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Holly: A Christmas Tale Deluxe Giveaway
$9.99
EXPIRED

Game Giveaway of the day — Holly: A Christmas Tale Deluxe

Help Santa find the items he needs to complete his rounds on Christmas Eve!
$9.99 EXPIRED
User rating: 18 21 comments

Holly: A Christmas Tale Deluxe was available as a giveaway on December 25, 2021!

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Grab a cup of cocoa, put on your favorite Yuletide music and play Holly: A Christmas Tale Deluxe, a wonderful new Hidden Object game guaranteed to fill you with the spirit of the season! As you help Santa find the items he needs to complete his rounds on Christmas Eve, you`ll be asked to pick out toys on a shelf crammed with merchandise, spot the differences between two seemingly identical pictures and more!

System Requirements:

Windows XP/ Vista/ 7/ 8/ 10; CPU: 800 Mhz; RAM: 256 MB; DirectX: 9.0; Hard Drive: 147 MB

Publisher:

Alawar

Homepage:

https://www.bigfishgames.com/games/2240/holly-a-christmas-tale-deluxe/

File Size:

47.9 MB

Price:

$9.99

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Comments on Holly: A Christmas Tale Deluxe

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#1

Holly: A Christmas Tale:
In Brief:
an interactive scavenger hunt

You can see a few videos of game play HERE, HERE and HERE.
Introduction:
Prepare for a journey of wonder in Holly: A Christmas Tale! Bright, colorful and bursting with holiday magic, A Christmas Tale tells the story of Holly, a young woman who nods off on Christmas Eve and dreams about helping Santa Claus deliver toys to children around the world. But is she really asleep? And what about the magic wand she's using? Does it hint at a greater destiny for Holly?

Reference accessed HERE 24th December 2021.
The Game:
Everyone knows that the holidays are a magical time of year. And what better way to celebrate them than with Holly: A Christmas Tale, an interactive scavenger hunt that sees you helping save Santa and his elves’ jolly behinds? Just be sure the entire family is gathered around the PC before attempting to tackle the adventure… stunningly depicted and atmospherically charming as the quest is, it’s bound to give solo players the gift of extreme aggravation.

Oh, how we want to love the game for its base merits, for there are many. Think 25 gorgeously-rendered levels from homes to toy stores, groceries and workshops to scour for more than 1000 whimsical items, with everything portrayed via first-rate, hand-drawn cartoon visuals. (Including plot interludes, displayed between stopovers on a campaign-style map as a series of brightly-colored comic book-style panels.) Don’t forget the brilliant soundtrack either, whose jaunty tunes will have you humming along with pleasure as you happily click away. But most important, truthfully, is simply the sheer variety of tasks you’ll face while attempting to aid old Saint Nick.

Frankly, we’re stunned and delighted at the amount of pure creativity that’s gone into the quest’s level designs. For example, on one stage, you might find yourself attempting to pick out assorted items – toothbrushes, toasters, boots, etc. – that don’t belong in a Christmas-themed environment. The next may instead demand you track down all the types of fruit hiding amongst a grocery store’s well-stocked cupboards or require that you find toys or clothes based strictly on their silhouette.

Still more advanced scenarios deviate from the basic formula entirely, requesting that you locate any and all objects that look like fairies’ wands or pick out the right bag for a trip to a distant country. Additional vignettes even involve spotting differences between two seemingly identical scenes, with mirrored cursors aiding in the smile-inducing endeavor. All told, one never knows what to expect as they travel to various locales helping blond suburban mother Holly help the world’s children.

The trouble is that the game was designed either by sadists, or some of you-know-who’s little helpers who’ve been quaffing a bit too much eggnog. More specifically, it has approximately three difficulty levels: Annoying, absurd and “If I get my hands on that fat, jolly old man, I’m going to give him a piece of my cookies and milk.” You see, some objects look nothing like you’d expect, e.g. bottles of lemonade that are orange and red. Others are completely hidden behind other items and impossible to spot without using your limited supply of hints. (Which, we might point out, can be replenished by spotting three fir cones ferreted away on certain backgrounds.) Yet more are obscured to the point you’ll literally have to look for a tiny black dot the size of a ladybug’s toenail. Some items you’d think would be clickable – such as cherries on the “click the fruit” challenge – are actually worthless decoys to boot.

