Awem Studio has done it again, putting together a prequel sequel to the fun title, The Island: Castaway. In The Island: Castaway 2, play as the young tribesman, Yati, as he travels around the island during a time when everything was whole and right, just before any 'strangers' came. Using the same interface that worked for them before, Awem Studio offers another great simulation game that weaves a tale of wonder and mysticism.

A ghost, a wolf, a dark and isolated castle, and possibly even a werewolf? Looks like you've got your hands full in the latest hidden object hybrid from Elephant Games, Grim Tales: The Legacy. A sequel to Grim Tales: The Bride, the story and setting are connected between the two games, only this time around, you're stalking through a castle while a peculiar wolf hunts you from the shadows.

When Sam's girlfriend Anna is kidnapped after his articles in the local newspaper about a crazed maniac begin to get too close to the truth, he has no other options but to bow to the madman's demands and come alone to an old mansion on the edge of town. What he finds inside is both disturbing and strange, but if he wants to save Anna and make it out alive he'll have to master the puzzles and unlock the truth behind the kidnappings. A somewhat campy but extremely entertaining hidden-object adventure that will keep you wrapped up for hours in a surreal, dramatic world.

If you're a logic puzzle fan (both paper-and-pencil and electronic, alike), you've probably heard of a little game called picross. It's a crossword puzzle meets number logic with an artsy twist. Fugazo brings their puzzles to you in the next installment of their popular series, World Mosaics V, where you find a familiar experience with a new storyline and, of course, 100s of new puzzles!

According to popular myth, werewolves are pretty much all over the place, leading normal lives just like the rest of us tax-paying citizens. For the most part, they're pretty normal. Walking around, visiting Starbucks, and maybe even holding the door for you when your hands are full. But when it's the full moon, werewolf kind has a difficult time blending in. And we're not just talking about the smell! In the new hidden object adventure game from ERS Game Studio, Shadow Wolf Mysteries: Bane of the Family, you get to dive a bit deeper into the family structure of a family of werewolves, learning all about their curse and how this odd transformation travels from parents to children.

Pity the poor dude who is in charge of Middleshire, one of the areas of the kingdom we first saw in Royal Envoy. First, he's late to the meeting with the king, then all he can report is bad, bad news about the region. The King is not happy about any of this, so he once again appoints someone (as in you, the player) to go and get this poor place redeveloped so that the folks will be happy in Royal Envoy 2, the latest time management amusement from Playrix Entertainment.

While the claim of holding a thousand doors may be a little much, Alawar's casual adventure game House of 1000 Doors: Family Secret is certainly packed with family secrets, not to mention a twisted plot that reveals information about as slowly as an episode of Lost. The story is the star, but the gameplay pulls its own weight, leaving you feeling confidently thrilled as you crawl through the hallways of the mysteriously vanishing mansion.

Are you ready for a light science fiction adventure with some nautical flair? Nemo's Secret: Vulcania is an adventure/hidden-object hybrid offering you just that. With some unique puzzles and animated hidden-object scenes, Odian Games offers a refreshing hybrid game without the usual murderers and supernatural spooks. It's enough to make anyone want to hop ship and have a spin at the wheel.

Haunty spooky ghosty hidden object adventure games are as common as the dark nights they take place in, but Haunted Past: Realm of Ghosts felt like doing something different. Aside from its well-built interface and crisp visual presentation, Gogii Game's hybrid release offers a different take on traveling between dimensions and hidden objects in general. Instead of just looking for things, you must also hide them, a sort of treasure hunt you play with yourself!

Temple of Life: The Legend of Four Elements is a casual adventure game dusted with a sprinkling of hidden object scenes. Unlike most hybrids out there, Temple of Life ditches the whole spooky mansion bit in favor of a classic cursed burial chamber, complete with traps and some delightfully complicated puzzles. The plot may not be anything new, but the mini-games are crisp, and the overall sense of mystery and danger are as strong as any movie where the main character runs from giant boulders and wears superb brown fedoras!

Based on an H.P. Lovecraft story, Mystery Stories: Mountains of Madness is a casual adventure game set in the snowy hills of Antarctica. As if pulling a tale from Lovecraft wasn't interesting enough, the team at Cerasus Media went on to create an adventure game fused with intricate puzzles and alluring locations that beg your cursor to go searching for every item and every object it can click on. It's a quietly impressive game that walks a different path than most casual adventure/hidden object games, making it a fantastic experience from beginning to end.

