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

Today's game is over half a gigabyte, so if you have a slow internet connection please download as early in the day as possible so as not to be disappointed because exactly 24 hours after the giveaway started (9 am London UK time) you can no longer register the game

To get a feel for today's game giveaway - Dark Strokes: Sins of the Fathers before you decide to download it, do check out several game play videos (Walkthrough spoilers) HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE and 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.

Dark Strokes: Sins of the Fathers

In Brief

A dark hidden object adventure.

Installation:

Dark Strokes: Sins of the Fathers downloads to a 557 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 565MB 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 Strokes - Sins of the Fathers

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 task bar, make sure you uncheck the box when the additional tasks window appears (after the Select Start Menu Folder window)

Introduction:

Guide Ethan Black as he attempts to rescue his bride-to-be from a terrifying menace known as the Faceless Ones in Dark Strokes: Sins of the Fathers! When Evil comes for the people you love, what will you do? That moment of reckoning has arrived for Ethan Black and he needs your help! Guide Ethan in this Hidden Object Puzzle Adventure game as he explores a decimated city, searches for clues, and peels back the layers of a chilling supernatural mystery in Dark Strokes: Sins of the Fathers!

Edited reference accessed HERE. 15th October 2017

The Game:

Review 1:

A young man brings his fiancé to meet his father and ends up having to rescue them both from a group of faceless assailants

In the hidden object genre, a sure-fire recipe for success goes something like this: start with a 19th century setting, mix in a train, an abandoned village or a dusty manor, toss in a madman bent on revenge and voila! OK, maybe I’m exaggerating (a little). The truth is, it takes deft handling of these oft-used ingredients to make a good game, and Alawar Friday’s Games, the makers of Dark Strokes: Sins of the Fathers, know just how to do it.

The game starts with young Ethan Black taking Clair, his lovely bride-to-be, to a remote village to meet his father. The young lovers hop a steam train and are settled in for a comfortable ride when their carriage is attacked by a sinister masked figure. After the ensuing crash, Ethan and Clair find themselves outside the very village they were attempting to reach. Unfortunately, the village is hardly their redemption; it’s mostly empty and its few remaining inhabitants are under siege by a group of masked kidnappers called “the Faceless Ones”. Before Ethan can get his bearings, Clair is captured by the Faceless Ones as part of a madman’s decades-old bid for revenge and the chase is on.

Most hidden object games have elaborate graphics, but Dark Strokes: Sins of the Fathers takes elaborate to the next level. Each location contains a huge amount of detail, and hidden object scenes in particular really demonstrate the effort put in by the art team. Character art, too, is extremely well done, and the team has found a method of making 2D painted faces move convincingly, which makes for some really nice dialog sequences. Best of all, the graphics go a long way to enhance the storytelling in repeated flashbacks cleverly illustrated by oil paintings that come to life.

In addition to nice graphics, the game has some cool interactivity in the form of the aforementioned super-packed hidden object scenes that require you to manipulate some items to find others. It also has some interesting puzzle ideas (something hidden object games in general desperately need), my favorite being one that involves gaining access to a ticket booth using an ornate carnival ride. Lastly, in keeping with a recent trend, Dark Strokes: Sins of the Fathers also tells you explicitly what your goals are and what you need to achieve them, thus minimizing hint button usage.

On the downside, the game’s voice acting is a bit uneven; some character voices are definitely better than others. Also, the game’s bonus chapter—which details things from the villain’s point of view—feels a bit padded and repetitive since it asks you to revisit the same hidden object scenes you’ve played through a few times before in the main story. Along with the bonus chapter, there’s the usual bundle of extras: concept art, wallpapers, music and cutscenes, none of which adds all that much. Personally, I look forward to the day developers come up with more creative ideas for bonus content.

Dark Strokes: Sins of the Fathers is a good hidden object game that’ll reward anyone who plays it with three hours or so of suitably spooky entertainment. While a more unusual storyline might have made the game more memorable and the bonus content is iffy, the Alawar team does an expert job of weaving some familiar genre mechanisms into a fun and intriguing adventure.

Reference accessed HERE. Originally posted by Neilie Johnson on February 20th, 2012. Reposted by Whiterabbit-uk 15th October 2017.

Review 2:

I feel a weight of the pointlessness of trying to convince a hardcore gaming audience to give their money and time to a casual game. Clearly, there’s a lot of prejudice, a lot of it earned by the crappy nature of so much of the casual market, the rest I’d argue pure snobbishness on the part of gamers. Obvious breakthrough exceptions, invariably published by PopCap, can crossover, but otherwise words like “hidden object” tend to have people click straight past. I think it’s a shame because I just had a lot of fun playing Dark Strokes: Sins of the Fathers.

As a critic, it puts me in an odd place. I know that the genre inherently falls short of decades of PC gaming. Hidden Object, for all the advancements being made from the straight magazine-page puzzle popularised by SpinTop’s Mystery PI series, is still a peculiarly vapid progenitor of the adventure game. It’s as if the adventure genre is evolving for a second time, this time growing on a completely different branch, and we’re seeing its somewhat ugly forefathers. But that doesn’t mean people aren’t being clever within it all. And if not clever, pretty.

