Fairy Tale Mysteries 2: The Beanstalk

This was okay. The game worked fine, I liked the setting, there were some really good/interesting puzzles, and it was all around fine. The one frustrating part was having to pick up pieces of objects you need, sometimes scattered wildly far apart, instead of the objects themselves. You know that part of every other hidden object game, where you have to find four boards to fix a ladder or some such, and you have to find/complete a puzzle for every one of those individual boards? That, but now also do that for every single piece of your knife, lantern, broom, ect, ect. It gets frustrating when you don't realize that you have to actually go to a different section of the game (not another room, a COMPLETELY different part of the game) before you can complete some objects.

Get it on a discount. It's pretty short. This was fun. It had a twist on the game place that was a nice change of pace. In the main story, you didn't pick things up and add them immediately to your inventory. You would click on something, and then that would produce a set of things you needed to find in the various scenes. You couldn't pick those things up until you found a need for them. I really liked it. (The bonus game had just a normal inventory for the genre.) The hidden object scenes themselves were basic (which I don't mind). I don't recall if there was a fast map or not. The hints mostly worked fine, but a couple of times it pointed me to a place to zoom in, but I couldn't do anything there yet. It's older, so the resolution is low. I don't care that much about the story or the voice acting. I supposed it was about average for the genre.

This game is so freaking gorgeous and imaginative! It includes mechanics throughout that let you seek and find as you go, and the music is excellent. There is some seriously incredible art in this game - a diamond in the rough!

This game has a several issues with it and I much prefer the previous game despite being flawed as well

Fairy Tale Mysteries 2: The Beanstalk, developed by Gogii Games and published by Artifex Mundi, continues the studio’s long-running tradition of crafting enchanting yet accessible hidden-object adventures rooted in classic folklore. Drawing inspiration from the timeless story of Jack and the Beanstalk, the game reimagines the familiar fable into an epic fantasy mystery. Rather than retelling the tale directly, it uses the myth as a springboard for a larger narrative about magic, betrayal, and the struggle between mortals and giants. Players step into the role of an investigator unraveling the truth behind the beanstalk’s origin and the dark forces manipulating it. The setup is simple enough for casual players but intriguing enough to sustain curiosity as the player journeys through a series of magical realms, each with its own guardian, artifacts, and puzzles to uncover. From the outset, the game impresses with its strong sense of atmosphere. Every scene is filled with detailed artwork that captures the dreamlike quality of a fairy tale world brought to life. The lush hand-painted backgrounds, adorned with glowing crystals, ancient forests, and ethereal ruins, give each location a…

I enjoyed this game. Though it initially threw me off in that it doesn't follow the same game play that most HOGs do. Instead of collecting random items and then finding uses for them later, this game has you discover a need for an item/key and then shows you what you need to collect to create said key/item. I don't think it's a better or worse style, simply different. It was on the easier side as far as HOGs go. I did like the story, and the voice acting is actually pretty good. The animation is underwhelming, but it is an older game. I think this would be a good intro into HOGs for anyone interested in trying the genre.