The life of a fairy tale detective must be an exhausting one. For one thing, you seem to get called in at a moment's notice all over the world whenever anything strange happens. For another, you must then spend a lot of time fighting your way through fairy tales as they were originally meant to be: dark, scary, and dangerous. However, you are again up to the task in the latest adventure/hidden object hybrid from Blue Tea Games, Dark Parables: Rise of the Snow Queen.

In gameplay as well as story, this hybrid-adventure from Vogat Interactive is laden with entertaining twists and turns and dynamic characters. Neatly-composed hidden object scenes and plenty of diverse puzzles fit thematically into the storyline so that, the more you play, the more involved in the story you become. If you've watched any number of late night movies on broadcast TV, you'll make a few summations long before our savvy blonde protagonist catches a clue. Yet that doesn't detract from the depth of story, superb character development and plentiful personality—all pulled together in a cheesy, soap-operaesque wrapper. If it's true there are only seven original plot lines, Guardians of Beyond: Witchville does a fine job scripting them all.

A letter from Christie's twin sister Stella brings her back home from schooling in London. It seems their parents have passed away, and with Christie the only family Stella has left, it may finally be the tragic catalyst the sisters need to bury the bad blood between them and come to accept one another. Of course, that's if Christie can survive the twister spider demon that seems to have taken up her family home as a holiday spot and has been drawing the souls out of those unlucky enough to wander near. Can Christie solve the puzzles and challenges in her way to save her sister... and does Stella even want to be saved? Find out in this creepy but gorgeous hidden object adventure!

A photo with a single line of print on the back... it isn't much, but it's all you've got to potentially lead you to your family. You've been in orphanages all your life and you jump at the chance to find out who you really are when the picture shows up on your doorstep anonymously, but the truth may be more gruesome than you wish. A creepy yet stunning hidden-object adventure with a heavy emphasis on story... and more than a little gore.

Remember Titus? Sure you do, he's that dummy who got himself trapped in a magic book his malevolent uncle left lying around. Then he called on you to help free a library from an evil genie who was ruining the classic stories contained within. It's been a few years, but Titus is back in the latest (and greatest) installment of the Azada series of adventure/hidden object hybrids, Azada in Libro. That darned evil uncle is trying to take over the magical land of Azada once again, and this time it's personal!

If you're unfortunate enough to have the deserved nickname "Bluebeard", you'd better have a kickin' castle and a killer reputation to keep yourself from looking like a big lame-o. That's exactly the case with the antagonist in Bluebeard's Castle, a hidden object adventure release from Fanda Games. Focusing more on the adventure side of things, expect a full heaping of puzzles, unnerving settings, strange noises in the background, and ornate decorations that could use a serious tweaking from Dress My Nest.

A frantic letter brings you to France to help look for your missing brother, but you don't exactly receive a warm welcome when someone in a full suit of armor knocks you unconscious in your hotel room. Things go from bad to worse when you wake up to find the town dark and deserted... except for the people who will do anything to keep you from finding out the truth. An imaginative though slightly convoluted story combines with lengthy, engrossing gameplay in this hidden-object adventure from Elephant Games!

Death Under Tuscan Skies: A Dana Knightstone Novel is the latest hidden-object adventure hybrid in the Dana Knightstone series, and it explores the pitfalls of the life of a famous professional writer. Dana has decided to take a break from writing and accepts a gig as a guest lecturer at a University in Tuscany. Things start to take a turn for the mysterious when a handsome professor and a melancholy ghost make their appearances. Pretty soon Dana is blowing off research for the lecture to solve a mystery involving a girl that died young of a mysterious disease and her missing love, Giovanni. Those looking for a relaxed, non-scary adventure that still features ghosts should give this amusing and entertaining hybrid a try.

It's not Halloween, but there's always an open space for abandoned theme parks, midget jesters, and overweight clown ghosts in your gaming schedule! Weird Park: Broken Tune fits you in the fedora of a detective set on the case of John Flatter, a journalist who went missing in the town of Fairy Gate. You end up in an old theme park, complete with derelict equipment and dusty attractions that look like they're about to eat you. A journalist's work is never done, however, and the more you poke your nose around, the stranger things get.

Storylines in the adventure/hidden object hybrid genre of casual games contain a massive range of scenarios. Some are set in the past, some feature magic and curses, some feature an orphan on a quest to find their family, some feature time travel, etc. But what do you think about a game having all of the above? And more? Check out Time Mysteries: The Ancient Spectres by Artifex Mundi to see how that's possible!

