Faces of Illusion: The Twin Phantoms

[i]Faces of Illusion: The Twin Phantoms[/i] is a rather unusual hidden object game. Despite being as mediocre in (almost) everything as it can be, it still manages to show uniqueness in its own way: the entire game is basically one long chase, thus it should rather be named "The Pursue Beneath Paris" instead. We don't have a name (just like in [url=steamcommunity.com/id/atisz2/recommended/284890/]Left in the Dark: No One on Board[/url]), we're just simply referred to as "Madame Journalist" and we have to attend to a performance of a famous singer. She is kidnapped during the show and as the only person, along with her little brother, Arthur, who didn't flee the scene, we must follow the kidnapper - who happens to be an illusionist - and free Beatrice. There's also a dark Grimoire involved (the rest isn't that hard to deduce from the title) to make things more interesting (it hardly succeeds). Despite the basic chase concept and that almost the entire game takes place underground, it manages to be relatively tense: the kidnapper is literally just one step ahead of us and we get to see a little cutscene every time we make progress as he eludes us. We can read about what is going o…

The first impression was rather good. The game started on the positive note. Unfortunately most of the good stuff became very 'meh' before even reaching the midgame. Visuals are more or less ok, I guess. Gameplay was boring. You barely encounter any HoG scenes. Puzzles were nothing special - you are just clicking stuff most of the time without any thought process. The story is extremely dumb. Most of the time you will chase local villain, but no matter how hard he will try to stop you and how much time you will waste dealing with his traps, the moment you get to another location, you can still see him 'diligently' trying to run away. At certain moment he'll even manage to KO you. It will take you few hours to wake up. But guess what? The moment you enter the next room, you won't believe, he will be right there still 'trying' to run away. The ending is also kinda ridiculous. I mean, if that relic is so important and so powerful... why these sore losers even were tasked to keep and protect it? This is totally senseless. And even less believable. Why even bringing these secret lodges, if you can't write anything meaningful about them? A special word about Arthur, our helper in th…

As I usually do, I will recommend this game entirely because it works and has some decent puzzles, which is never a guarantee in this sphere of gaming. But uhhhhhg, this game. I had to replay it a second time to get 2 achievements I had missed in the first play-through, and, let me tell you, the poorly written story and bad character animation do NOT get better on a second inspection. The added child character was annoying, the villain and damsel were both idiots, and I was willing to shove everyone, even the protagonist, into an angry hornet's nest at the end.

The game is ok, it has everything that make these Artifex Mundi games what they are. No roadblock riddles or anything, good progress in the story which is only one big hunt after the villain with no interesting change of locations.

Faces of Illusion: The Twin Phantoms is a hidden object adventure developed by Moonrise Interactive and published by Artifex Mundi. Built around a mystery steeped in stage performances and deception, the game transports players to a beautifully imagined version of 19th-century Paris. The story begins with the sudden disappearance of a renowned theater star during what should have been a triumphant performance. Taking on the role of a determined journalist, players are drawn into an investigation that quickly evolves from a simple missing person case into a larger tale involving masked figures, family secrets, and a criminal plot concealed beneath layers of illusion. One of the game's most memorable qualities is its setting. While many hidden object titles favor haunted estates or supernatural landscapes, Faces of Illusion embraces the grandeur of theaters and the culture surrounding stage magic. Every environment, from lavish auditoriums to dimly lit backstage corridors, contributes to a sense of mystery and spectacle. The game consistently uses its central theme of illusion to influence its locations and storytelling, making players question whether what they are seeing is genuin…

Oh, this game is nostalgia inducing. I love the colorful art of mystery and magic this game brings. I remember playing this game for once or twice. Came back now on my third playthrough. For a 2017 game, the font in the game feels too printed and rigid that it breathes no life into. It's like seeing text in a file document, too serious and less magical. Sure, it may be a nitpick, but the repetitive view of dialogues throughout the story can evoke the feeling of having it simply monotone. There is no indicators of acquired collectibles per stage, so you are bound to miss some if not most of the collectibles in the map. Some of the animations also felt a little wonky as experienced. The voice acting wasn't too bad, just the animations I had to nitpick. The game did have quite a positive reception from the little inherent quirks. The music is very intense and you could feel the tension drawing closer as navigation in the story continues. I appreciate having multiple puzzles in one puzzle, giving it a layer of complexity than your usual one-and-done puzzles in hidden object games. It was also interesting they allow the option to remove dubbing. It's up to the player whether they'd wa…