Mystery Case Files®: Escape from Ravenhearst™

Escape from Ravenhearst is one of the last Mystery Case Files games Big Fish Studios worked on. And while I REALLY wanted to be a fan of this game, it's simply not worth it. Pros: The game has some beautiful atmosphere—some of the best of the original Big Fish series. While it's not perfect, the game tries to expand on the Ravenhearst story and tie up loose ends in the series. Cons: Traversing in this game is a slog; there are sections that require frequent backtracking across many areas, requiring you to click many times just to get to a location you've been to eight times already. The game has issues with crashing. I played this game on my Steam Deck through Proton and had many issues with the game freezing and crashing. The morphing objects. This game throws out the traditional hidden object scenes for morphing objects, and to be honest, it does not really work that well. Overall, if you are a fan of this series and want to finish off the Big Fish MCF era, play this game. Otherwise, steer clear of it—ESPECIALLY IF YOU ARE ON A WINDOWS PC, AS THE GAME REFUSES TO START ON WINDOWS 10/11.

THE best collectors edition I have ever played. The aesthetic in this game is what every one should have stayed as, ITS SO GOOD! Only problem is the excessive crashing, I think the game just does not work well on older devices. oh well..

I love hidden object games as both a relaxation method and brain workout. This was an edge lord slog of terrible puzzles, bugs, and waiting for objects to morph in order to get a ghost to help me out. It's also gross. Like, one of the puzzles involves toe nail clippings, nose hair, and pus. The only way this game makes sense is that the team behind it escaped from a mental hospital.

Unfortunately, this game is incredibly glitchy. The storyline is fun, the locations are wonderful, but I cannot recommend this. I had to stop and start the game multiple times after it would freeze, the screen would go bright red sometimes, it crashed a few times, and eventually I was softlocked and unable to complete the game. It's a real shame.

Game is meh at best. Why they decided to change how finding objects works, I'll never know. Progressing through this is a slog and I have 50 clues that don't help in any form or fashion. Got stuck looking for a way to progress after I messed up the lighthouse, and it feels like there's no clear way forward with anything I have in my inventory. There's no 'ah hah' to it, and it just feels like I'm wandering around aimlessly trying to figure out what the hell I need this water filled bucket, shovel, rag that I already used once, and a magnifying glass. I don't want to look up a guide because that would spoil what is supposed to be fun, but I literally don't have a reason to use anything I currently have, and there's no clear direction of where I should go. Return to Ravenhearst was great, and I enjoyed it thoroughly, but this just sucks. Upon further research most of my issues running around trying to use items and them not doing anything is attributed to the fact the game is riddled with glitches, so either way it's still a crappy successor.

About the story. Comparing to the previous Ravenhearst games this felt like someone's unresolved parental issues. Not optimized for modern software, runs poorly on modern windows and kept crashing. Had fun, was entertaining but issues overwhelm the experience