Few things are as exciting as a well-made casual solitaire game. Well, few things that aren't cake, hugs from puppies, or driving up to a traffic light just as it turns green and starts dispensing candy. In the absence of that miracle, though, the latest game from Big Fish Games Studios will certainly fill that fun-shaped void in your life. Fairway is an enormously well-polished game of golf-themed tri-peaks solitaire. Take cards from the pile, pair them with the face-up card below, uncover a few neat power-ups, and try to clear the screen without breaking par!

A remarkable sequel to one of the most engaging match-3 games ever, 4 Elements. Once again the elements are out of whack in the Magic Kingdom and it's up to you to make things right before all life ceases to exist. Prepare for tons of elemental delights!

This new puzzle-heavy hidden object adventure by Sandlot Games contains a generous blend of puzzles and hidden object scenes to keep you actively engaged throughout your adventure. Join Tess as she confronts nightmarish scenes of skeletons, monsters threatening to devour young children, and dungeons of trapped souls as well as imagination-inspired fantasies: a bee with a mechanical unicorn, a room covered in gold leafing, and an Escheresque hedge maze. Alternating from beautiful childhood fantasies to twisted fears and dystopic visions, every scene is a gorgeous piece of art. Playing Sphera is well worth the experience, just be sure to have a cheerful something or other standing by for when you're done.

Normally you might want to avoid chasing maniacal tentacled Doctors into hellish nether-realms, but in this case you've got someone you need to rescue... several someones, as it turns out. In this imaginative hidden-object adventure, you'll need to delve into the nightmares of children whose fear is being extracted for... well, to find out why, you'll need to play yourself.

Drawn has returned. The third game in the series, Drawn: Trail of Shadows, dares to outdo its predecessors in what simply must be the most enchanting hidden object adventure game to date. The visuals have improved (if you can believe it!), the storytelling is even more intriguing, and the puzzles are as rich as before. Good hidden object games are hard to come by, so when you find a game this great, you'd best dive right in.

Not too long ago a relative newcomer to adventure/hidden object hybrids, ChaYoWo games, took us on a journey through the heart of Southern India in The Dark Hills of Cherai. Now they're back and once again the player will be transported to a place few will ever be able to visit in The Dark Hills of Cherai: The Regal Scepter.

What would you be willing to do to recapture your first true love? You'll get to explore the answers to that question in Media Art's Love Story: The Beach Cottage, the second adventure/hidden object hybrid game in the Love Story series that grabs the hopeless romantic in all of us and takes us on a journey that may (or may not) give us the "happily ever after" we're looking for.

The Tribloos is a new time management game from Bumpkin Brothers, creator of the 3D assembly line puzzle game The Machine. Similar to the Roads of Rome series and My Kingdom for the Princess series in basic structure, Tribloos will surprise you with its knack for turning simple tasks into smart challenges. Do not let the game's simple visual presentation fool you, this game is filled with serious amounts of smart challenge!

In the world of time management/casual simulation games there are plenty of Build-a-Lot clones, so it was exciting a few years back when a new player entered the field with Virtual City. Rather than concentrate on building or development, Virtual City took the genre in a whole new direction by focusing the gameplay on the movement of goods, services, and people. Now, G5 Entertainment is back with Virtual City 2: Paradise Resort, which takes the transportation madness to new and interesting heights.

The Pied Piper. Stories tell of the strange man who offered to rid the town of Hamelin of its rat problem using nothing more than a musical pipe. The citizens agreed, but when they refused to pay for his service, the piper grew angry. Using his magical/musical talents, he led the town's children away into the night, apparently because it's difficult to break kneecaps with a flute. In Alawar's latest hidden object adventure hybrid, Oddly Enough: Pied Piper, you take on the role of hero (well, debt collector), investigating the piper's doings and trying to track down the kidnapped children.

Ah, the Victorians. There are many tropes from their literature that still haunt us today, including eerie women dressed in white appearing at lonely intersections, pale, blood-sucking gentlemen in evening attire, and dark-skinned men wearing turbans. Perhaps the greatest of the era's paranoias was the thought of being buried alive, which permeated the culture to the point of having little bells and pulls installed on coffins. That fear was encapsulated in one of Edgar Allan Poe's great stories which has now been turned into a stunning adventure/hidden object hybrid, Dark Tales: Edgar Allan Poe's The Premature Burial. Yes, ERS Game Studio is back with their third adaption of a Poe story, and this one is a killer! (sorry, bad pun)

You've probably heard that "all roads lead to Rome". What you didn't count on is that you'd have to build them all! In Roads of Rome III, a building-centric time management simulation from Whiterra, you take orders from the Caesar himself and set out to repair damage to the empire caused by barbarians. It's no easy task, and you're not really in the mood to do it, but it's your duty, and one never questions the Caesar!

