with a lock symbol. Various quests will need to be completed during the game. These quests are classified as either Story or Non-story tasks. With Story quests, you will need to find a well-hidden object, such as a telephone receiver. You will not be allowed to progress to a higher level until all the Story quests in the current chapter have been completed. Non-story quests provide the means of earning experience points and money used to purchase equipment. Non-story quests could involve getting rid of an enemy, talking with patients or finding certain objects.

Throughout the game you will come across Collections which are rare items that can be collected and bring with them experience points and money. You will also meet wandering enemies and patients. Enemies are nightmare creatures that can prevent you from learning the secrets of the asylum in various ways such as reducing the time available to complete a task, stealing your money or cutting the available experience points. The patients you encounter are generally friendly and will offer to give you money and experience points. You will only encounter patients in corridors rather than rooms and wards.

Food can be purchased and eaten to replenish your health and there are various tools available to help simplify searches. Hidden Object gameplay, with scenes, often repeated, will require you to find the six objects listed in text format within a specific time period. There is a Hint feature but this is not rechargeable. However every so often this Hint feature will be replenished with more hints.

Dark Asylum: Mystery Adventure is not the easiest game to pick up. Even after playing the game for several sessions I still feel that I am struggling to work out what is required. In fact, if it had not been for the need to write this review I would probably have given up on the game. The full game is priced at USD $9.99. System requirements call for a 1.6GHz processor with 1024MB of RAM and 720MB of hard disk space running Windows 7 and later.

Personally (Whiterabbit, I found this HOG a breath of fresh air after playing so many HOG’s over the last several years. I totally missed this one when it was released, probably because I cancelled my BFG account as the monthly game I got invariably seemed to focus on HOG’s as not much else seemed to be released at the time (or at least BFG were not promoting other genres so well), so I cancelled my monthly subscription. After playing this for a few hours, I thoroughly enjoyed the refreshing take on this genre. Granted, at first I was a little confused at all the different windows that popped up, but discovering what they were and how to use them was part of the fun for me. This game is definitely a keeper for me.

Edited reference accessed HERE. Originally posted by mfereday
on 4th January 2017. Edited and briefly added to (last paragraph) by Whiterabbit-uk 2nd December 2017.

Other Reviews and Videos of Dark Asylum: Mystery Adventure:

You can see Big Fish community reviews of Dark Asylum: Mystery Adventure HERE and more information in the Big Fish forums HERE. There are several in-game videos of game play HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE, plus a slideshow of almost 200 images (several repeats) HERE.

Conclusion:

An excellent Hidden Object game, though you may find it a little confusing at first. There are elements of RPG included with respect to upgrading various things. I haven’t been interested in playing HOG’s for a few years now after playing far too many, but this one I really enjoyed playing and highly recommend it to all HOG lovers. If you don’t like the usual run of the mill adventure HOG’s try this one out, it may surprise you. 8.5 out of 10 from me.

Suggestions:

After you've had an opportunity to play today's giveaway please take a few moments to give some positive or negative feedback; for example, what you liked or disliked about the game, or how it could be improved. If you don't like the genre at all, please explain why and if any, what improvements would change your mind? If you don't have time to post a comment today, please do so at your convenience, thank you. If you wish to post a review or comment about the game at a later date, you can access the comments section by going to the game giveaways home page, then scroll to the bottom of the page where it says Archives and select the date the giveaway was live (giveaway days are in bold type). This will open up the appropriate page for you to post your comment or review. Alternatively, you can google the name of the game and include Gamegiveawayoftheday in the search. This should give you a list of links to whenever this game was given away.

There are thousands of subscribers to the game giveaway of the day every weekend which makes this an ideal forum for giving developers new or fresh ideas as to what their consumers (i.e you) would like to see in a game. For example, you could suggest extra content such as better or more original mini-games, or a level editor that you would like to see that would make it more appealing to you. Maybe you think the graphics are a little dated and are in need of re-skinning, or maybe you've just had enough of the genre and want to see something different or something with more originality? Giving such feedback instead of saying nothing or just saying this game is rubbish or good may bring more developers to the site, which could mean more and better games. Would 'you' give away thousands of copies of a game (or extra content for a game) away to a community that complains all the time instead of giving useful feedback? It only needs a few moments of your time. I believe this site could be transformed into a hub for developers to visit and take away useful information on what you the consumer wants in their games; if only the community would be more forthcoming in their opinions of the games they are getting for free. If the giveaway doesn't grab you, then please move on to the next giveaway, or check out the forums HERE, HERE and HERE, where a few members of the community post details of various free games and free game sites as well as links to various indie bundle sites etc; you never know, you may find something that really interests you.

If you miss today's game giveaway you can always get the game via MyPlayCity 24/7 HERE; or If you prefer to purchase the game you can get it HERE via Big Fish Games.

Problems getting the game to work:

If you're having problems installing or activating or getting Dark Asylum: Mystery Adventure to work please visit the FAQ's Thread HERE and read through the communities comments because sometimes fixes have already been posted, for example, a common issue seen since the Themida wrapper was introduced three years ago is that some community members installation of the game are blocked by their security because Themida code has been known to hide malware, (usually an error message is flagged for example 'The executable is corrupted' even though in reality it is not); so as a precaution some anti malware programs will block and even delete the suspect installation files even though the files (i.e the setup, read me and setup.gcd files are actually totally free from malware. This issue can be solved either by rebooting your computer in safe mode with networking or a quicker method is to temporarily turn off your security software to allow the installation. You could also try whitelisting the setup.gcd file. In the almost 11 years this game giveaway site has been operating there has 'never' been a game given away that was infected with malware.

If for any reason you want to contact the giveaway team, for example, you have a game to offer the community, or are unable to download the latest game or other issues that the FAQ's thread or these comments don't cover or solve you can do so HERE

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank MyPlayCity for giving away Dark Asylum: Mystery Adventure and also to the developer Dikobraz Games for creating this excellent HOG plus of course the giveaway team, as always, for securing more free games.

Useful Information not related to today's game giveaway:

If Dark Asylum: Mystery Adventure doesn't interest you, but you still hanker for something new to play, you'll find details of some game deals whether they be sale items, indie bundles or games being given away for free HERE (I've not updated the thread in a while, but most of the links still take you to the latest deals).

The rest of the information that used to be posted in the game review can be found in the forums HERE. Finally, check out Delenns threads for details of other free games and offers HERE and eslewhere in the game discussion forums HERE, (usually on the first page of the game discussion forums).

The latest Origin giveaway is Plants vs. Zombies Game of the Year Edition. which you can find HERE. If you love Tower Defense, or arcade games in general, this is a fabulous game. It's not like your typical TD game. It's easy to pick up, but hard to stop playing. A fantastic and well balanced arcade game, with brilliant game play and in my opinion one of the best of its kind. You can see a couple of game play videos HERE and HERE.