Well yes.

Adoption has been spotty rather than universal.

Would you believe that certain cities in Canada did not use the system until recently if ever? I'm not entirely sure about this, but I believe that Winnipeg did not use DST in the past. Whether it is used there now I still do not know.

I don't know if the DST is used universally in the US, even. Or which countries do NOT use it today.

Hah! No worries. I knew that I had one more trick up my sleeve before time ran out. I installed it on my Win7 desktop and it runs on there with no problems first time. Go figure :-)

Just rejoice a little bit.

Before GW (Bush) the changes were six months apart, in late October and late April. The last Sundays thereof, if memory serves.

He changed that to the first Sunday in November to go bask to standard time, and I think the first Sunday in March for DST (Daylight saving time). So now we get eight months of sunlight instead of six. It's a mixed blessing.

If you really want somebody to blame, blame the Germans of WWI, whose actions pretty much forced the Allies of the time to institute this system. They then decided to keep it for the farmers who had more daylight in the summer when they need it most. And don't think they are not grateful, even today, to have more daylight when they most need it and can sleep in longer for four months.

The Germans of WWII pretty much proved the Allies right when they invaded western Europe, so the system stayed.

Like I said above, it took GW to revamp the system.

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

Back in the mid 70's the Uk stopped the changes, i think for two years, but decided to reinstigate them. one of the reasons was turning the clocks back in October (usually the last Sunday here in the UK) meant children were not going to sschool in the dark.

@ Cad Delworth,

It's not the insects which scare me all that much, though they are a bother. Think a little bit about the scorpions.

They scare the bejeezus out of me. And they get into everything! If you forget to check your shoes or boots one morning, that is the day one of them will be into the toe end of one boot and sting you. Some of them are deadly! No thanks.

No luck. I've tried it all. Checking my drivers, making sure I have DirectX 11 for Win8.1, and tried different resolution settings but now it won't even open when I try to launch the program. Just an error message saying it has closed. I'll wait for the next one.
Thanks

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

Sorry I couldn't be of more help.

Hi,
Downloaded quickly on 8.1. Opened easy and ran well. Game is fairly easy and so far at least, you do one thing at a time.
It seems run of the mill for this genre right now, but I've only begun. I do like the idea of collecting all the souls and
Thank you for another good game and hope all those who had Halloween, enjoyed!!

It seems here tags for the tickers aren't allowed/accepted.
However you can click their links and see if their image appears.

These should be the links of TICKER pictures:

http://game.giveawayoftheday.com/ticker/ticker1.png
http://game.giveawayoftheday.com/ticker/ticker2.png

If I click the links, I can't see any pictures.

Inside the forum I put:

[img]http://game.giveawayoftheday.com/ticker/ticker1.png[/img][img]http://game.giveawayoftheday.com/ticker/ticker2.png[/img]

Now I'll put the code provided by giveawayoftheday.com for them:





Let's see if something appears.

Downloaded to my Win 10 quickly and without any problems. I didn't play any of it though other than just seeing the start where the plane crashes and starts the tutorial. I didn't want to start it yet as I still haven't finished last week's Evil Pumpkin game. I do enjoy the variety that you offer here and you surely can't beat the price!

Thank you GGAOTD and Whiterabbit for all your work.

OK, first things first. I recently changed my AV from Avira (just got fed up with it) to AVG. Unfortunately, yes I do still have to disable my AV when I run setup.exe, otherwise nothing happens. Specifically, although I still see the 'successfully activated' dialog, the game's setup program never executes. So at least now I knwo I do still have to disable my AV (AVG) temporarily in order to install any GGOTD game. Fair enough.

So on with today;s offering, and … ARGH! Yet again I get spoilers during the install!!! PLEASE Playrix and ALL other HOG makers take note: your game is supposed to be a MYSTERY, so please DO NOT name game files the exact name of locations OR objects in the game!!! Because, while the game in installing, the installer happily shows all those names to us, and for me, that DOES spoil the game. I probably won't play this now for a day or two because right now I can remember quite a few of the items and locations that just flashed past my eyes. Guys: it's not difficult! Just use a file name obfuscator to cxhange a file's name from (e.g.) Courtyard to KTdh6RYT for example: ANYHTING to NOT give the plot away! OK, rant over. ;)

I noticed that the install dumps an unwanted 'Play more Playrix games!' icon on my desktop. Now maybe that is included with the game's own installer, but one reason why I prefer GGOTD to other sites (e.g. Jenkat Games) is that usually we do NOT get that sort of thing happening. SO that's one more black mark there, probably not GGOTD's fault though.

Oh and I also got a replacement router from TalkTalk which I fitted up tonight, just to add to the fun and games. But all went well with that (eventually!), and I'm looking forward to playing the game. Once I've forgotten the location and object name "giveaway," obviously!