Ding dong the witch is dead! Wait, what? She's still not dead? Not only that, the old hag is back and badder than ever creating havoc in the museum in Echoes of the Past: The Citadels of Time, the latest adventure/hidden object hybrid by Orneon and sequel to both Echoes of the Past: Royal House of Stone and Echoes of the Past: The Castle of Shadows. Perhaps it's time to stop hanging out in that darn museum? Just saying.

Travel through the ages from the time of the Roman gladiators all the way to the Aztec pyramids. Solve riddles and brain teasers in order to collect Civilization Points that can be used to rebuild civilization. World Riddles: Secrets of the Ages is a worthy successor to Seven Wonders and is a definite must for all picross puzzle fans. Hours and hours of gameplay awaits along with a lot of interesting trivia about various objects from different historical times.

After an explosion, you wake up in shackles on the floor of a dirty room. A frantic phone call warns you not to trust the police woman who breaks down the door moments later... but who CAN you trust? And what happened to you? Find out the truth in this short and easy but surprisingly engrossing hidden-object adventure from Vast Studios.

Belle's happily-ever-after is cut short when her Prince is once again cursed by the same evil enchantress who turned him into a Beast. The entire kingdom has fallen under a dark spell, and Belle is the only one left to stop it, assuming she can avoid the dangers and dark magic twisting her world at every turn in this stunning, engrossing hidden-object adventure from the makers of Mystery Legends: The Phantom of the Opera.

A popular reality program goes terribly wrong when one of the contestants appears to die onscreen during the finale, and the show promptly goes dark. Things only start looking more grim when the rest of the show's stars go missing, and you're called in to track them down. Easier said than done since the show isn't exactly ordinary, and The Maze is one unbelievable reality show whose sets are as surreal and clever as they are deadly. Track down the missing people in this imaginative and engrossing hidden-object adventure from Elephant Games, but keep your eyes open... in the Maze, you aren't alone, and you're never safe...

With fifty levels to play, this fast-paced and addictingly enjoyable new game from Youda Games is sure to provide many hours of fun. Youda Fisherman succeeds in combining a variety of popular time management and simulation elements in a way that makes sense while adding a fresh spin on the genre. Make use of fantastic inventions to fight off pirates, gather resources, and build a thriving fishing company into a successful enterprise.

Often when game designers try to throw everything but the kitchen sink into an adventure/hidden object hybrid, what you end up with is an incoherent mess. In the case of Voodoo Chronicles: The First Sign by Space Monkey Games, start with a hard-boiled detective film noir, cross it with a horror movie, add in elements of steampunk, and the result is a fantastic, glorious sprawling mess of a game that is very difficult to put down and harder still to walk away from.

Build-a-Lot: On vacation is still casual gameplay that sucks you in and doesn't let you go until you've expert leveled the last scenario. Fans of the series will appreciate the new twists in strategy and newbs will just love the addictive gameplay. Forget the depressed real estate market; it's time to get building!

Statues coming to life and racing through the streets? It all sounds preposterous, at least until you see it happen right in front of you. Suddenly, all the other stuff, like the malevolent little imp and the soul-stealing crystals, sounds a lot more plausible than it did a few minutes ago. Crack a supernatural mystery and lock horns with an old foe in this creative and atmospheric hidden-object adventure title from the makers of Haunted Legends: The Queen of Spades.

The newest adventure/hidden object hybrid from HitPoint Studios, The Secrets of Arcelia Island is an experience in sumptuous environments, beguiling scenery and affable puzzles. Help Greta on her mission to save Arcelia Island from the witch Sirenia's curse by gathering clues, searching for objects and solving puzzles in expertly rendered realms that mix fantasy and mystery, surrealism and substantive locales. On the way you'll meet and help island inhabitants including a regal fairy queen and king, an elf, a satyr, and the sorceress Sirenia herself.

