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Thank you for all your comments over the last few hours. Got to retire for the night but will check in before the giveaway ends. In the mean time if you have any problems, you'll find the FAQ's thread HERE and the contact form for the giveaway team HERE.

The usual issue many community members have is the Themida based wrapper, which is prone to set off your security which will either tell you there is malware or block the installation completely, though you will get the message saying the game has been activated. The reason for this is because Themida code can also be used to hide malware, but in this case it is being used to protect the giveaway from hackers. There are ways to get around this which I've already mention in answer to one community member who said the game was infected; (see the comments below).

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There are still two Steam game giveaways running from earlier in the week; an excellent down to earth retro shmup (SHoot eM UP) called Madrobot X that still has 4 days to run with 100 keys to be won and an excellent puzzle game called Mind Blox which ends Monday morning (7th Aug 17). If you are interested I've posted some stats the end of this review on the chances of winning either game.

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. If you are having problems installing the game check the FAQ's thread HERE and read through the communities comments because sometimes fixes have already been posted; and 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

Hamlet

In Brief

A creative little point-and-click adventure. Short, but Sweet. I'd score it an 8 out of 10 for good game play, decent puzzles and the excellent art work, that should appeal to most of the family. One of the images I've posted below (the one just above the introduction) does contain spoilers for the very first puzzle.

Suggestions:

After you've had an opportunity to play today's giveaway please take a few moments to give some positive or negative feedback about the game; 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. To access the comments once the giveaway is over, open up the game giveaway to its 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.

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 enjoy playing today's pont and click puzzle adventure check out the developer Amanita Design, the creator of point & click adventure games such as Machinarium and the Samorost franchise, of which the first one is a free browser game. You can check out their games HERE and if you're interested Steam have a bundle of their games HERE that include Samorost 2 & 3, Machinariun and Botanicula plus some soundtracks. It's quite expensive but does have 20% off at the moment and IMO is well worth the money. I purchased all of their games separately as they were released after discovering the freeware version years ago (almost 14 years ago); all are fantastic point and click puzzles with brilliant graphics and are among my favorites of that genre. You can play the free Samorost HERE

If you miss today's game giveaway you can always get the game via MyPlayCity 24/7 HERE; or If you prefer you can purchase the game via Steam or Big Fish. It usually costs £3.99/$4.99 via Steam or almost double that via Big Fish unless you are creating a new account then you can get it for $2.99.

Installation:

Hamlet downloads to a 89.6 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 93.1 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\Hamlet

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:

Hamlet or the Last Game without MMORPG Features, Shaders and Product Placement is the original point-and-click adventure game based on twisted William Shakespeare's Hamlet. Solve logic puzzles and fight with monsters to uncover secrets, punish all the villains and rescue the princess.

Somewhere in the future… No, let's try once again… Somewhere in the past - there is a man from the future. He looks strange and no one knows what he is doing here. In fact he's helping the characters of a famous story find the way out of the difficult situation. The stranger from the future is sent to help Hamlet save Ophelia, his beloved girl, and accomplish all the tasks ahead. There are castles, labyrinths and tunnels, weird objects and creatures on the way. But this tiny man from the other epoch knows secrets and learns easily. He is the one really able to solve the riddles of this hideous kidnapping. The player must help the man to solve a heap of logical puzzles, find the clues and finish soon to save the lady. First you find a hint and do what is necessary to go through the walls of a castle, go along all the halls and… remember, you are not afraid.

There you will see lots of objects - some are crucial for further moves, don't miss a chance to use a hint. It is always interesting to see what puzzle is ahead. Each of them involves much thinking and is never easy to pass. Hamlet is an ideal pastime if you like searching for clues and practice to become a real intellectual detective. Hamlet is full of riddles you may have dreamt of and liked so much in your childhood. This is quite a traditional game with evil monsters and brave heroes! Never boring and always exciting, an excellent game is for a thoughtful and focused gamer. Feel free to experience a lot of challenges and save the Lady from cruelty and un-shared love.

Reference accessed HERE and HERE 6th Aug 2017

If you have a problem installing or activating or getting Hamlet to work please visit the problems section, which I've now incorporated into the FAQ's thread, and which you can find HERE

The Game:

Review 1:

Hamlet is certainly a game that marches to the beat of its own drum, and as a result you’ll be chuckling at its humor and creativity one minute and cursing some its more inscrutable puzzles the next. Regardless, this off-kilter ode to one of Shakespeare’s most famous plays is nothing if not creative and fresh.

The plot of Hamlet the game is more streamlined than that of the play – in fact it’s basically all laid out in the first story panel. The evil king Claudius, with the help of his assistant Polonius, has killed the king and queen, seized the crown, and forced Hamlet’s girlfriend, Ophelia, to marry him.