Dark Strokes takes the genre the furthest I’ve seen from hidden object, while still containing the puzzles within. It’s also the first I’ve seen that convincingly has the plot be something in which the puzzles are involved, rather than some hastily scripted nonsense that takes place between finding umbrellas, frogs and chess pieces in a cluttered garage. In fact, it has all manner of other puzzles in the mix, and they’re not simply rearranging torn scraps of paper.

Rather gorgeously presented, the story features you as a rather dashing chap, on a trip with his fiancé to visit his father, after hearing the word of there being trouble. And trouble there is! Masked men, known as the Faceless Ones, are kidnapping villagers, and you need to explore the town to find out what’s going on, and rescue just about everyone else. Unfortunately, these rather strange people have locked absolutely every door, box and dollhouse in their town with elaborate puzzles, and then hide all the necessary components all over the place, including inside each other’s locked items. So no, it makes not half of a bit of sense, but my goodness, it’s compulsive.

What also helps here is the really lovely depth of detail throughout. It would not be unfair to suggest that much of the HO genre cuts every imaginable corner, repeating static scenes dozens of times, crudely told through poor static cartoons and speech bubbles. Not so here, where every location is bursting with detail, even the object hunting sequences enlivened by living scenes, gentle breezes and inquisitive cats. Characters, while not fully animated, are really beautifully painted, and cleverly used.

And talking of beautifully painted, the game’s finest visual moments come as you learn the backstory to the game’s antagonist, portrayed through vividly depicted paintings, swishing into existence in front of you, with some really smart direction having the camera suddenly pull out from the painted image to reveal it as just a small part of a larger whole, again and again.

In fact, smart direction appears throughout, the camera used far more interestingly than in many uncasual games, a handheld style allowing some really impressive sudden zooms and pulls as the spooky Faceless Ones vanish into smoky swirls.

And yet, yes, you’re collecting the star-shaped tool to open the box with the star-shaped hole in it, that will reveal the key for the diary that has the clue to the puzzle in the cellar that will offer a lantern used to light the hole that contains the… you get the idea. It’s dumb. But it completely does it for me. It’s a constant sense of progress, of completing puzzles, and that’s rewarding, no matter how trivial it may be.

There’s also the rather useful fact that I still just love playing hidden object scenes. I know it’s ridiculous, but it’s a visual puzzle that can be played with minimal amounts of effort, lulling me into a relaxed state. And best of all, if my game-hating wife comes in, she can’t help but play too, becoming frighteningly competitive about spotting a lizard or hockey stick before I do.

The range of other puzzles in here was pretty decent too, some even offering a degree of challenge. As is the way of the casual world, there is of course a “SKIP” button to take you past anything that might stump you, because – and here’s a lesson the wider world of gaming could learn – these games want to make sure you see the ending no matter your skill.

It’s also pretty big, and it does this without lazily repeating scenes a thousand times each. Rather it constantly expands, with more areas to explore. Although I did notice that the game starts to wane the further you get. While the ending is utter nonsense, it’s actually the hidden object sequences that suffer, losing the extra detail they had in the first half of the game, the interactive elements that let you use items or reveal secrets all vanishing. Complete it, and there’s even a whole new hour or so of story as a bonus chapter (although here the repetition finally appears).

Edited reference accessed HERE. Originally posted by John Walker on February 27th, 2012. Reposted by Whiterabbit-uk 15th October 2017.

Other Reviews and Videos of Dark Strokes: Sins of the Fathers:

You can see Big Fish community reviews of Dark Strokes: Sins of the Fathers HERE and more information in the Big Fish forums HERE. There are several in-game videos of game play (Walkthrough spoilers) HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE; just look to the right hand pane to see more in this series of walkthroughs. You can also find written walkthroughs of the game over on Gamezebo HERE or Big Fish Games HERE.

Conclusion:

Although over 5 years old, this was made at the hight of the Hidden Object revival and has excellent graphics and good hidden object sacenes. As mentioned in the reviews above, the voice acting isn't the best and the story line has been done to death over the years, but overall a decent game and if you love Hidden Object games definitely worth getting, even if you're not into HOG games I'd give this one a try. :)

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.

This site could be transformed if only the community would be more forthcoming in their opinions of the games they are getting for free instead of complaining about the way this site has changed, for example, they don't like MPC games, they hate HOG's, have had enough of Match Three and Time Management games or they want to see the latest version of Call of Duty or some other big name AAA game given away or that they don't like Steam games. If something isn't for 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 the Dark Strokes: Sins of the Father sgiveaway 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 Strokes: Sins of the Fathers 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 Strokes: Sins of the Fathers and also to the game giveaway team, as always, for securing other ways to get free games.

Useful Information not related to today's game giveaway:

If Dark Strokes: Sins of the Fathers 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 freebie is for the tactical tank battle RTS game Men of War: Assault Squad, posted today over in the forums HERE and Origin still have the platform game SteamWorld Dig up for free HERE