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

Good point, hope you forget sooner than later. :)

@watcher13: Not all of us enjoy the sun, you know. Plus, you have WAY more insects (UGH!) there in the Med., so no thanks mate!

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

haha, forgot about the insects, lol.

Therese, you CAN run in windowed mode...go to menu and uncheck "toggle fullscreen". That way, if you do decide to use the walkthrough, you don't have to quit the game. HTH

Enjoying this now that I finally ended last week's Evil Pumpkin. I like these story/HOG/puzzle things so am a happy camper!

As far as I can tell, finding the lost souls (there are 40) nets you an award but isn't required for ending the game. They are pretty hard to see.

If I'm not mistaken (and I may be :)), finding the lost souls gives you an award, but isn't required for ending the game. There are 40 altogether.

Forgot to add: I played on Windows 7, laptop. No problem.

Whoa! No way! Somebody told me that you were Stephen "The White Rabbit" Babbitt and that you died in 2008. You REALLY ARE one of the Lost Souls on Lighthouse Island! SPOOKY!!!

This game was so much fun!
Thank you.
Beautiful drawing. Exciting mysteries to solve. It took me 6 hours to complete.
I wish there was an option in the rewards section to go back and try to earn the remaining rewards.

I have Win 10 and even though it's not mentioned in the system requirements,game downloaded fine and works well.Glad games are offered Sat. and Sun.Thanks

I was prepared to give this one a thumbs up because it installed on my Win8.1 laptop without any problems until I decided to launch it and that's when the problems started. When I clicked 'launch' for some reason my mouse cursor got partially 'locked'. It would move only so far, up or down (never saw that before!) so I had to manually reboot my laptop...meaning I had to remove the power cord and disconnect the battery in order to turn it off then reboot by hand. So, I tried launching again and after waiting for it to load I just clicked on it anyway (not responding message) and I got as far as inputting my name but the next scene was only audio and a blank screen which I couldn't escape from so I had to manually reboot a 2nd time. Then I tried the compatibility troubleshooter which tried launching in Win7 mode but I again got audio only and a blank screen and btw I also noticed my cursor erratically jumping on my monitor, so after manually rebooting a 3rd time I figured it was time to delete this one for fear of damaging my system. Pity. I've never had game problems before and I like my HOGS dark/moody.
Thanks for previous games GOTD...

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

Hi P.R. what you describe sounds like a monitor resolution problem. You may have your monitor set to a resolution that is not native to the game, so things like your mouse may seem displaced. Check the FAQ's section, which I've posted a link to above in my mini review (see comment number 1). Also try updating your graphic drivers and ensure you have the newest version of Direct X

I'm sorry, but the game giveaway ticker is visible where I go to look for it. On the main page. Where everyone else goes to look for it. So not seeing the problem here. Sorry

Well, I installed the game, no problem. (Windows Vista Home Edition, 2 GHz. CPU, 2 G. RAM) It runs full screen with no option for windowed mode, and at first you might think there are no options, but if you click on menu, you can change the volume and SFX. It also had an option for changing the cursor, but it did not seem to work for me. The game cursor is not bad however. I found a walkthrough helpful because the hints, even in relaxed mode, aren't very helpful. The HOG scenes are in what I'd call "impressionist" style, because the lines for objects aren't sharp, making some things tough to find, but the hints work better in HOG mode than in the rest of the game play. It's a little bit spooky, but not enough to scare anyone other than a mouse.

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

Thank you for your feedback Therese.

Yes my good fellow WR, but that is partly because you choose to live nearly 2/3ds of the way to the North Pole. :) The Mediterranean is calling. (Retire here, WR! Come to the sunny beaches!) Just look on the bright side. Long summers with sun up to 9pm and after. Most good things have their price. Oh, wait. It's the UK. The sun is an infrequent vistior. Sorry! :D

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

We've discussed retiring to the Med, but not until my wife retires, which is another 20 years away (due to changes in retirement pensions in the UK - forcing people to work for longer to get the full pensions). I'll probably be dead by then as I'm 13 years older than she.

We almost purchased a house on the Med coast near to where there is a proposed theme park, as we thought it would become really popular and easily rentable in the summer months, but in the end we decided to invest in another property here in the UK. The only thing I'd miss about the UK besides Marmite, Tescoes and Heinz beans is the mid summer evenings where it doesn't go dark till approaching 11pm. Otherwise I think Med' living would actually prolong my life due to the less incelment weather. :)

I'm not knocking GGOTD, but I think if anyone is going to get into coding and selling software, this site has taught us one thing for certain in that there's apparently a niche market for "Hidden Object scenes and mind-bending puzzles."

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

:)

Thanks Playrix, GGOTD and Stephen for the game.

I really like the detail work in the graphics. I especially like the cockpit and the boardwalk.

I like the motion in the first HO puzzle, but the motion doesn't really seem wave like. The music disrupts the play for me. I think it could be more in the background so it doesn't overpower the game. The wave sounds fit well. I found them quite soothing.