Prince (now King) Arthur and his lovely Queen Helen are back for more time management shenanigans in Nevosoft's My Kingdom for the Princess III, which explores what happens when the kids try their hands at running the kingdom. This is the story of what happens after "they lived happily ever after", although the gist of the tale may just be never have kids. Ever.

A quiet town in the middle of nowhere has a dark history, but when you regain consciousness in the middle of it with someone else's blood on your hands and no memory of why you're there you have more pressing concerns. Solve a decades old mystery and uncover a dangerous, ancient evil in this big, beautiful and eerie hidden-object adventure from Artifex Mundi!

Awakening: The Goblin Kingdom is a magical enchanted ride and a worthy successor to the games that preceded it. As before, when you complete the main story, there are a nice variety of the main puzzles available from the game menu to prolong the experience. Gorgeous, fun and compelling, The Goblin Kingdom is everything you could want in an hidden object adventure hybrid and more.

A g-g-g-ghost! More than one, even! Actually, the mansion Ashley finds herself called to is practically heaving with spectres, all of them with unfinished business, and a mysterious being informs her that she is the only one who can set them free. Age of Enigma: The Secret of the Sixth Ghost is a point-and-click adventure from Casual Box. It looks stunning, almost like a playable Saturday morning cartoon (readers aged 30 and over, that reference is for you!), and even though the puzzle elements are a bit thin, the game manages to paint an atmosphere of intrigue that draws you right in.

It's been a long, strange year, hasn't it? First your great uncle passed away, then you had to move to the odd little town of Queensbury to help your grandmother run the family soup stall, then a curse hits the town and suddenly the only thing standing between the townsfolk and complete chaos is your great-uncle's magical spirit soup recipe. Wait, wha? Seriously, that's the premise behind newcomer Twilight Games' fabulously goofy new adventure. Play Spirit Soup: The Queensbury Curse and travel back to a simpler time when adventure games were goofy and magical soup could save the day!

Waking up in a hospital is never comforting, and it's even less so for Angel, whose hysterics about monsters ever since she was discovered wandering on the beach have convinced the hospital staff she's a danger to herself and others. In this sequel to the hidden-object adventure Shadow Town, help Angel escape from the hospital and the strange other world known as the Twisted Lands, uncovering a dark secret in the process.

The long-awaited sequel to Hidden Expedition: The Devil's Triangle has finally arrived! H.E.A.T. (that's the Hidden Expedition Adventure Team) is back and is finally going to rescue the pilot! So was the nearly two year wait for Hidden Expedition: The Uncharted Islands worth it? Without hesitation, a resounding: YES! The Uncharted Islands is fun for everyone, from newbies to the most hard-core adventure addicts. Most definitely worth the wait!

Do you think you're safe from the denizens of the night just because you turned the light on? Does the warmth of the sun scare away evil just because it's bright and cheery? Think again. As Redemption Cemetery: Children's Plight aims to prove, you're never safe from the demons of this world (or any other world). A follow-up to the first point-and-click hidden object/adventure hybrid from ERS Game Studios, Redemption Cemetery: Curse of the Raven, this installment forces you to ask the difficult question: how the heck am I going to fall asleep tonight after witnessing that?

A nightmarish wreck at sea one evening should have left you and your father dead, but instead you find yourself a lost soul stranded at the bottom of the briny deep, trapped somewhere between life and death by none other than Davy Jones himself. In this creative, cheesy-good hidden-object adventure, you'll have to play the malevolent sea-spectre's games if you want to win your freedom, but with so many other listless spirits trapped below the waves for who knows how long it looks like the odds aren't in your favour. Will you be able to rescue your father and the oddball assortment of other beings who lost themselves to Davy Jones' tricks, or are you doomed to an eternity underwater?

You haven't seen your twin sister Luisa since you were children, and when you receive word that she was pushed off a bridge in a wedding gown by a shadowy figure it seems you might never get the chance to reconnect... but a dark offer from a mysterious being may just grant you the ability to uncover the mysteries and set things right if you're willing to put your soul on the line. Travel back in Luisa's life in this dark, beautiful hidden-object adventure full of tragedy, mystery, and family secrets best left undisturbed.

This is one of the best, most elaborate adventure hybrids to come out this year. With the emphasis squarely on the point-and-click adventuring, Sacra Terra: Angelic Night is a mind-blowing throwback to the days of yore in adventure gaming with its engrossing story, stunning visuals, and, most importantly, depth of gameplay. Alawar has created a world which is fascinating to explore and difficult to leave, and the combination of beautiful, otherworldly scenes juxtaposed with the grim, haunting asylum proper makes the entire experience surreal.

