downloaded this game twice because when you shut down it won't allow you back in to play this was a good game I use win10 home 64bit this is the first time in months I've had any problems with games here

Note: This review contains spoilers, so please read with caution. If you want to skip the long review, read the TL;DR at the end.

Sea Legends - Phantasmal Light Collector's Edition is a hidden game genre that is suitable for players of all ages. This game is entertaining but challenging at times. There are few flaws in the game to make this game not to be one of my most favorite hidden object game (HOG) of all time.

Gameplay. Rating: 6/10
Players need to complete a story-driven game by searching useful items, hidden objects and solving puzzles. Since this game takes place on an abandoned island, you do not need to travel far to other locations but are expected to backtrack a lot from one place to another. This is one of the reasons why I felt the game turn bland quickly. You also need to be patience because the solution may be indirect where you need to move, for example, from location A to location S to complete the particular goal/mission. The more you complete the missions, more places you will unlock. Further details on the hidden objects and puzzles are explained below.

+ Hidden Objects - Players need to find the listed hidden objects. I found it irritating that the flow of the game is not right at beginning of the game because a few hidden objects games are cramped in one part. Once a hidden object game is solved, another one appears a few minutes after that. Not only that, the hidden objects revisits the same place. Besides that, few items you need to search are quite repetitive such as mug, rifle, coins, propeller and etc. Some of the items are tricky to find because an item could have two different meaning. For example, a bow could mean a weapon or a knotted ribbon. The item can also be old or new depending on how you imagine it such as how a vintage camera differs from a digital camera. Furthermore, you need to combine item A with B to unlock items highlighted in blue color. One of the aspects of HOG that I like is I could learn new words for objects that I know but not the name.

+ Puzzles - The puzzles are very straightforward and easy. You do not need to use any hints and instead, you can rely on the clue given and solve them by trial and error.

Music and sound effects. Rating: 5/10
There are only 4 main tracks used in this game but one of the music tracks is played in 80% of the game. The sound effects are kind of cool too especially the part if you clicked too many times in the HOG.

Characters and voice actors. Rating: 7/10
You are introduced to 3 main characters, Jane, the protagonist, Mike, and the lighthouse keeper. You are introduced to more characters later via objects you found laying around the island. The voice is perfect and it suits each character.

Plot. Rating: 7/10
You play as the protagonist, Jane who have survived a boat crash and landed in a mysterious abandoned island to search her lost husband who has been kidnapped by the immortal lighthouse keeper. The story progresses through cut-scenes which you can skip. The story is not entirely creepy but has a somber mood to it. The plot also has a feminist approach where the heroine will save the day. Furthermore, you will own a diary that is constantly updated with newspapers clippings, notes, observations, puzzle clues and the protagonist suggestions on solving the puzzle. The journey does not end there too as the real final is wrapped up in the Extras. Sea Legends - Phantasmal Light Collector's Edition story is about love, justice, legends, and courage.

Graphics and environment. Rating: 6/10
The environment is beautifully crafted that suits the story line even though the artwork looks old and not sharp. I applaud the details in the game because they look complex and because of that, the objects are cleverly hidden. You need to move the cursor all over the screen to find the hidden spot. Also, despite the game features saying it contains 40 playable locations, I felt like it was less than that. Perhaps because I spend less time in each location.

Difficulty. Rating: 7/10
I played this game in expert mode and it was not easy because I got stuck a few times. The only difference with the normal mode is there are no sparkles to indicate the solution. Skips and hints take a longer time to recharge. The longer you are stuck, the longer you need to spend in that place unless you find ways to solve it or by using hints. I find the HO scenes and puzzles easy although they took me time to solve. The parts where I spent most time are when I do not know where to go to complete the goals and when I missed several items because they are well hidden surrounding the area.

Extras. Rating: 7/10
Players who have completed the game will play the game in the perspective of Mike, Jane's husband. Players will find a little difficulty in a certain location due to the MyPlayCityGames logo blocking the upper-right hand of the screen. After completion, players will receive free wallpapers, screenshots, music tracks and concept arts. This is definitely a rewarding prize for completing the game. Unfortunately, since the game is released in 2012, options to have wallpapers in HD is not available. Another part that I liked in this game is you can make choices at the end to get the good ending or the bad ending. You can only get one ending at a time and need to replay the whole game to get the other ending.

