Visions of Gold
Treasure Seekers: Visions of Gold is another superb hidden object adventure game from Artogon Games, creator of The Mystery of the Crystal Portal. Both titles share a unique design among hidden object games where you are presented with contextual search clues instead of broad lists of objects. In essence, your goal is to explore the physical objects in each scene and collect items to solve individual puzzles. Combined with a charming story and great visuals, Treasure Seekers: Visions of Gold hits between two genres for a welcome hybrid gaming experience.
The story begins with a young girl telling of her dreams about life on a pirate ship. After a few short tutorial-style scenes she is joined by her brother, Tommy. Together they travel to uncover the family's secrets and discover hidden treasure. Not the most original of tales, but because the story is told from Emily's point of view, the sense of wonder and amazement is pushed to the charming position of center stage.
The game's unique interface utilizes clickable hotspots that reveal sets of objects that need to be found in order to solve a puzzle. For example, Emily wants to leave her room, but the door handle seems to be missing. Click where the handle would be and a set of round icons appear. With that menu open you can search the room to find the requested items, all of which make logical sense to solving the task at hand. Well, mostly logical. When you locate an item, simply select it and click on the menu to place it where it needs to go.
At any given time you may have several hotspots that you can work on completing, each with its own items to find. Sometimes you'll have to solve one of these puzzles in order to find an item for another. Check the row of icons at the bottom of the screen to see what's available and how many more puzzles you'll need to find/solve before completing the current scene.
Analysis: Before I made the connection that both Treasure Seekers: Visions of Gold and The Mystery of the Crystal Portal were created by the same development team, I had already begun to notice similarities between the two titles. Both use the same basic hidden object/adventure structure that relies on container objects and localized puzzles. Both sprinkle minigames into the mix every so often, though the ones in this game are far superior to Crystal Portal's roster. Both games also have a great visual design that features a wide range of environments.
Most hidden object games penalize you for mis-clicks, but here you can tap the mouse button all you want without fear of reprimand. Sometimes this will help you out of a tight spot, other times it will merely fill the screen with little red X marks. The hint system is unlimited and regenerates every minute or so, giving you ample opportunity to play the game "right" and still have an enjoyable experience.
Good visuals, a charming story, and an interesting mechanic that takes some of the dry feeling out of the hidden object/adventure genre. Treasure Seekers: Visions of Gold is another high quality game that should not be missed.