The Help is very specific and recharges quickly. I found it quite useful. The tutorial might be better if it were completely separate from the game itself.

The second HO game was much more distinct, brighter and cheerful. I like the music much better here. I didn't feel it was overpowering.

I absolutely love the lady ghost. The voice is definitely fitting. I did think the ghost giving the panel at this point was a little much and took away from the theme. I think maybe something else here would fit better and might bring more continuity.

I'm looking forward to continuing the game. Overall, I give the game 8.5/10. I definitely give it a thumbs up and would recommend it to others. Playability is high for me. Sorry I can't play more of the game, but football has already started today :-). This makes me a very happy person. The game is on hold until football day is over. My favorite team is being aired today which makes it an even better day.

I wish everyone well and I hope all had a great Halloween.

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

Thankyou for your feedback Paula, much appreciated. We did the usual with our boxes of Halloween stuff from the attic, making the entrance porch and hall look like a halloween grotto. My 16 year old son didn't go out with his sister this year. She did the usual Dracula as we have costumes dating back to me and my wifes rag week halloween dance costumes back at university in the late 80's. We both spent days making our costumes. My wife was a dab hand as sewing and needlewoprk (having done it as school). Shee made a really beautiful looking long black cloak with a red silk-like lining and a high collar. it looks as good now as it did then. We actually purchased a new manufactured one for her this year, but she preferred the one my wife made 26 years ago becasue iot looked so much better. My costume was a Gandalf like wizards outfit, which was way too big for her. lol

Installed on a Windows 7 64 machine with no problems,game play is fine,moves along well,graphics could be slightly sharper in the sparkle hidden object scenes,but are great otherwise...I would give this game high marks in all categories...This is a game with good replay value

Graphics: 4/5 Stars
Sound: 4/5 Stars
Story: 4/5 Stars
Originality: 4/5 Stars
Gameplay: 4/5 Stars
Puzzles: 4/5 Stars
Control and Navigation: 4/5 Stars
Fun Factor: 4/5 Stars
Replayability:4/5 Stars

Total: 36/45 Stars

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

Thankyou for your feedback Don :)

I got a new computer - win 10, 64 bit; and I haven't been able to install anything from either giveaway of the day sites. The program will download and I get the screen with the setup.exe on it, but when I click it nothing happens. Does anyone have any suggestions for me?

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

Hi Linda, check the FAQ's section which I've linked to above in a previous comment.

Download and installation in some minutes without a problem.

Like this genre very much but only played until arriving to the island by now.

Thanks for another cool game.

This game has two modes casual where hints load quickly and advanced for more skilled players.

Downloaded and installed with no problems on a Win 8.1 laptop. This game is obviously a hidden object game. The hidden object scenes are lists with one or two items where you have to do more than one action to get it. Ex. Open a chest lid. The items that need more than one step are listed in a different color than the normal list items. Clicking randomly doesn't seem to have any penalty. There are some puzzles like putting a picture together, codes, using items like knives, wheels etc. There are 40 lost souls that you can choose to find but it's very difficult to because they are shadows and it's a relatively dark game. There are also the souls of the island that you find on your way through that you have to help by giving or doing something they need like showing them a picture and then they thank you, give you an item, and disappear.

The graphics are good albeit a bit dark, even on my screen's lightest setting. Some of the items in the HOS's are hard to find but the hint button recharges relatively fast (on casual setting)but it could use a gamma slider in the options.

Another thing it could use would be a map but I'm not sure how old the game is so it could have been made before maps became a standard on these types of games.

All in all a worthwhile game to download if you like the hidden object genre. It's a better game than some that I've purchased on game sites.

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

Thankyou for your feedback Jen, much appreciated.

Downloaded and installed fine on both of my computers - desktop with Windows 7 and laptop with Windows 8.1 Both running Microsoft anti-virus (different names) and no hiccups.

One of the most efficient installers I've seen. The download was 271 MB but the installed game is over 800 MB. Usually, there's not a lot of difference between the two.

I've just played each one a short ways to be sure they work but it looks like a keeper - a mystery like the majority of HOGs are.

I wouldn't mine a silly HOG like Clumsys or Scruffs but I'll take what I can get -- I'm now up to 498 HOGs in my 1354 games total!

Keep 'em coming and thanks GOTD. More thanks to Stephen for taking the trouble on the weekend to moderate. Now I gotta go rake leaves. The city is coming next week to pick them up.

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

Thanks Diane. Though I have been a little remise recently.