Help. Rating 6/10
The hints outside the HO scenes are not helpful, in my opinion. Players need to repetitively click on every location and most of the time it will say "There is nothing to do here". However, the hints used during the HO scenes make you solve them quicker. The goals list in the book is not helpful either especially when you do not know the said location. The only useful hint in the game is the "Strategy Guide" book which is a walkthrough of the game. I rely on it mostly because one, I do not want to be stuck on one part for too long and second, I do not want to waste time to backtrack to multiple locations. The only unhelpful part in the guide book is the confusing puzzle solution.

Suggestions.
The game should have increased difficulty in terms of the hidden objects and puzzles. Secondly, developers should allow players to replay the extras instead of needing to replay the whole game to get the second ending. Thirdly, the music list should be added more so that the players do not feel bored when playing the game. Fourth, to reduce backtracks in such a vast environment, developers can bar the access to certain areas once the missions in the area are completed. Fifth, the hints can be made a little better such when if the hints cannot be used in the particular area, a white light should guide the players to the right area.

Overall score: 6.4/10

TL;DR This game is definitely recommended to all HOG fans and those who are into tales of legend. You will delve deep into the story despite needing to backtrack a lot in the game. Find endless fun in locating items, hidden objects and solving puzzles. Players will also be rewarded with extras after you have finished the game.

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Very nice feedback Torque, which obviously deserves another key. Let me know what you'd like. :)

Thanks so much, GGOTD & the developers of this game-I LOVE IT!
I'm playing on Windows 10 x86 laptop/tablet. It took a while to download, but I waited until late Sunday. I don't usually watch the opening scenes, but this one caught my attention & I watched the whole thing. It has a good plot that I could follow along easily. The hidden object puzzles were just hard enough; not too hard and drive me crazy, but not boring me, either. I really like the puzzles. They aren't the everyday same old puzzles and I had a lot of fun playing them. Again, challenging but not too much. I can't attest to the music as I turn it down so I can (kind of) watch tv at the same time. I love having the collector's edition-the strategy guide is sooo helpful when I get confused or forget where something goes. There was a bit of 'traveling' between areas, but not excessively. It didn't have a map, but I didn't seem to need one.
Overall, this game is perfect for me. I own hundreds of these kind of games, and I would pay money for this one. That's saying a lot because I'm very frugal with my money; a freebie tickles me pink.
A special thank you to White Rabbit! I read all of your review and have to say that you covered everything. You answered any question I could have had, and even gave a rundown of where to access other freebies and sales. I don't usually post anything as I am too late, but I made an extra effort because I am very grateful-for this game (whoohoo!) and for all the other giveaways in the past 10 years!
OK, I'm off to finish this game. Thanks again & keep it coming. I'll be here. :)
Sincerely, Molly

Hi,

Played it to the finish and just opened the extras, which I will try another time! The game took a few minutes to download and opened quickly. The graphics are good. Switched to a regular cursor from the start, due to the drag when using the custom one. You can jump ahead with gaining items, but basically have to do things in order. Stymied a couple of times, but not too much. It was similar to many with shipwrecks, but still a good game! The extra is starting like an additional game, so will see, but already know the conclusion! Thanks for another good game and have a great week! Lee

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Thank you for your welcome feedback Lee. Have a great week.

buen juego

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gracias

Having fun with this one so far. One thing I would love to see is a map of the areas one has been to. I moved from one scene to another then had a terrible time trying to go backwards (I hadn't been paying attention when I moved.) One other thing for all us older half blind folks - you already have a flashlight function. Maybe we could use it to highlight some of the darker areas without having hint move it for us? I know that I would have given up on this one totally a few years back before I had cataract surgery.
Thanks for a nice game.

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Hi Lonni

Thank you for your feedback. Good idea. I used to work at a specialist eye hospital and observed many cataract operations. Amazing what can be done. One thing i remember distinctly was the sheer joy at being able to see clearly for the first time in ages from the many who underwent such surgery.

