Did you really think it was over? Did you think you could just walk away? True you got out of the house, now all you have to do is get back to your girl. She's waiting in the car, isn't she? Right, sure she is. We know this because girls are always waiting in the car in scary stories.
Fair warning, this is not a G rated game. Don't play this one with your kids. I mean it. Trust me. If you played the first Forgotten Hill then you know what to expect and you won't be disappointed. There are fewer spiders and bugs this time (although all things considered there would almost have to be). There is a good deal more blood. It's what I'd call creepy rather than outright scary, no jump scares or anything like that. They did a good job of the atmosphere.
There are plenty of puzzles to keep you busy while you're enjoying the apparently carnival inspired graphics and music. There's a rather eerie contrast between the bouncy tune and the action of the game. You will want the speakers on for this one since at least one puzzle can't be solved without sound.
So does this installment answer all the questions and leave us with a satisfactory ending?
You'll just have to play it and see for yourself I suppose.
Play FORGOTTEN HILL: PUPPETEER
Think I got the bad ending. I got the exit ticket, which was the last thing in my inventory, and then the Puppeteer got me.
Liked the shoutout to Monty Python - guess those fingers were 'wafer thin'.
Some critique of this game (both positive and negative)
First, the positive: Excellent atmospherics. Creepy shadows for the win. The bell puzzle for Mr. Griswold was an interesting twist on an old idea, as was the '15-style' slider puzzle. Even though I may have gotten the bad ending, I still felt that the story line was very well done.
More neutrally: The 'dog and broom' puzzle requires sound, which may leave some players flummoxed. The solution clue for the grid slider (which I still think is a good puzzle) was very difficult to read on my monitor.
The negatives:
Several puzzles hit me the wrong way. First, the marionette puzzle, which was frustrating in both control and required accuracy. Secondly, the 'moon and eyes' puzzle, which seemed unnecessarily complex, allowing for solutions which appeared valid but would not register.
There were two puzzles, however, that seemed intentionally broken. One was the clock with the symbols, where one of the 'clues' to the solution could only be found by going through the very door that the puzzle opens
I admit, I BFed that one, so the frustration didn't hit until I saw where the final clue was actually located.
The other was the drink machine slider puzzle. There is one clue that is given that is crystal clear and accounts for three symbols. There are two other clues for individual symbols (found earlier) that are ambiguous at best. After that, there is still one symbol that is completely unaccounted for. I'm not entirely sure how I got past that one.
All that said, the Forgotten Hill series is shaping up to be on par with Rusty Lake, both in mood and ability to engage. I'm looking forward to find out how our hero continues on from this incident (assuming that there is a good ending!) I'm going to rate it at 3 mushrooms.
The dog puzzle doesn't quite require sound. The dog moves a bit for each bark. But the puzzle's difficulty is probably at least 100 times greater for those with the sound turned off. A more eye-catching movement would have been better.
My main issue was with the overall darkness which made some clues nearly impossible to see. I couldn't adjust the brightness and contrast of my monitor enough to see some of the brown on black clues. I had to put a screenshot into Paint and hugely enlarge small areas to see some of them. (I didn't even know they were there to be seen until I was using a walkthrough video to get unstuck.) I also found it difficult to read the red-on-black writing due to the spidery font.
Aside from that, a great game. I think my favourite part was the marionette puzzle. I had temporarily given up on solving it since as far as I could tell I had it exactly the same as the image.
Can't get the bug; therefore can't finish. Sad. Love the game butI my hand eye coordination is terrible. That is why I play escapers rather than arcade games. Please developers; if you include this sort of puzzle at least have a give up and continue option so we klutzes can enjoy your game. Or at least a disclaimer at the beginning warning us. Wouldn't hurt to mention it in the review either. End of rant. Carry on.
Bill, if you mean the
Eh, why not, let's try a walkthrough.
Getting in.
The lobby.
The hallway, part 1.
The bathroom.
Lobby again.
The hallway, part 2
The buffet
The hallway, part 3.
The dressing room.
The theater.
Backstage.
Backstage, part 2.
Backtracking!
Backstage, part 3.
Buffet, yet again.
Hallway.
Backstage, part 4.
Backtracking, part 2.
Getting out.
First, can someone answer me why the heck this game isn't appearing under the "New" tab?? I feel like lots of people are missing out on a great game because of it...
Second, this game is a LOT better than the first one was. Puzzles are a little more challenging, and the art of the game isn't as generic. The blood bath feel is a little over the top, though. Tons of blood isn't what makes a game scary, rather the overall mood, suspense, underlying story and the occasional jumpscare (FNAF 1 is a great example of this, hardly any blood was present in the game, graphics weren't high quality, but it presented the creep factor very well). Narrative in the beginning and end was annoying, and takes the player out of the experience quickly. Hearing a voice representation means its no longer us that is trapped in the puppet theatre, rather someone else. There are no scenes or references that pull the player out of first person to suggest 3rd person play. We don't see who the narrative voice belongs to, which contradicts the experience presented.
I give it 3 mushrooms for sake of improvement and having a good base element of creepy, but it's still pretty rough around the edges.
Yes I can answer. The 'New' tab lists only the games we host on our servers. So typically the games which were in the box 'Free Online Games' on the top of the homepage. But we also (and often) review games we do not host so if you want to be sure to not miss any games, best is to look at the homepage.
Oh friggers. All this time I had bookmarked the wrong page! How many other great games have I missed because of it?? Thanks for clarifying!
i kow this is not in reference to the game but recently I was playing a lot of the older jayisgames games such as strawberry café and biancobianco and a lot of these sites are dead. not sure if you guys have time but you might want to check some of these so you can pull them from your site. just a suggestion.
A better suggestion might be to post those failed links on the game comments where they're happening.
That way people will know which ones aren't working and you just never know. Someone with a little time on her hands (and a mild OCD issue) might take it into her head to go out and look for new ones. :)
very nice and interesting game! loved the theme and the puzzle, although some puzzles were boring and took really longer than they are supposed to, but all in all i enjoyed it.. (I used walkthrough video to help solving some puzzles that needs a specific strategy :p)
Could somebody post "Forgotten Hill : Surgery" walkthrough, there are lots of video walkthroughs of it around but non in text explaining them and making sense to things rather than just doing things. Maybe Jayisgames is up for some reviewing too. ;)
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