I keep all of my leaves which are put into one of the composting bays. It makes a fantastic leaf mould compost; some of the best you can get. My gardener has spent most of the last few weeks and will do so for a few more, clearing up the leaves from the front and back gardens. The back lawn is virtually carpeted with them' beautiful autumnal colors. I will be sad to see the leafless trees, it always signals the start of the cold weather for me. Roll on Spring :)

Another combination HOG/puzzle game; no better, or worse, than others lately. The hint system isn't particularly helpful except in the HOG segments (which are prone to that irritating practice of having only a tiny, unrecognizable, corner of the item visible; and some HOG screens are quite dark), elsewhere it is usually "There is nothing more to do here. I should look elsewhere." There is a moderate amount of backtracking required but the game is good about telling you what you will need so when you find the item you rarely have to go back more than one or two scenes to use it. The puzzles range from ridiculously simple to maddeningly obtuse - even when shown the solution you may not recognize the logic behind it. Overall a "thumbs up" from me.

The only issue I have is that whenever there is a scene change my frame rates drop to 2-3fps for about ten seconds then slowly return to normal. Probably some arcane interaction with my system, but it is annoying.

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

Thank you for your comment jgf, appreciated.

yes - U.S. daylight savings time went off last night so it's an hour earlier. Hence, button would not be there until...oh never mind.

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

It was last Sunday for us in the UK. Had to get up an hour ealier to post my reviews. Couldn't face writing a review today as i'm exhausted after a really hard week. (Can hardly move due to pain).

360 Total Security is giving a warning about a Trojan (HEUR/QVM20.1.Malware.Gen) in one of the temp files. Is this a false positive? The reason I am asking is there seems to be an obvious naming convention problem with this file (Malware.Gen), isn't there? I have noticed that a lot of the malware have similar names but isn't the point of the malware is to infect a computer without the user noticing.

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

Hi Gordon, yes it is a false positive. It's most likely picking up the Themida code found in the setup.gcd file which was added to secure the giveaway wrapper from hackers, who had previously worked out how to get an executable that could be installed at any time and who had then posted instructions on You tube on how to do it. The gcd file was added and since then virtually every week we get one or two community members saying their security had picked up on a problem. Themida can also be used to hide malware, but in this case it is being used to protect the game :)

Setup decided to start crashing. I have not had any problems before, not sure if you updated the version. It goes directly from "connecting to game.giveawayoftheday.com - checking giveaway availability" to crash screen. When the crash screen is closed, the "successfully activated" screen pops up.

Problem signature:
Problem Event Name: APPCRASH
Application Name: setup.exe_unknown
Application Version: 1.0.0.999
Application Timestamp: 53bcf615
Fault Module Name: StackHash_bf2f
Fault Module Version: 0.0.0.0
Fault Module Timestamp: 00000000
Exception Code: c000041d
Exception Offset: 76fed8f1
OS Version: 6.1.7601.2.1.0.256.48
Locale ID: 1033
Additional Information 1: bf2f
Additional Information 2: bf2fad4f846e226167d9682fa24bb27c
Additional Information 3: eda9
Additional Information 4: eda91533b922338153a41c7d8cb2825c

.......................Moderatro Comment................................

Someone else had the same problem some weeks ago and posted in the forums. Check the thread out as you may find a solution:

http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/forums/topic/420968

The site is getting light on comments these days...

This downloaded and installed without issue on my Win7 laptop. It installed to the folder and start menu of my choice, always a bonus when that happens. I played a few minutes of it to be sure it ran ok - so far so good and i was very happy with the beginning graphics and music - very nice scene of the crashed plane and lighthouse.

There was the option to run in casual or expert mode, and the usual options for sound levels and such.

I think I'm going to enjoy this one...its raining today and now I have something fun to do...thanks for the game!

ps - I'm VERY happy that GGA has not followed in the footsteps of GOTD, with the share page and emailed download link...I tried to download one of their offerings recently, I never did get the registration email and so uninstalled the program, and I don't visit the site anymore. Things need to be kept simple in order to reduce isssues and be promoted. I hope GGA sticks with the current model for presenting games!

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

I think the comments may be partly my fault as I've not had much time to moderate recently. I've been really busy for several weeks, but also have other things going on that either take up my time or i'm exhausted, so don't feel like turning my comoputer on. With respect to the other part of the project. i agree. I do hope the Gamegiveaway pages remain the same. I also didn't get any response from the email route and now use one of my kids facebook accounts if i think the software will be useful. I don't usually bother anymore a sI have purchased just about all I need.

I've already played this game; somewhere, sometime, I just can't remember. So this is based on what I remember.

I liked this game, at least the beginning of it. I liked how everything was set up, the mystery, the story, the general mood of the game. I remember what I liked most about this game were the logic puzzles. HO games get very boring, very quickly for me. This has a bit of both HO and adventure. You are trying to solve what happened on this island (and leave it), there are a few spirits (ghosts) and indications that other people have been on the island, but that something bad/mysterious happened to them. There is a good mix of fairly easy mini logic puzzles that are relevant to the story and HO scenes to find a particular item.

