Forgotten Hill Memento: Playground
It's no secret from the view counts that JiG visitors are big fans of the Forgotten Hill games, which are a classic mix of horror and point-and-click. This series presents the story of some very odd and scary happenings in a house from the late 1800s. In chapters of the "main" story arc you explore the progression of the story - for example, the puppet show in The Puppeteer or the unforgettable nurse for whom beside demeanor is only the very first of issues?
Forgotten Hill Mementos supplement the breath of the narrative with shorter, focused episodes telling specific subplots. If you've played the previous installments such as the ones mentioned above, this may not strike you as too much of a surprise, but "playground" here turns out to be a metaphor. The game takes place inside the family home, where you play as the father and interact on several occasions with his (your) son.
The family has always lived peacefully in Forgotten Hill, the background introducing the story to this chapter explains, until a couple days from the present time. There have just been a few...unusual, suspicious incidents to say the least. Then a pair of absurd accidents responsible for killing the butler and lost your wife happened, leaving you only you, your soon, and trickles of leftover blood through the empty house.
If you're hoping to solve the accidental death (or was it a murder?) mystery, I'm afraid you'll find yourself out of luck this time. Instead, you explore the different rooms in the house, taking time to admire the Japanese artwork in the front and other paintings/puzzles scattered throughout, searching for your son.
There are quite a few nested puzzles, in the sense you will have to take items from one and go track down their use in a future room. Personally I really enjoyed this small serving as it is quite linear and in solving each puzzle, the flow is logical and feels smooth. If, on the other hand, you were looking for a much more intricate and complex network, you may be a little disappointed. However, the atmosphere is still very much solid, the sound effects are good and crisp, and if you're caught unaware it might even make you jump a couple times.
Like the other Forgotten Hill series games, you control the game using the mouse in typical point and click style. Puzzles are interacted with in the same manner. You have an inventory through which you will collect several items, displayed at the bottom of your screen, and scrolled through with the arrows on either side. You can use items on objects in the world or on each other at times, and will need to do so in order to progress. To enter some rooms, you will need to click an arrow leading forward or backward rather than on the entranceway. On one hand, this little world may be your playground, but on the other, dangerous secrets await, perhaps from the direction you might least expect.
Please note, there are some disturbing themes that not all readers might enjoy, much in the spirit of other Forgotten Hill games. Disclaimer being said, if you dare to go on, do enjoy!
I binge played all of the Forgotten Hill games awhile back and I quite liked the Memento games. They were shorter but provided just a peek into the story behind some recurring characters you see in other installments. It was shorter, simpler version of the longer installments. Quite enjoyable :)
The ending is pointless. From the outset, it's clear what went down, and your actions in the game neither accomplish nor solve anything. A leaden march to an inevitable outcome which might have shock value if it wasn't so obvious from the get-go.
Very mild spoiler below, nothing about solving the game.
Couldn't that be said about most escape games, though? The end is always "the same" - you escape the room - and, so, somewhat inevitable. In this case, at least, there's something of a twist on a pretty standard formula.
Walkthrough
Hallway
You start out in a hallway with four doors, two on this screen and two to the right. Let's call those rooms 1, 2, 3, and 4. Door 3 has shapes on it. There's also a Japanese fan picture and a house-shaped box. Swap the pieces of the picture to open the box. Inside is an eye. Under the table is a key.
Room 1
Door 1 is open, so let's go inside. Two big pictures dominate the wall. On the right side of the desk are some dials with symbols on them. On the shelf are mythology pictures. There's a locked cabinet, which our key unlocks. Inside we find a picture piece and another key.
Room 4
The second key opens the door into the kitchen. On the wall are some dials. Use the combination from the Japanese fan picture to get a paper with a clue. Take the knife from the opposite wall and a picture piece from behind the logs. There's a door to room 4A.
Room 1
Use the clue to open the desk door and get a medallion half and another paper with a clue.
Room 3
Use the clue to open door 3. Here we have a locked cabinet, a piano with symbols on the keys, a closed fireplace, and a deer missing an eye. Give him his eye for another key.
Room 4A
Here we have an empty frame, a locked table (needs a 4-letter word), and your son. Beat him at tic-tac-toe for another paper and notice he wants to play with his toy soldiers.
Room 1
The symbols on the clue are Norse, Chinese, Egyptian, Indian, Greek, and Mayan. The pictures on the shelf are Mayan, Greek, Chinese, Norse, Egyptian, and Indian. Rearrange them to match the clue and get a red key and another picture piece.
Room 2
Open the door with the red key. Pick up the toy soldier and chase the beetle around until you catch it. The wardrobe needs a binary code in four sets of three.
Room 4a
Trade the toy soldier to your son for another paper. He wants another soldier.
Room 3
Figure out which symbol stands for which number and push the keys in the order at the bottom of the paper: 3-6-3-5-8. (The piano is extremely out of tune.) Take the crowbar and mandrake.
Room 4
Use the crowbar to open the drain and get another toy soldier.
Room 4A
Trade the soldier to your son for the second medallion half and he leaves.
Room 1
Now what to do with that beetle? Remember the pictures in the first room? Put it on the beetle outline for a clue.
It says "joke".
Room 4A
Use the clue from behind the beetle painting to open the drawer (warning: the letters are out of order) and get an ornament.
Room 3
Zoom in on the indentation above the fireplace and put the medallion halves in it. This opens the fireplace, but it's really a secret passage to room 3A.
Room 3A
By the way, what room is this? I don't have a room with meat hooks hanging from the ceiling. Guess I'm just not fancy enough. Anyway, hang your mandrake on the empty meat hook and stab it with the knife. Because. Wait for the blood (huh?) to drip out and get another ornament.
Room 3
Put the ornaments in the cabinet doors and get a fourth picture piece.
Room 4A
Put the picture together in the frame to get a clue. Tilt your head to the left and imagine it vertical. There are two columns of six spaces with either a block or nothing.
Room 2
Use the clue from the picture to open the wardrobe for another clue (written in blood).
Room 3A
Click the mandrakes in the right order to reveal a mirror. Zoom in and play with the levers. The top right one makes the mirror go black. Leave that one at the bottom and put the other three to the top. The mirror breaks and you get a deck of cards. Back out of the room and give your son the cards, then watch the end scene.
I wasn't particularly impressed with this installment.
The look of the son was unnerving, but not in a good way. I just didn't like it. And then his look gave away the ending from the beginning. The ending itself wasn't very impressive either. I'm okay with predictable endings, but when the son just takes some playing cards and throws them at you to kill you, it veers into being very... stupid, for lack of a better word.
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