Hamlet is preparing to seek his revenge and rescue his girl when a time-traveler’s ship – piloted by you – accidentally crashes down from space right on top of him. With Hamlet down (but not out), you’ll step in as the time-traveling Hero to put a stop to Claudius and rescue Ophelia.

The game is divided into five Acts of puzzle-driven adventure gameplay where the goal is often to simply find a way to move from one side of a room to the other and exit by figuring out which objects you need to interact with to solve the puzzles that are in your way. Of course, things are never straightforward.

Alawar (Hamlet‘s publisher) has compared the game to Amanita Design’s Machinarium. While the art style of Hamlet is much different – colorful and whimsical in contrast to Machinarium‘s darker industrial tone – the gameplay is similar in that your character is simply plunked down into a scene with little obvious indication of what to do next, requiring players to pour over the environment itself for clues about which objects can be interacted with.

The puzzles in Hamlet are true brain-teasers, and very creative: there are no lazy Hanoi puzzles, memory match games or jigsaw puzzles here. Instead, you’ll find yourself solving a combination lock by deciphering the sun’s facial expressions, or connecting pieces of a road map to form an escape route – while an old man keeps stealing pieces of the map and putting them back in a different order!

The solutions to some of these puzzles border on the ridiculous at times, and they can’t be truly skipped (although there are hints). While this might cause frustration, there’s a real sense of accomplishment when the solution finally “clicks” and you’re able to move on.

Something else that might frustrate players, however, is the fact that certain puzzles rely a little too much on reflexes. This is especially true of the “boss battles” that cap off each Act and often require players to click on things in rapid succession with very little time to react. (Note: an updated version of the game has since been released that makes these challenges a little less frantic.) There are a few small technical niggles as well, such as the absence of a Windowed mode and the fact that you can’t click on thought bubbles to automatically advance speech.

Hamlet is quite a short game, too. In fact it seems to rely on the difficulty of its puzzles – and the assumption that you’ll get stumped for lengthy periods of time – to add to the game’s play time. If you manage to overcome the puzzles and boss battles fairly quickly (or if you cheat and use a walk through), don’t expect more than an evening’s entertainment from the first play-through.

Sure, Hamlet isn’t without its flaws and quirks, but it has its share of enjoyable, unexpected moments too. Anyone who isn’t afraid to dive into something a little different – and who is patient and curious enough to put up with getting stuck along the way – should at the very least download the demo to see what Hamlet is all about.

Reference accessed HERE originally posted by Erin Bell on Apr 13, 2010 Edited by Whiterabbit-uk 6th Aug 2017

Review 2:

Hamlet opens with graphic novel style panels introducing the story. By panel number three, however, there has been a change from the traditional Shakespearean story of betrayal and perfidy -- Hamlet is squashed by a space ship. The space ship contains a character from the future, robed in purple with a light bulb on his head. Since Hamlet is now lying there, unconscious, it's up to the humble "new Hero" to take over, wreak vengeance on the villains and rescue Ophelia from her watery plight. If our Hero fails, the consequences for history will be dire.

The graphics are cartoon style and quaint, with an unusual color palette. Structures sprout from the landscape at odd, impossible angles. Architectural details have unexpected textures and shapes, and sometimes seem stuck on randomly. The game has a quirky ambiance and tons of charm. Each level consists of only one screen, and each features animations and ambient sound. Sometimes jazzy music plays in the background. A few of the levels are in silhouette style, with black foregrounds and the characters in black, and these provide equally pleasant viewing.

Straddling the fence between adventure and casual adventure, Hamlet's story is (very loosely) based on Shakespeare's play. The game is puzzle-driven and told in five acts. It has no large environments to explore; the gamer's focus will be almost entirely on the puzzle presented in each level. Exploring each screen visually is important, however, in order to look for clues and to watch for slight changes in the animations. Hamlet contains a brief tutorial, an autos ave function, and a hint system. The interface is point-and-click. If you leave a level before finishing, you will start at the beginning of that level when returning.

The game employs a third person perspective, as you see the Hero as he moves around the screen. However, you don't limit yourself to actions that the Hero could likely perform, and you (usually) don't control him. Instead, you are an omniscient being, observing what's occurring on screen, and trying to change the environment to help the Hero progress. The game does not have a "smart" cursor, so you'll do a lot of clicking to see what parts are interactive.

I found this game delightful until I encountered the more difficult puzzles. Hamlet discards many adventure game conventions, and I failed miserably while trying to solve the more unconventional levels. Confession: when it comes to puzzles like those in Hamlet, I am the weak fruit.

Items don't always give consistent responses -- a few have to be clicked on repeatedly. In the hardest non-timed puzzle, a marker doesn't mark what it stops on, it marks something else in the sequence. At unexpected times, dialog becomes more than just dialog and text becomes more than just text.