I recall feeling that the atmosphere, sound, & music (if any) all supported the creepy, desolate mood the game was trying to convey. The result is that some people will certainly find the game "dark" with dull colors. If I recall correctly, this is one of the few games that doesn't always have a constant, brain-numbing soundtrack over every scene, including the HO. I remember enjoying the fact that the game allowed the ambient sounds to set the mood.

There is a little back and forth between scenes, but the game is broken down into sections, each with a certain number of scenes. In each section you'll be traveling between scenes until you have accomplished your goals. Some of the larger sections will have you accomplishing goals in the beginning scenes, then a set of accomplishments in a group of later scenes, and you might have to go back to one of the beginning scenes to finish the section. Basically, there isn't a great deal of jumping around that would require a map. Whatever general area you are in is where you mostly need to be. I liked this, as I hate the mood/story breaking habit of games today where you are like a monkey pushing a button and you need a map with hints to get to the next button. If a game gets to that point, it might as well forget the "adventure" part and just be a collection of HO scenes.

I think this had a fairly good hint system, where it told you which direction to go until you got to the needed scene, then directed you to what you had to do. There is also a walk-through available on Big Fish Games. There are no small, deformed "cute" dog helpers in this game (thank God) or any of those superfluous eye grabbers in the more popular HO games.

I do remember being a little disappointed in this game. The first scenes at the lighthouse were a great mix of logical puzzles and HO. As I progressed, it seemed there were less logical puzzles (or puzzles so easy they only counted as busy-work for me) and more HO. The game is fairly linear, which I don't mind if the point is to tell a story and to get you hooked into it. The story in this game just fell apart for me. I think it stopped being a mystery and started being a monkey pushing buttons type of game. They let the cat out of the bag early in this game to the point that you knew what was going on but just had to get to point "X" to do some random thing that was going to magically fix everything. I also thought it was much shorter than comparable games. It's a real shame that these companies can't hire someone to develop a good story arc. They have some good stories, but they just can't seem to tell them well.

This is definitely worth the download if you like HO or moody games. While relatively easy, it does have it's good moments.

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

Thank you very much for your excellent feedback Melika, very much appreciated

This game was really pleasant until I found that I have to discover 40 lost souls which are too much difficult to see.
Can anybody tell me if these souls are usefull for ending the game ?
Cause if it is I shall not go on further...

Hello can I play this game in French?

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

Hi Angelaure, The only way I think you may have a chance to do so is to download a French version from a French gaming site. Install the demo to a different place than the giveaway, then swap some of the files around (trial and error) to see if you can ghet it in French. Do it before the giveaway ends just in case you mess up the giveaway so that you can download it again. It may be as simple as changing a configuration file to include the French language, but I don't have time to explore this myself at the moment. I'm exhausted for various reasons and just don't have the energy to help at the moment. Sorry.



Salut Angelaure , La seule façon je pense que vous pouvez avoir une chance de le faire est de télécharger une version française à partir d'un site de jeux en français. Installer la démo à un endroit différent de celui du don , puis échanger certains des fichiers autour ( essais et erreurs ) pour voir si vous pouvez Ghet en français . Faites-le avant le concours se termine juste au cas où vous gâcher le cadeau de sorte que vous pouvez le télécharger à nouveau . Il peut être aussi simple que de changer un fichier de configuration pour inclure la langue française , mais je ne pas avoir le temps d'explorer moi-même pour le moment. Je suis épuisé pour diverses raisons et juste ne pas avoir l'énergie pour aider à l'instant . Pardon.

Works fine on 1st Gen Moto G but won't connect to Asus Memopad 7 or Memopad 10. There's some slight lag on a simple game like 'Flow Free' but not enough to make it unplayable. According to the account tab, my name is 'stronger'. :) The MirroGo window can't be moved to my secondary monitor. It's not really something I have a use for. By the time I sorted out a USB cable and connected, I can have done what I needed to do on the phone.

For starters, I just want to signal that the game.giveaway.com TICKER is NOT visible on a forum (where I put it as my sign).
It isn’t visible even in the Spread the word section of this website.

I submitted the compressed package, and the unzipped files, to WinDefender, SuperAntiSpyware, Malwarebytes and EmsiSoft Emergency Kit (those programs are installed or portable on this PC): no problems detected.
I submitted the G/GAOTD setup.exe to virustotal, jotti, metascan-online, and virscan: virustotal and jotti found nothing, FPROT scan engine on virscan found W32/Felix:P:Lastsect_unkn!Eldorado, virit scan engine on metascan-online found Trojan.Win32.DownLoader16.CH but the other forty-two engines found nothing (Fortinet has failed to scan).

The game installed well on windows 10 (standard/home) x64.
The game started and finished without problems.
On the exit, the windows compatibility app manifested itself. I think it enabled/ticked/selected Disable display scaling on high DPI settings in its properties – compatibility tab, because I’m using high DPI settings (150%), but I'm not totally sure of it.

Thanks for this game, as usual, to Whiterabbit-uk (aka Stephen), to GGAOTD and to Playrix!!!