Likewise, genre leaders such as the Mystery Case Files titles give you three or four locations to scour for 30-odd items out of a possible 40, say, total before allowing you to progress. Not this bad boy; instead, you’ll routinely have to find ALL 25-odd objects at a single locale just to move forward, right from the tale’s outset, which most users will find less than encouraging. But as you might have guessed by now, logic’s not a strong suit here in general: OK, we’re cool with having to look for a kangaroo-branded bag for a voyage to Australia, but are most folks really going to realize the one for Mongolia features drawings of a bow or Austria’s carrying case is rocking images of a bodybuilder?

It’s a crying shame, really; we absolutely adore everything about Holly: A Christmas Tale, apart, of course, from these inexplicable foibles. And maybe, just maybe, it was the creators’ subconscious decision to produce a title that would inevitably cause the whole clan to convene wide-eyed before the soothing glow of the desktop monitor this chilly winter – the best present of all. Because honestly, that’s the only way you’re going to get through this one without jamming a super-size candy cane through your computer screen. And really, given those troublesome Naughty and Nice lists to be all extra-worried about at the moment anyhow, what would Santa think of that?

Reference accessed HERE 24th December 2021.

Reply   |   Comment by Whiterabbit-uk  –  2 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+33)

Whiterabbit-uk,






Other Free Games:
Please check Delenn's threads over in the giveaway forums HERE and HERE for the latest non Steam and Steam freebies. Also for the latest Steam sales check THIS Steam database site out. You can list the games in 'price' & 'percentage off' by clicking the headers. If you link SteamDB with your Steam account, all games that you already have will be highlighted in green. When there are Steam games being given away, you'll see 100% off.
Ashampoo-Snap-02-December-2021-02h42m28s-023
Don't forget to check Indie Gala's freebie section HERE, then click on the Showcase header, selecting freebies from the drop down menu; recent additions include Pixel Puzzles 2: Christmas ( a traditional style jigsaw puzzle game), North (asylum seeker game), Snowball (A more "discovery-based" approach to pinball. Learn the secret rules of the board to access hard to reach places and rack up HUGE SCORE BONUSES, which are generally agreed to be more important than any other current event in the real world) and the full version of Die Young (you play as Nehir, a field agent of a well-known political party. The party's agenda is to deconstruct and eliminate Brother n.1, the leader of Island's community); we were previously given the prologue version, (which is still available free) Recent games such as Distortions, Dino Run DX, Cheap Golf, Kill Em All, Dead Hungry Diner and Contract with the Devil have now been removed. All remaining freebies can be found in the showcase section (around 100 are available). Not all games that go into the showcase remain free, so you should grab them as soon as you can.