Hamlet's hint system (to which I resorted scandalously often) is on a timer -- you can't access it until several minutes have elapsed. It provides visual clues only, one hint per level. This undoubtedly cut down on the need for translation into various languages, but the result is that sometimes deciphering the hint is its own challenge. A couple of the hints actually increased the difficulty factor. After solving these levels, I could not determine how the corresponding hint was designed to help.

Many of the puzzles in Hamlet involve clicking in a sequence. The most difficult sequences are timed and require precise, rapid mousing. Some of the environments contain red herrings, adding further to the difficulty. By mid-game, I found that the levels contained quite a bit of puzzle variety, and some were fairly easy. But others were so frustrating that I would quit immediately after solving them and pace around the room to calm down.

I played the game twice. I got through the playing cards challenge the first time using a theory that did not work at all the second time. I got through the second time using a theory that was completely at odds with my first theory. (To be honest: the second time through, I chose what seemed to be the least likely solution each time.) After checking a walk through, I now realize that I had no idea at all how the system was supposed to work. Persistence and dumb luck pay dividends. More good fortune!

Fairly early in the game I encountered the Claudius guitar level. This is a timed sequence that I found impossible to complete. Two others in my family (one an action gamer) attempted it and failed. Soon after, a version of the game was released that slows down the sequence -- otherwise I would never have made it through the game.

Two of the levels pit the Hero against a giant octopus. The first time through, I manhandled the octopus with aplomb (rapid random clicking), though I had no idea how I'd managed it. I decided that the octopus was cute, in addition to being pleasantly purple/pink.

The second time through the game I could not disable the octopus. When I finally checked back into the game, enlightened by knowledge from a walk through, I still couldn't beat him. Prolonged, rapid clicking on the poor creature, while muttering certain words under my breath, finally ended the level. I concluded that the octopus was a demon in disguise and regretted leaving him with arms intact.

This is a game for gamers who have a zeal for difficult puzzles, who want to think (way) outside of the box, and who have quick reflexes. Like Gobliiins 4, I imagine that Hamlet is more enjoyable if played with a partner who can help the gamer see things differently and think about patterns and animations creatively. A shoulder to cry on is also comforting.

Reference accessed HERE original review by Becky, August, 2010. Edited by Whiterabbit-uk 6th Aug 2017

Other Reviews, Videos a Slideshow and Walkthrough's of Hamlet:

You can see community reviews of Hamlet (a mixed bag of around 250) over on Steam HERE.

You can also see videos of game play, (spoiler alert), HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE; plus a slideshow of over 50 images, (spoiler alert), HERE and just in case you do get stuck, even with the help button, you can access a couple of walk through's HERE (Gamezebo) and HERE (Big Fish).

Conclusion:

Hamlet is quite challenging with an interesting art style, creative puzzles and quirky humor. If you get stuck on a puzzle, the help button can be of use, but it is locked for at least 5 minutes, to allow you to try the puzzle before you get any advice. Usually once given, the puzzles become very easy to solve.

There are some balance issues with reflex-based puzzles and the game is relatively short (unless you get stuck along the way and refuse to use the help button). Some puzzles seem a little too inscrutable and unfortunately there's no windowed mode. Still, this is a worthwhile point and click game highly recommended for most family members. 8 out of 10 from me.

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank MyPlayCity for giving away Hamlet 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:

The problems section that used to be posted here in the Game review is now included in the Game Discussion FAQ's thread; which you can find HERE.

I've updated the games section that used to be posted with the review. The thread is now called 'Weekly round up of game deals', formerly the games section of the weekly reviews. You can find the new thread (which I've posted in the sticky section of the game discussion forums to make it easier to find if you are perusing the game discussion forums) HERE.

The rest of the information that used to be posted here can be found in the forums HERE. Finally, check out Delenns for details of other free games and offers HERE.

Mind Blox has over 34 thousand entries, even if you have gained the total number of entries, the chances of winning are very slim with a 1 in 168 chance of winning, (i.e. approx 0.6% chance of winning a key). If you enter for the first time today that chance reduces to a 1 in 625 chance i.e. less than a 0.2% chance of winning. With 100 keys up for grabs, there's a better chance of winning Madrobot
X. At the present time there's just under a 100% chance of winning a key if you enter, but that will reduce over the next four days, but not significantly, so there's a far better chance of winning one of the 100 keys for Madrobot X than there is of winning one of the 10 keys for Mind Blox. That is assuming you've got the maximum number of entries. If you start today the chances of winning Madrobot X are reduced to approx 64% at this time and will probably reduce to under 50% by the end of the giveaway provided you sign into your Facebook account via the task each day to earn the 15 entries per day. Still that's almost a 1 in 2 chance of winning a key. :) Good Luck to all who enter. I have played both games (purchased both on release) and recommend both of them for excellent game play.