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

Thank you for your feedback xilolee

I noticed the same glitch as Billy the Kid -- just adding more fuel to my semi-annual rant about the stupidity of these clock-changes: all the news anchors chirping about 'the extra hour's sleep tonight! doesn't help either ... but I'll spare you.

I got "Connecting to GGOTD to check availability/XFailure to launch" three times -- first time that's happened to me! I'll re-download and try again later today.

I blame the time change.

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

What I don't like about the clock changes is how it suddently goes dark before 6pm. It's always been a pet hate of mine. in a dfew more weeks most people going to work will be leaving for work in the dark and returning home in the dark.

Thanks, it's there now, am downloading!

No download button

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

Possibly the clocks have been changed due to daylight saving time. If so it should be up any minute now

The Game:


Haunting Mysteries: Island of Lost Souls throws you into the world of paranormal adventure in a fairly standard hidden object game setup. You’ll travel throughout the game’s many dark, gloomy locations, interacting with ghosts, completing hidden object scenes and puzzles, and trying to ensure your own escape along the way. The storyline here is clichéd yet interesting, and the ease of difficulty should be a welcome element for those looking for an enjoyable way to spend an afternoon.

Island of Lost Souls takes place in Northern Scotland, where your plane crashes into the waters next to an abandoned lighthouse. As you investigate the lighthouse and surrounding environments you’ll meet ghosts aplenty, trapped on the island by the spirit of Lord Neville, a psychopath in both life and death that has caused a curse to hover over the land.

In life, Lord Neville became obsessed with a young woman named Lillian who refused to ever offer him her hand. On her wedding day to her childhood sweetheart, Lord Neville killed the groom, the bride and himself, refusing to allow Lillian to ever be free – even in the afterlife. You are the island’s seemingly final hope, as you must free individual spirits, reunite lost lovers and escape the island with your own life intact.

The gameplay here is fairly standard, and perhaps a bit too easy on the game’s casual difficulty level. The linear gameplay allows for some backtracking, as you may repeatedly complete the same hidden object scene multiple times (with all of your previously found items returning), only to receive a single item that can be used elsewhere each time you play. The voice acting when speaking with ghosts is nicely done, and the graphics also shine in these cutscenes, with ethereal glows and clouds of smoke that accent a scene. Conversely, some of the environments themselves are blurry and even ugly with no fine details to speak of.

Most hidden object scenes find a sort of middle ground in terms of graphics, as hidden objects themselves may be crisp, but the backgrounds they rest upon are blurry, allowing you to blind click on anything that looks out of the ordinary to rapidly find most items in every scene. This is both a positive and a negative, depending on your viewpoint and your desire for difficulty or consistency. For the few items that are truly hidden within these scenes, you may have to resort to the game’s hint meter, which fortunately charges rather quickly.

As for the game’s puzzles and mini-games, these are the genre’s fairly standard offerings in terms of tile sliding or jigsaw puzzles. When a puzzle with some true variety does appear, these often come with too little in the way of instructions, even to the point of forcing you to look at the in-game guide for a clue as to the solution and how to get there.

It’s unfortunate that so many elements of Haunting Mysteries: Island of Lost Souls are inconsistent, as the storyline (even for its clichéd setup) is rather interesting and the gameplay itself has an enjoyable flow once it really gets going. With more attention to detail, Island of Lost Souls could have been so much more than an average experience, but unfortunately, what we’re left with ultimately is.


Reference accessed HERE 1st Nov 2015


Walkthrough:

You can see a walkthrough of the game accessed HERE

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Problems:


If you have any problems installing or getting today's game working, please go HERE for help. I've posted most 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. I've created a thread HERE for that purpose. If you've installed the game but it doesn’t work for some reason, it should still be registered, so someone may be able to help at a later date. Unfortunately if your problem is actually downloading it, once the giveaway deadline is reached you will no longer be able to download the game unless you've already started downloading it before the cut-off. 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 the grace period lasts for up to 1 hour. Apart from the above instances; i.e. already installed, but having problems running the game, (with the possibility of receiving help from the community via the giveawayoftheday game discussion forum); or still downloading after the cut off period, but within the 1 hour grace period, or registering within an hour of the cut-off period. Once the giveaway period is over there’s nothing that can be done to get the game (unless its available from one of the free game sites) until the game is given away again (though that isn't always guaranteed).





It's worth checking the giveaway game discussion forums the day before the giveaways go live to see if we are getting a large sized file (I usually post a comment about approximately how large a file is, though if I'm particularily busy I may neglect to do this). It is especially important for those who have slow connections and even more so if the game is popular. We can have up to forty thousand (40 000) community members downloading over the 24 hour period, with the bulk of community members downloading in the first 12 hours of the giveaway going live, there is always a massive strain on the giveaway servers. The bigger the file size, the more community members will be downloading at any one time. Because the bandwidth is shared equally amongst all community members, downloads can become excruciatingly slow, so if you do have a slow connection, its important to start your download as early as possible to avoid disappointment. Because these games are free, the giveaway owners cannot invest in more bandwidth without compromising the whole project, so we have to be satisfied with what we have at present.