Unsolved Mystery Club: Ancient Astronauts can be quite a challenge for the advanced gamer while still being easy enough for the beginner. With its fantastic visuals and engrossing story Unsolved Mystery Club: Ancient Astronauts is not to be missed, even if you are more skeptical than Scully about the whole aliens-interacting-with-ancient-peoples thing.

Blue Tea Games, a studio that knows its hidden object adventure genre better than a chef knows how to boil water, is at it again. Following series such as Enlightenus, Dark Parables, and Forgotten Riddles is a tough job, but Macabre Mysteries: Curse of the Nightingale definitely holds its own, crafting an environment filled with intrigue, danger, mystery, and loads of shiny objects to find. It's a hidden object/casual adventure game for the most discriminating fans, and it never fails to impress from beginning to end.

Your life takes a drastic change when you discover that you're no ordinary teenage girl; you're a witch, and there's a place at the secretive Iris Academy waiting for you! Will you bury your nose in your schoolbooks and become the next great magical prodigy? Develop friendships (and rivalries) to last a lifetime? Or maybe you'll find... someone special? This latest visual novel RPG simulation from Hanako Games and Spiky Caterpillar is not only tremendously addictive and engrossing, it's packed full of charm, replay value, and a magic all its own.

It's Mardi Gras, home of costumed pedestrians, masked partiers, parades, dancing, food, and more crazy things than you can imagine. What could possibly go wrong with everyone in the throes of celebration? Try murder. Murder, and a number of occult happenings shortly thereafter. As you arrive on the scene of the crime, you learn something very strange has been going on in Louisiana, and judging by the glowing tattoo on the dead body, you know it's not going to be an ordinary case. Pick up your fingerprint kit and brush up on your voodoo knowledge, as in the new adventure/hidden object game Paranormal Crime Investigations: Brotherhood of the Crescent Snake, you're going to do some investigating of the supernatural kind!

Gourmania 3: Zoo Zoom, from Alawar Games, takes a few common casual gaming genres and breaks their molds all to pieces, creating a game that's one half hidden object game, one half time management simulation. How do you combine a sit and think genre with a frantic click-fest genre? Easy! You hunt for ingredients in a crowded restaurant to cook dishes for impatient customers!

Gorgeous, entertaining, and fit for both the noob and the advanced adventure gamer, Timeless: The Forgotten Town is a feast of astounding visuals and amusing gameplay. Do not, however, expect an exciting roller-coaster ride of adventure in game form. Instead, enjoy a quiet and meditative stroll down avenues of the past, probably a lot more entertaining than actually being there.

From the horror-themed hidden object masters at Vogat Interactive comes F.A.C.E.S., another casual adventure tale filled with mystery, occult occurrences, and plenty of strange human abilities. You play a young woman who can travel into photographs and carry things back to the real world. She's trapped in an asylum at the game's outset, however, and knows she's about to endure the scientists' final experiment. Not good! To escape, she'll need to find the right photographs and scurry her way out into the world beyond!

You wake up. Disoriented. Outside of an abandoned town. All you know is your motorcycle is ruined, but a series of vague images continually float through your mind. The town you're stranded outside of was evacuated decades ago because of a fire in the mines. Coal is still burning below the surface, and something ghostly walks the streets above ground. Vampire Saga - Welcome to Hell Lock, a sequel to Vampire Saga: Pandora's Box, is an extraordinarily well-done hidden object adventure that incorporates classic horror film methods to create a creepy, captivating world that draws your interest out with each and every step you take.

The business of fixing dreams is a delicate one. It requires a lot of time and energy, the clients are few, and let's face it, the pay probably isn't that great. That doesn't stop a young woman from helping out her tormented friend, Victor, from sussing out the source of his nightmares by traveling within his world of dreams. Foreign Dreams is a visually stylish hidden object adventure game that lays on imagery and mystery in its unusually-crafted world. As you follow a frightening young girl through Victor's dreams, you begin to piece together a bit of the puzzle surrounding the source of his nightmares.

The Mission: A Search and Rescue Mystery is still a blast to play if only for those puzzles. For those who miss the days of classic point-and-click adventuring this is a game that, while not completely resurrecting the old days, certainly comes closer than most on the market.

