The Hand of Glory - The Blowtorch Files

Maybe this is a good game maybe it is not but I'm pulling out my hair waiting for the imaginary character texting me to type his lines.

"The Hand of Glory - The Blowtorch Files" is is not a game. It's an advertisement for a product called "The Hand of Glory". The Hand of Glory is a really mediocre point and click adventure game (which is misleadingly undersold as a "text adventure" when it's a slightly more modern point and click trainwreck) with rather poorly done MS-Paint/"Babby's First Wacom Tablet" drawings and mediocre narrative and puzzle solving. But this isn't completely relevant because this is not The Hand of Glory, it's just an advertisment for it, so it's not correct to try to review that completely distinct product. We must instead review this for what it is... an advertisement. If you enjoy advertisements, you can consume them for free on the web or on Youtube without needing to add them to your game library, download them, and then launch the advertising. It's impossible in a general sense to recommend people should do that over playing real, full games on Steam, and that applies here with "The Hand of Glory - The Blowtorch Files" too. The purpose of this advertisement is to get you to shell out a whopping $20 USD on buying The Hand of Glory, and I don't recommend you do that either. Now on …

A fun little text based prologue to the main game.

My first review of the year! Last year was quite busy and this was the first full game (sans demo) that I've played and completed in months. I got a bit of extra time and just wanted to play something short and satisfying [i]but with a bit of a challenge[/i] before going to bed, and this filled some of that craving. I would say though that this is not like a satisfying snack where I don't feel like I want anything else, but it's more akin to an appetizer where I feel somewhat satiated but I would like to keep playing something similar or at least related. This is quite different from [b][url=https://steamcommunity.com/id/merrychristmasknight/recommended/961010/]The Hand of Glory[/url][/b]. That one was very fleshed out in terms of story and gameplay. It was very much the [b]classic point-and-click game[/b] set in various locations, has voice acting, and includes lots of movement and animation. Meanwhile, this one is [b]set within a chat window[/b], has no voice acting, and is mostly static. (Think [b][url=https://steamcommunity.com/id/merrychristmasknight/recommended/417860]Emily is Away[/url][/b] in terms of UI and achievements.) The chat window UI is a big feature and lends t…

Short into of sorts to Hand of Glory. It's more of a visual novel of detective work that is interactive with the player.

Full disclosure, I haven't played the main game. I also play a lot of puzzle games. So personally, I found this a bit too easy and the actual gameplay a bit boring. But it was interesting as a way to kill a little time and give the style a try, and I do see myself playing the main game in the future based on that! I think this game in particular just wasn't for me.