A download manager can help speed the download up and also protect the download in case of an interrpution. There's nothing as frustrating for those with really slow connections to have the connection break after an hour or so, then have to start from the beginning again. I would ask community members if you do have decent bandwidth please avoid using a manager as it does add to the number of downloads occuring at any one time, for example some download managers will download your requested file in up to 32 packets simultaneously, that will take 32 download spots, thus slowing down everyone else's download speeds. For those with slow downloads (due to having a slow connection e.g. a 2MB Broadband connection or less) I would advise using a download manager if the file is larger than around 200MB. My broadband connection is 100MBs, so I don't need to use a download manager, (I do have one called Internet Download Manager, but don't use it when downloading files from the giveaway site). For me a 1GB file usually downloads in about 1.5 minutes or less. My connection is quite a long way from the provider so it is slowed a little, but is still quite good at a download speed of around 12 to 14 MB's per second.

I hope the above goes some way in expalining why we sometimes have really slow downloads.


It’s always worth checking out the free games sites because sometimes the games we get here are also available for free from them. MyPlayCity (MPC) has the most with over 1000 games to choose from. Todays game isn't available from any of the free game sites, but you can get iOS versions really cheap. The game was originally released 4 years ago, but the ported version looks like it was updated this year.





If you do download any games from MyPlayCity, or the other free game sites please 'do' watch out for toolbars etc. Make sure you un-check the check-boxes during installation, and, in the case of MyPlayCity, every time you boot the game up, (this may have changed now as these free game sites tend to change the format frequently)....... I've posted links to all of the common free game sites below in the games, games games section. If you do download a game from any of these sites you do so at your own risk. We cannot be held responsible for problems arising from an installation recommended here. :)


For now I won't be recommending you download games from Jenkat Games. They have changed the way you get games from their site. Diane has posted information about this over in the game discussion forums. If I have time or remember, I'll link to it. TooMyk Games are now safe to download from. They have removed the games that were suspect and have cleaned up their act. As always, you download from those free game sites at your own risk. The giveaway site is the safest site I know of where you can get free software and games. The only disadvantages with downloading from here is you have to download and install within the day of the giveaway (apart from the instances mentioned above and if and when you upgrade or buy a new computer legally you aren't allowed to transfer games given away previously, unless they are being given away on the day you upgrade, or if you've purchased a licence. :)

You just have to look at the gamegiveawayoftheday sites track record since the game giveaway site was created back in December 2006. Zero games given away have been infected with malware, there are no toolbars installed, nor home pages hijacked or browsers changed. There is one slght annoyance, but that only occurs if a community member isn't paying attention when the final window pops up after installing a giveaway. That is the Software Informer installation. Some community members have complained that they were given no choice in its installation. That is not true; when the final window pops up, there are two buttons, one asking if you want Software Informer installed and the button to close the giveaway window down. Some community members have clicked on the wrong button, probably because they weren't paying attention. Thankfully Software Informer is a genuine application, that can easily be uninstalled by the usual means. It's actually a useful piece of software, especially if you have a lot of applications running on your computer. Basically the program will list the programs that need updating, or programs that have available updates. They wont be automatically installed (thus cancelling many giveaway registrations); you have to click on individual buttons to update each program/application. :D

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Games, Games, and yet more Games:




There is a Halloween sale on at the moment with 2368 games on sale. There are some brilliant deals such as 50% off for the excellent Dying light and you can get one of my favorite zombie games Left 4 Dead 2 for only 2.99 (80% off). It's six years old now, but still a great looking game and it's a brilliant coop game with several different modes of play and hundreds of community made maps and mods. The weekend deals includes 80% off the excellent Hitman series, the latest in the series Hitman Absolution: Elite Edition (includes all of the dlc) released 3 years ago is only £3.99 or £2.99 for the basic game. There are far too many other great deals to mention here, just check out the specials section for all 2300+ titles on sale HERE.

There's loads more in the weekly sales and the 48 hours sales to choose from. almost certainly something for everyone. The next set of weekly sales starts on Monday with usually a few hundred titles added. :)





You'll also find some excellent deals over on the following Game sites.

GreenManGaming They usually have coupons to the value of 23% and sometimes more off pre ordered games. I've just pre ordered Just Cause 3 XL and XCOM 2 using a voucher and saved £22 on the price paid in the Steam store
Gamersgate Summer Sale
GOG (DRM free games)
Gamestop
GameFly (soon to be sold off)

I've removed the Desura link because the owners are bankrupt and there has been no activity on the site in months. The servers are still live (at least until Bad JoJo's subscription to the servers has ended, Bad JoJo are the owners of Desura and Indie Royale, or were until filing for bankruptcy). If you own any games via Desura I advise downloading all of the drm free games you have on that platform and on the Indie Royale site before the sites are taken down.




