Claire Darksage and the Accursed Objects Collector's Edition

Developed by a studio that specializes mostly in Match-3 titles, [i]Claire Darksage and the Accursed Objects: Collector’s Edition[/i] marks their first dive into the hidden object genre, and an impressive debut at that. At its core, it’s still a hidden object game with all the expected mechanics, but it stands out by blending elements from various other genres into an innovative experience. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3588131363 The story is engaging, yet to some extent ordinary and predictable. As the last descendant of the Darksages, Claire is summoned to aid the Arcane Academy, which is attacked by cursed objects that drain the magical energy of its students. As an Elemental Harmonizer (someone capable of balancing the forces of light and darkness), Claire is immune to their effects. Thus, she sets out on a journey to uncover the source of the disturbance and restore harmony to the arcane realm. The “cursed objects” premise cleverly explains why we must search for items within a hidden object scene. It’s a small but satisfying touch that not many other games offer. The light-versus-darkness theme also plays directly into the gameplay. Instead of tr…

Well apart from Claire not giving a damn about anyone and "Overcooked Cultist"... The rest seems fine. I've played so many H.O.Gs, that I've reached the level of needing to play something out of the ordinary... So why not see what the AI + humons cooked up? It was... Pretty fun actually. I enjoyed the game play, the abundance of mini-games/puzzles and hell, my favorite thing were the BATTLES! I also got a kick out of the "difficulty" menu descriptions. The story is... Normal the way it is for a H.O.G. It's rarely the focus anyway. But I will say that I didn't like the fairy at first and then she became the best one... Only because Claire is a narcissist, thinks she is awesome because she got some rare powers and when someone mentions her "friends", she goes "haha, they are having fun elsewhere, let's go and not even bother to reminisce or say that we miss them or something!"... Gee, what a personality. I also can't look at anyone in the face. They have a plastic/perfection look and I refuse to have anything to do with that. Otherwise? Got all the Achievements and had my fun. Good work on the good parts! ^-^ (P.S. That's one cool turtle! :>)

A well crafted hidden object game with a story and a variety of minigames (jigsaw puzzle variants, clutter game variants, memory card games, logic puzzles, turn-based battles). The HOS are above average in challenge, with the "list" having different variations in displaying the things to find. The thumbnail images may be in silhouette, broken up into fragments, or only a portion of the target item is showing. I noticed a good number of the items are rather small. There are bonus items to find for an in-game and Steam achievement, and 2 secret levels. A good number of other in-game and Steam Achievements. Multiple difficulty levels to play in, and a variety of customization options. There are powerup cards to buy in the in-game shop, along with some freebie powerup cards specific to the memory card minigames. The story is well thought out, but the one detractor is it comes in large chunks at a time, so can feel like reading a mini-book when a section of it appears. Claire's sidekicks are either funny or whiny depending on how you look at it. The CE extras are a bonus chapter with more minigames, wallpapers, and a battles-only Coliseum. I'm not a huge fan of hidden o…

[b]It must be stated that I do not condone AI Slop, but if you're someone who enjoys this genre of games, the game itself is serviceable. It is exactly what you'd expect and no more. The art is 100% AI, I assume the story is as well.[/b] [h1]Summary: The game is fine, but it's all AI slop.[/h1] [b]GAME RECEIVED FOR FREE for the Games With Fairies Curator Group. I was not told to give a review or even to play the game. I chose to 100% the game out of my own free will. All the developer told me was, "hope you enjoy the game!"[/b] [b]Game played entirely on SteamDeck, 98% compatible.[/b] There are two places where you can be prompted to input text, neither are necessary, meaning you can skip inputting anything and a default will be used. On-screen keyboard must be manually pulled up. One of the bonus objectives requires dragging items to another spot across the screen, and if you're only using the trackpad this is difficult, but if you use the touchscreen itself you should be fine. Having decent brightness will likely help, as some things are a bit hard to see, at least on the OLED SteamDeck. I completely finished the entire game, 100%ing it with all achievements. It took around 5…