Over the Christmas period Epic games are giving away a mystery game EVERY DAY . Each day, the new game will go live at 11am Eastern/4pm UK time each day. The deals are live for 24 hours only, so check the site everyday HERE to see if it's a game you fancy.
I'm going to leave each days game showing so that you can see what was available previously:
Shenmue 3 usually £24.99 - 16th to 17th December.
Neon Abyss usually £15.99 - 17th to 18th December
Remnant: From the Ashes usually £31.99 - 18th to 19th December
The Vanishing of Ethan Carter usually £15.99 - 19th to 20th December
Loop Hero (£12.49) - 20th to 21st December
Second Extinction (£19.49) - 21st to 22nd December
Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden previously given away 2020 - (£29.99) - 22nd to 23rd December
Vampyr, (£34.99) - 23rd to 24th December - ​
Pathfinder: Kingmaker - Enhanced Plus Edition (£15.99) - 24th to 25th December
PREY - (£34.99) - 25th to 26th December - this is live at the moment - In Prey, you awaken aboard Talos I, a space station orbiting the moon in the year 2032. You are the key subject of an experiment meant to alter humanity forever – but things have gone terribly wrong.
If anyone has TheHunter on Steam; or who got the game via Epic when it was free some weeks ago) and is interested in playing some co-op with me (include Second Extinction in that offer), please leave a message in the thread I posted over in the forums HERE; I'll then contact you via the email you've used for your forum sign in and I'll send you a link to my Discord channel and make some arrangements to play. I've been playing the game regularly since June this year. I've found playing with friends much more enjoyable. If you are new to the game and are maybe shy online, then I will help you get to grips with the game I've always been quite shy when online and always treat people with respect. I don't swear and conversation is usually just about the game. If you only have the base game, when playing coop with me you will still be able to join any of the 11 reserves and explore them. Any thing you unlock while in my server will be saved and added to the reserve if you later decide to purchase those reserves you don't have that you've played in coop.
The best Indie Bundles sites that have been operating from around 2011 are the Humble Bundle and Indie Gala sites (though the latter isn't as good as it used to be) where you'll sometimes find decent bundles with over 90% off the usual price of the games included in the bundles. The Humble site is in my opinion the best. A more recent addition that is worth checking out are the Fanatical bundles (that used to be called Bundle Stars) that you can find HERE.


Cave Story®'s Secret Santa is still available free over on GOG; when I first posted this over a week ago, it wasn't actually available; you will need to revisit the page to claim the game if you tried grabbing it last week). Also available for free on GOG until early Christmas morning is I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream.


p.s.

I have one spare Steam key for each of the following games:


Siberia 2 (Adventure game)
The Mims Beginning (Sandbox God Game)
Persian Nights: Sands of Wonders (CLAIMED)
The Secret Order 5: The Buried Kingdom (CLAIMED)
Settled (2D Pixel graphic horror)
Visitors (Action horror)
Pozzo Jello Crusade (casual indie puzzle)
TREBUCHET (CLAIMED)
Green Game: TimeSwapper (indie action)
Overlord (Atmospheric third person strategy)
Torchlight (Isometric hack & slash dungeon crawler RPG)
Dead In Bermuda (survival sim' with crafting & resource management)
World's Dawn (farming/dating sim RPGMaker)
The Flame in the Flood (isometric post apocalyptic rogue-lite strategy open world survival)
100% Orange Juice (family friendly turn based card game, Anime)




I'm offering a Steam key for the above games to the first person to ask for one. Only one per community member. Please check Steam to see if the game will interest you first. I'm really busy, so may not respond until late in the day or even tomorrow. If some one has already asked, please don't ask again as the first person will get the key. Tomorrow, (Boxing Day) I 'may' include more titles. I have thousands of keys from Bundle Stars (now called fanatical games) and other indie bundles; but read on Fanatical that all keys sold by them are not guaranteed after a certain time, so it's always recommended to redeem them sooner than later. I gave away a large number of Indie Gala Steam codes last year to a friend and almost all of them had been voided, even though they had never been redeemed. Many of the keys I've given away have been pre Summer 2017, so there's a chance those may be invalid even though they have never been redeemed; however, so far all of the keys I have given away recently i.e. around 100 games (that to purchase when not on sale would cost over a thousand pounds) have activated on Steam. Though none were from Indie Gala.

Reply   |   Comment by Whiterabbit-uk  –  2 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+14)

Whiterabbit-uk,

If no one claims "Persian Nights: Sands of Wonders" I would like to have it .... Thank you

Reply   |   Comment by Agno  –  2 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+2)

Whiterabbit-uk,

Merry Christmas, hope you have a wonderful day, thanks for all you do throughout the year.

Reply   |   Comment by Harri  –  2 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+7)

Whiterabbit-uk, Best review ever. Thank you for all you do throughout the year and have a Merry Christmas.

