Review for Grim Legends 2


Grim Legends 2

Artifex Mundi brings us Grim Legends 2: Song of the Dark Swan. The game isn’t so much an actual sequel, but more of a follow-up game that stands by itself. Let’s see if this game is worth playing, but if you are at all familiar with Artifex Mundi, you can probably guess the answer.

 

THE GOOD

  • I like the overall visual style of the game as it is instantly recognizable and the fairy tale theme is solid throughout the story.
  • The puzzles are mostly well done, even better than in the first Grim Legends and those weren’t bad, to begin with.
  • The hint system can really help you out if you get stuck and are not sure how to progress. The hidden object puzzles are usually not that hard to complete, but if all else fails, you can click around like a mad person. The mini games are a different story, some are straightforward enough to figure out, and some are quite challenging. If you are truly stumped, you can skip a mini game altogether so you can go on with the story.

 

MIXED FEELINGS

  • For those that played the previous Grim Legends, this game stands entirely by itself. It’s largely the same concept, but the stories have nothing to do with each other. Briefly comparing the two I’d say I enjoy the puzzles in this one better, but I liked the story telling more in the first one, making that my favorite of the two.
  • The game is well worth playing if you enjoy this genre, but as always, the replay value is not really there. You can play in expert mode where you will have less help available, but that’s about it. Look at about 8-10 hours of play in total if you play both standard and expert.

THE BAD

  • Some of the voice acting is really bad. Not all of it, but when you encounter it a bit later in the game, you will know what I’m talking about. It’s a shame as I’m a big fan of good voice acting and feel good voice actors are underappreciated.
  • If you intend to play this with younger children or buy it for them, note that the game has some adult themes going on. Murder and adultery aren’t exactly light-hearted topics. I wish they would have chosen a less gruesome path as otherwise, this type of game is great to play with kids.

 

Grim Legends 2 is a hidden object game that anyone who is interested in the genre would probably enjoy. As the game stand on its own, there’s no need to play the previous Grim Legends. However, I recommend that you do check it out. Artifex Mundi has some bundles in the Xbox Live store so have a look and find those hidden objects.