From Intenium, the makers of the equally awesome Insider Tales: The Stolen Venus 2 and Tulula: Legend Of A Volcano, comes Sandra Fleming Chronicles: Crystal Skulls, a hidden object adventure with heavy emphasis on the latter. Sandra Fleming cuts out most of the casual stuff we see in modern games, leaving you alone with a strange world with nothing but your wits to get you out. It's a challenging and intriguing game that goes to greater lengths to satisfy your puzzle solving itch than most other games of its species!

You want action? We got that. You want cheesy storylines with French villains obsessed about obtaining immortality, kidnapped scientists, plane crashes and giant spiders? Got that, too. Hide and Secret: The Lost World from Anarchy Enterprises is the fourth game in the hidden object adventure series, featuring a classic-styled plot ripped out of your favorite dime novel from a century ago.

When young Emily goes missing moments before midnight on the day before her seventh birthday, her mother Kathleen and uncle Peter have no choice but to follow her otherworldly abductor to a strange and dangerous realm typically hidden from human eyes. Who are the Extractors, and what is their interest in the mysterious "bridge of seven"? Find out in this fantastic hidden-object adventure!

Back to save the village once more, eh? Youda Farmer 3: Seasons is a time management game from the seasoned experts of the casual genre, Youda Games. Following the original Youda Farmer and its sequel Youda Farmer 2: Save the Village, the third in the series keeps the gameplay largely the same but introduces several great features, all adding up to a healthy and robust time management simulation experience you'll enjoy mastering!

If you love time management games in the vein of Build-a-lot, then there is a lot to like in The Timebuilders: Caveman's Prophecy. Fast, frantic, and fun this is definitely what casual gaming should be. Have fun building civilization and shaking the devil out of those mischievous kitties!

From ERS Game Studios, creator of Haunted Halls: Green Hills Sanitarium, PuppetShow: Lost Town, Redemption Cemetery: Curse of the Raven, and a number of other games, comes a hidden object adventure that takes place in old Italy. Grim Facade: Mystery of Venice is a dark, atmospheric game populated by empty streets and moonlit statues, strongly punctuating the shaded character you're chasing after: the man in the mask.

When you hear the phrase "dream resort", you immediately think of a lavish getaway locale that's so luxurious you could barely even dream of it, right? Well, that's not exactly the case in Chloe's Dream Resort, a new time management release from Fugazo. Instead of operating the resort of someone's dreams, you're operating the resort of everyone's dreams. In other words, when people go to sleep, they visit this resort to relax their mind, body and spirit. The problem is, the resort isn't working so well, so while Chloe slumber's on her work desk, her dream self is busily serving dreamers from around the world.

Beautiful, engaging, lengthy, difficult, Dreamland is everything that you could want in a hidden object/adventure hybrid and more. A feast for the eyes, ears, and brains, evoking that long ago distrust of the traveling carnival and showing the evil that can lurk beneath the surface of any childhood fantasy. Take the time to enjoy the experience and the thrills of Dreamland.

From Orneon Games, crafters of The Agency of Anomalies: Mystic Hospital, comes Secrets of the Dark: Temple of Night, a hidden object/casual adventure game steeped in legends, demons, and a town that's a little on the strange side. The game uses a creative light/dark mechanism that allows you to peer into the demon world simply by turning off or blocking the lights in a room. This morphs the scene and opens up new passageways, reveals new items and objects to explore, and disseminates new bits of story that you'll gobble up like delicious popcorn.

Mmm, delicious time management games. If slinging burgers, serving tacos, or making cakes doesn't get your appetite going, you probably need to play a little longer! Stand O'Food 3 is a new time management game that puts you in the chef shoes of Ronnie, a mega-talented restauranteur whose skills at making eateries popular rivals that of every other time management game hero! Now it's your job to run a series of burger joints that, apparently, sell burgers the size of a couch cushion. Business is booming, though, and you'll have a great time serving food and pleasing customers in this casual game!

Hotel Dash: Lost Luxuries is time management done fantastically well, challenging, amusing, beautiful, and frantic. Take a few minutes and get sucked into the world of Flo and Dinertown!

Vampires are the new "it" thing, for reasons we shall not name, and recently they've become quite the item in casual games. Dracula: Love Kills goes back to the roots of the legends and casts you in the role of the non-sparkling Count Dracula, the original vampire that no teenage girl would ever want to date. It's a hidden object adventure from Waterlily Games that's heavy on story, atmosphere, and puzzles, and there are plenty of unlockables to get your cold, vampiric hands on, too!