Free Game Sites:


MyPlayCity (over a 1000 games to choose from)
Gametop
FreeGamePick



To be honest 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. If like me you prefer Steamworks games, many of the above sites also sell steamwork games.

If that's not enough, check out the Game Discussion forums HERE for details of other games either free or on deals such as the Indie Game bundles (there's over 20 of them - If you purchased all of them you'd be paying around $80 for around a thousand dollars worth of games); or check out the four day sales at IndieGameStand. you'll find the indie bundles thread HERE. The thread is outdated, but all of the links will still take you to the latest bundles.






The latest IndieGameStand is Porcunipine:
During the great era of hairloss and death, balding porcupines fight courageously for their survival using their very last pointy hairs.

Porcunipine is the ultimate pierce-them-up local multiplayer for up to 4 bald warriors!

Enjoy intense and hilarious combat with the bros and relive the good ol’ days of couch gaming!


Features

- 3 game modes in 30 Arenas;
- Play Free-for-all or as Teams;
- Singleplayer and Multiplayer modes;
- 7 cute playable characters;
- Tough Bots with human-like assholeness;
- Full Xbox360 gamepad support (other gamepads as well);
- Awesome music by the artists goto80 and Gabriel Naro;
- One character has his butt cheeks showing off in battle.

You can get the game for $1; pay over the average (at the time of writing it was $1.41) to get backgrounds, Porcunipine LD28 source code and music.
The deal ends Monday 2nd Nov 2015 5am (GMT)



The latest DIG game Collisions an atmospheric puzzle game. The puzzles vary from one screen to the next: some are easy, others require timing, logic and anticipation. Many puzzles have alternative solutions that only the most cunning players would be able to find!

Features

- 50 physics-based puzzles
- 20 bonuses/alternative solutions
- relaxing soundtrack
- engaging hints expressed in proverb form
- subtle, non-verbal story

Pay £0.99 for the game or you can get two packs if you pay more than the average of $1.03 (at the time of writing ). One Steam key to share with a friend or family member perhaps? You'll find that deal HERE. They also have five bundles of several games that'll cost you less than $1.50 each HERE (DIG Bundles 43, 44, 45 & 46 plus a Topware bundle). You get Steam keys for all of these games.
The single game deal ends just after Midnight Sunday 1st Nov 2015 and will be replaced with Flesh Eaters, later we will get The Culling of the Cows and then Ionball 2: Ionstorm (one of my favorite arcade genres)

Most of the bundles available retail for around $5 give or take a few dollars (apart from the Daily Indie bundles that only cost $1.49 for six games), but you can pay as little as a dollar for some. There are some excellent bundles out at the moment. Check out the following:

Groupees (5 bundles)
Indie Gala (? bundles)
Humble bundle (2 Bundles)
Indie Royale (this bundle is no longer live)
Bundle Bandits (0 bundles)
Blink Bundle (0 bundles)
Play Injector (0 bundle)
Get Loaded (0 bundles)
Games Rage (0 bundles)
Flying bundle (0 bundles)

The free game from Origin has changed from Zuma's Revenge to one of Command & Conquers later games Red Alert 2 plus you get the expansion Yuri's Revenge. This is another AAA game, well worth having if you are into strategy war games.

The world erupts in conflict as Soviet forces invade American soil in Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2. Time travel has helped to eliminate the German threat, and now the Soviets are expanding into the West unchecked. You are the Supreme Commander. Arm yourself to the teeth with top-secret technologies and lead the Soviet or Allied troops to victory.
Plus, defeat an army of mind-controlled Soviet forces in the expansion Command & Conquer: Yuri's Revenge.

Game Features:

Many ways to play. Lead Soviet or Allied forces in a gripping single-player game or a Skirmish game, where there's no particular objective other than destroying everything else on-screen. Who will win the war for world domination?
No need to play nice. You'll need to pull out all the stops if you're going to win this war. Thankfully, you've got a well-stocked arsenal of legitimate and illicit technologies from Prism Tanks and Terror Drones, to Psychic Mind Control devices and Soviet Cloning Vats. Use them.
Deliver the fury. Dominate land, air, and sea battles with the help of over 80 units and structures. Plus, you'll benefit from a enhanced veterancy system that turns newbie forces into battle-hardened war machines -- and brings you closer to victory.

Check it out HERE.


You do need a free Origin account and install the Origin client to get these free games. Once you've installed the Origin client and signed into your account select 'On the house' from the 'Free Games' drop down menu. Then select download now. The game will then be registered to your Origin account permanently.

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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, and a big thank you to immanitas games for sharing and to the game giveaway team for getting these games.

Regards

Whiterabbit aka Stephen