Just about all games these days are either shooting at monsters or finding hidden objects, there needs to be more imagination and different challenges when creating games for the public. Maybe they use the game type of game engine for creating these games.

There is a screen at the bottom that shows press Control + Alt + Ins keys to remove, but when I did this nothing happened.
There should be some prompt to tell the user to enter his name as it was not until I started typing on the keyboard that I found the letters appearing in a box. Maybe if you were a keen game player you would know this.

Game play is good if you enjoy finding objects. Good easy to see graphics but apart from the story and a few puzzles it's very similar to other object finding games.

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Hi Brian

Thank you for your feedback. One of the reasons I rarely play these games now is the sheer numbers I've played over the last 10 years. I used to have Big Fish account and as part of the package used to get the choice of any game from their extensive lists. They still boast a new game every day. 5 years ago, virtually every new game for at least 2 years was a Hidden Object game. It got to a point I'd not used a years worth of the game credit I had. Apart from a few games, I didn't fancy anything, so cancelled my subscription. They can be very good games, in fact there has been some brilliantly crafted HOG's released over the last several years, some of which are quite innovative, but I still find it difficult to actually enjoy them these days. Same with first person shooters. I have ghundreds of those, but, apart from a few such as ArmA II and 3, which are virtually open world shooters, I find most a little too redious these days, even tohugh FPS games were amongst my favorite AAA games several years ago. One game in particular, called Battlefield 2 I played virtually every day, sometimes for hours on end for at least 3 years, and even reviewed various mods for the games and beta tested for several modders/mappers. There are only a few genres that I still really enjoy most games from those genres such as open world first person/third person RPG's such as The Elder Scrolls, Fallout 3 and 4, Two Worlds II, Breakouts and space shmups

Unfortunately I cannot continue the game :-(
In the right upper corner there is a big sign of "MyPlayCity - Download and play free games" and in one of the object finding screens there is the butterfly right behind this sign. If I klick on this spot, the browser opens http://www.myplaycity.com/. So no chance to continue. Why do I have this MyPlayCity sign, but here on the picture about this game there is no sign?

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Hi Walter

It's because MyPlayCity (MPC)have a license from the developer to give the game away. They do have to pay the developer for the privilege. Every time the game is closed and when you first install the game, your browser is opened to MPC's home page. This action earns them money every time you visit. part of which goes to the developer. They add these flyers to advertise the fact that they have a license. There is a fix, which I'll email you, (I presume the email you signed in with is a genuine email and not a throwaway?)

Great game! And a CE as well! Love it. Thanks, Game GAOTD and MPC.

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:)

downloaded and installed with out any problems on my Win10 laptop.
I have played this game before (it remembered my name!) but it is still enjoyable the second time thru.
The HOG scenes are not too dark and the mini-games are not the more common ones.

the setup does n't work properly.
It's activated but not installed.

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Please read my other rplies to other community members, if you don't find anything useful, check yesterdays comments as the issue is I think the Themida code, which sometimes causes anti malware suites to block the installation becasue Themida can also be used to wrap malware. However in this case the game is totally safe. Try installing in safe mode, or turning off your security temporarily.

D/l'd and installed fine (though a tad slow at the time I was doing it) on Win 8.1. Was surprised when it said, upon starting, "you've already finished the game. do you want to play again?" Then I realized this was given away here not that long ago, and I did play it then (although I do not remember it being a collector's edition with bonus content). It was immediately familiar (still have some brain cells left :)) but so far, I don't remember enough to ruin the game for me; still having to think. So I think I'll play through since I recall liking it well enough and have been aching for another HOG.

The graphics and play so far seem smooth; perhaps a tad dark, but overall quite playable. I love these adventure/HOGs and just wish this was a new-to-GGOTD one. If you haven't already played it, it's definitely worth a download!

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Thanks for your feedback neme

looks good, but I'll pass as I already have a lot of these, more than I can play, and it doesn't grab me as extra-special

Not working for me. Finally got it installed but no visuals, just the sound and a blank screen.

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Try going onto compatibility mode, make sure admin is checked and change the settings to see if that helps. It may be your screen resolution that is causing the problem. I'm off to bed in a few moments but will check back in the morning.