Reply   |   Comment by Ken  –  2 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+7)

Agno,

Steam key has been emailed to you. :)

Reply   |   Comment by Whiterabbit-uk  –  2 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+4)

Whiterabbit-uk,

Thank you Stephen so very much :)

Reply   |   Comment by Agno  –  2 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+1)

Whiterabbit-uk,

I'm in Australia and despite checking on GOG for a free copy of 'I Have No Mouth But I Must Scream' as soon as I noticed you mention it, I sadly missed it being free, which is a shame as it's been on my wishlist for ages while I've waited for it to go on sale... oh well. :(

Also, you mentioned wanting a copy of Cyberia 2 a couple of weeks ago and when I noticed it in a bundle at fanatical I bought the entire bundle for myself, but also bought the lowerst $1.39 tier which also included Cyberia 1 + 2 as a gift that I had sent to my own email so I could foward it on to you. However it seems that you already managed to get a copy yourself though (including a spare key) so again... oh well... it only cost me an additional $1.39 Australian Dollars to try to help you out. Not to worry!

Personally I absolutely love Hidden Object Mystery Adventure games, as well as Myst style Mystery Adventure games. I'm lifetime chronically ill and unable to work however so frustratingly can't afford to buy them very often.

Anyway...

Kindest regards to you Stephen,

Drew.

Reply   |   Comment by Drew  –  2 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+1)

Drew,

Thank you for your thoughts. Sorry you missed I Have No Mouth But I Must Scream; sadly it was only a 24 hour offer and I didn't post it until I noticed it in my email. It would have been early morning in Australia when I posted it and by the time day arrived it would have gone. :(

I get notifications from GOG when they re giving away a game.

I've been unable to work since 2005 due to an accident that left me virtually housebound and disabled; with chronic pain due to not being treated for the injuries I sustained. I miss the things I used to be able to do as well as going to work. Still, the compensation I got from that was to see my children a lot more throughout their childhood.

Reply   |   Comment by Whiterabbit-uk  –  2 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+2)

Hi Drew,

It's on sale on Steam 65% off.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/245390/I_Have_No_Mouth_and_I_Must_Scream/

Follow me on Steam and I can help you get freebies..
https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198025805746

Reply   |   Comment by delenn13  –  2 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+1)
#7

Happy Holidays WR, Owners/Mods, and all you good folks.

Reply   |   Comment by watcher13  –  2 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+2)
#6

Nice to have a Christmas game on Christmas day,
Some of the objects are hard to find and there doesn't appear tio be any hints.
Good cheerful graphics

Reply   |   Comment by Brian  –  2 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+3)
#5

I always have to wonder about a publisher that does not offer a direct download. What is the reason to require an email address in order to download the game?

Reply   |   Comment by dadams  –  2 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#4

Thank you so much for a fun game to play, for Christmas ! May be a small thing for some, but a very big deal for others. Wishing you all the ver best of Christmas, and hope for another new year to come. xoxo

Reply   |   Comment by Thank you my friends,  –  2 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+6)
#3

To Repeat others before me:
"Merry Christmas, White Rabbit!
Thank you for all you've done for us over the past many years.
Wishing all the best to you and your family."
(Not forgetting some small wabbit... ;-) )

And as far as I can see not claimed yet :-)
I am interested in the Steam key for TREBUCHET (strategy board game).

Reply   |   Comment by Johan  –  2 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+5)

Johan,

The steam key has been emailed to you.

Reply   |   Comment by Whiterabbit-uk  –  2 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+4)

Whiterabbit-uk, The Steam key worked perfect. Glad to be able to try-out this game. :-)
Thanks!

(For some reason I cannot reply direct to your e-mail with the key..., got a bounce.)

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

Johan,

Pleased it worked. :) Don't know why the email bounced though?

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

Happy Holidays All

Reply   |   Comment by LadyLei  –  2 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+4)

LadyLei,

You to LadyLei. :)

Reply   |   Comment by Whiterabbit-uk  –  2 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+6)

LadyLei,

You too :)

Reply   |   Comment by Agno  –  2 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+6)
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