I have the same issue with this game as in many other HOG games, the bottom part of the window disappears in full screen so I can't see what the bottom row of items is unless I play windowed which makes the game way to small for me. If anyone knows a solution that doesn't involve changing my default resolution just to play a game I would be very appreciative :D

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Sorry Mavadelo, that's the only solution i could think of. It's unfortunate you can't choose the resolution in game so that you could enlarge the window.

Hi everybody and Whiterabbit-UK. :-)

Preamble: I'm using Win10 home x64, DEP always on, UAC enabled with max level, custom scaling 150%, resolution 1920x1080, color depth 32bit, refresh rate 60Hz.

No problems detected after doing pre-scans (over the package of today and over the package of last year) and post-scans (over the package of last year) with Win10 Defender, SAS free, MBAM 2 free, EEK free, GSAM (all definitions updated).
Package too big to be sent to virustotal, metadefender, jotti.
Those webservices show the same false positives for GAOTD setup.exe found in last months/years: I won't repeat them.
No problems during game download.
By the way I didn't installed it because I realized I've got it already between my games (and I still didn't play it!).
No problems during its installation (last year), at its startup and after playing with its options.
On the exit, the windows compatibility app manifested itself; it ticked Disable display scaling on high DPI settings in its properties – compatibility tab (because I’m using high DPI settings, as written).

Thanks to the GAOTD team, in particular to Whiterabbit-UK!
Follow the white rabbit, guys!
Thanks for the game to Immanitas entertainment, shaman games, BigFishGames, MyPlayCity!
(And xing interactive = playrix?, for this game given away last year)

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As always thanks for your time. As a gesture of thanks, choose one of the games 've listed in the forms and linked to at the end of my review. Will sort it sometime this week for you.

Definite winner! And a strategy guide built into the game area lower right by Hint. Attractive graphics and engaging story. Yes has some of the genre's usual pattern of see problem, solve problem but the way it unfolds so far is that the eye candy kept pulling me along. Fresh approach to beginning set of side puzzles (skip button too) added to the HOG parts which were really doable for once. Got them all without having the headscratcher 'last one' that often happens. Avoids the Brit wordage that can cross you up or a deeply hidden element. 10/10 for me. Can't wait to see how story unfolds and what cleverness game designers have up ahead. Says Collector's Edition which I guess unlocks Extras on the Home page. Thanks very much GOTD. With a month to go until formal Spring this coastal story catches me on a 60 degree day in NYC. Out to play then dig more in this tonight and coming days. Just fine on Windows 10 x64 Pro.

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Thanks BeerGas, appreciated. did you see my comment from yesterdays game?

Downloaded and installed without issue on Win7/64.

I've played for about and hour, and honestly I'm disappointed. The hidden objects are mostly just piled in a heap, and the heaps are dark. I'm sure that's meant to be atmospheric, as a lot of it is in a shipwreck under water, but I just find it hard to see.

After a while I found myself just aimlessly jumping from scene to scene searching for *something* useful, and the hint button will only say "There's nothing to do here" when you're done with one - there's no indication of which way to go.

Also, the indicators (sparkles, changing cursor) continue to activate after you've finished with a feature, like if you've collected the items from a box you'll still see the cursor change to a hand as if there's something for you there.

I'll wait a bit and try again later. If my opinion changes, I'll come back and tell you.

As always, thanks to GGOTD, MPC and Whiterabbit.

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Hi Dan

Thank you for your feedback

You put so much time and effort in with the giveaway and reviews. Always a great job! It is very much appreciated! Thank you!!

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Thank you for your kind words Beri, it's comments like yours that keeps me going.

Confused ...I got this game long ago from here. It was not a collectors edition and was over 700 mg. This one is the collectors edition and is only 463 MBs. WHY???

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Hi Unruly

According to the page from last year (Jan 16th 2016, which you can see HERE, the game was the collectors edition, and I've just searched through my game disk and found the copy installed last year and it is definitey the Collectors Edition and not the standard edition. As for the difference in size, I've just installed the game giveaway version and still have the original that was given away last year and there is very little difference in size. (only a few 1MB), which account for the MyPlayCty additions. Last years game was given directly from the distributor Playrix Entertainment. I based my original installed size on my Steam version, which I didn't bother changing because I didn't think there would be much difference and to be honest I'd forgotten to. When I posted the review this morning, my giveaway copy was still downloading. It took 25 minutes to download, by which time I'd gone back to bed.

The 463MB quoted is for the zipped package before installation and not the final install size. What I said in my review was ''Sea Legends: Phantasmal Light Collector's Edition downloads to a 463 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 779 MB in size''. Once installed the game expands to a larger size. Most giveaways of this type are usually much larger than the original download file.

Sigh - I already played the standard version of this game (from here?).

The graphics are wonderful and I like the somewhat mystical story line.

If you're a fan like me I highly recommend to download this game.

Thanks again for a very enjoyable game.

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Yes it was given away just over a year ago, though i think it was the collectors edition then and was given away on the 16th Jan 2016. I scored it the following:

Game play: 7.5
Graphics: 8
Audio: 7
Replayability: 7
Originality: 7
Fun Factor: 7.5

Total = 44 out of 60 which equals 7.3 out of 10.

Thank you MyPlayCity for giving us this game. I really enjoy the Hidden Object games. Downloaded and installed on Win 7 64 bit. No problems. Everything working fine.

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:)

played it for a bit. seems like a nice game. graphics and sound are good, gameplay itself isn't confusing (continuity is fine). Will work on it a bit at a time, since I like having a 'break time' game around. Installed with no problem. Well done.
Thanks again, GOTD.

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Thank you for your feedback woodeye

THX ;)

Good, THX!

downloaded file unzipped to folder but wouldn't install
got as far saying the game was activated but no sign of the game on my pc

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

The game is wrapper with Themida code, which is sometimes blocked by some anti-malware suites becasue Themida can also be used to hide malware. The game is perfectly safe. the giveaway team have been giving away games virtually every weekend for over 10 years and have never given away a game laced with malware. You can either white-list the installer with your security, reboot in safe mode then install, or temporarily turn off your security until you've installed the game. MPC games also contain a non invasive form of adware, which opens your browser when the game is closed down (and when you first install the game). This is becasue the site earns money whenever you are redirected. Part of that money goes to the developer for allowing their games to be given away free to people like us. Your security may also have detected that adware and tried to block it. I can assure you the game is totally safe to install.

thanks guys, great game

Hello WhiterabbitUK. Can you please put or list somewhere all the abbreviations associated with the gaming industry. Like "HOG" only a gamer would know what this means in the industry, to everybody else its a pig and I am quite sure this is not the only one out there.
Maybe a special page in the blog could be dedicated to these abbreviations.
Many thanks

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I'll do that soon. Just a quickie:

HOG - Hidden Object Game, TMG - or TM - Time Management Games, FPS - First Person Shooter, Shmup - ShootEmUp, TPS Third Person Shooter, RTS - Real Time Strategy, RPG - Role Playing Game, MMO - Massive Multiplayer Game, MMORPG - Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game, MMOFPS - Massive Multiplayer First Person Shooter), CMSG - Construction and Management Game, CRPG - Console Role Playing Game, TBS - Turn Based Strategy, TBT - Turn Based Tactics RTT - Real Time Tactics, ARPG or aRPG - Action Role Playing Game.

Then we have all the other internet slang such as LOL - laugh out loud), DBA - Don't bother asking), , QAP - (quickly as possible), Pwned or pwn - owned/own (originated when someone typed owned after a pvp battle, but a typo resulted in the recipient reading pwned instead of owned - pvp means person vs person in a one to one battle in game), VBD - (very big deal), L8TR - Later), YGTI - (you get the idea), TLTR - (to long to read), FHO - (friends hanging out), AFK - (away from the keyboard), INCYDC (in case you didn't know). there are hundreds of these, some used while messaging while playing, others commonly used by anyone texting. Personally I try to use full words as I don't text. A lot of these abbreviations resulted due to limited number of characters that could be sent in early text messages. You can find loads of threads devoted to internet slang and abbreviations just by Googling them.