Tearstone is a fantastic first effort by a new designer on the scene. DragonsEye Studio has come up with a fantastic, challenging, fun, and entertaining point and click adventure of the old school, with a few hidden object conventions thrown in.

From Nevosoft comes a quirky, lighthearted game that takes inspiration from the likes of Galcon and Risk, LandGrabbers. In a land filled with castles and knights and crusades, it's own or be owned. You are a brilliant military strategist (but you knew that already!) who has decided to show your prowess by taking over the land. One building at a time. Send units, fortify your homeland, and set out to conquer the medieval world the only way you know how: casual strategy gaming!

Love Chronicles: The Sword and the Rose, a new casual adventure game from Vendel Games, creator of the Magic Encyclopedia series, flings you into a gloomy world of alchemy, spells, sleeping trees, frozen puddles and glowing rose petals. As a prince who is on his way home from an adventure, you encounter a strange island filled with mystery. And ice. Lots and lots of ice. Your boat becomes trapped on the shore, so you set foot to sand and investigate the island's strange sights.

Antique Road Trip 2: Homecoming is a hidden object game that tells the story of a young couple, Grace and James, their newborn son Colin and their amazingly cute puppy. In the original Antique Road Trip USA they spent a ton of time traveling around the country, finding and selling antiques to fix up their own lovely antique store. Now all they want is a break, so they head to Montana to visit Grace's parents and enjoy some long-awaited relaxation.

The pen is mightier than the sword and it won't give you any time to rest. Mark Twain's soul is uneasy, and he seeks you out to help him try to make sense of a premonition he can't remember from his youth, and to help save him from the strange beast that seems to be hunting him through time. Solve a centuries old mystery and conspiracy in the third installment of Mumbo Jumbo's popular hidden-object adventure series!

Time management game? We don't think so! Bistro Boulevard is a casual restaurant simulation from Fugazo, creators of the World Mosaics series as well as Fiction Fixers. In an unusual departure from the norm. Bistro Boulevard is focused on you as the manager of a restaurant. Hire staff, train them to cook ingredients, formulate recipes, and seat customers, all with a few clicks of the mouse. Your staff does all the drudge work, leaving you to focus on the important parts of the business!

Emma and the Inventor is a wonder-filled adventure/hidden object game from Tricky Software. A relative newcomer to the casual downloads scene, the studio makes a great impression with a game that is not only easy and inviting to play, but one that has been carefully put together with attention to the small details. The end result doesn't shatter records or break the genre's mold too fiercely, but instead delivers a supremely satisfying game with good puzzles, excellent artwork and music, and frustration-free gameplay scene after glorious scene.

With its darker and more powerful storyline and haunting music Princess Isabella: Return of the Curse still delivers the goods of involving, entertaining, challenging gameplay. The ability to chose two different modes of play makes Princess Isabella fun for both beginners to the field and seasoned adventurers looking for a challenge. Beautiful beyond belief and exciting to play Princess Isabella: Return of the Curse is a definite hit.

From crooked law agents to psychic detectives to run-of-the-mill agents who find themselves in tough situations, most of us feel like we've got a good grip on the fictional portrayal of the justice system at this point in time. Dark Ritual plays with this familiarity a bit, introducing two FBI agents at the very beginning of the game, one of whom has a sister that has mysteriously vanished. The pair sets out to locate her, uncovering top secret plots, a mad scientist with an Incan mind control concoction, and plenty of mysticism along the way. It's a stunning hidden object thriller from Vogat Interactive (Shades of Death: Royal Blood, Gravely Silent: House of Deadlock), and you won't be able to pause until you've ran through to the end!

Dragon Keeper is an amusing and fun little time management diversion in which you need to raise baby dragons to help win back the princess and the kingdom. The animations are hilarious and the action can become fast and frantic, but not so much that this game is out of reach of the young or old, making Dragon Keeper literally fun for everyone. Dragon Keeper offers hours upon hours of addictive fun for the whole family, wrapped up in a cute little bow.

Tragedy rocks an isolated town, but nobody wants to talk about it... mainly because they've all vanished. Over a century later you find yourself at the gates, drawn there by an obsession from your own tragedies and a mysterious letter, and wind up embroiled in a plot of love, hate, and murder in a place that straddles the line between nightmare and reality. A creepy and captivating hidden-object adventure with quality and good times to go around.

Welcome to Snark Busters 2: All Revved Up, a bizarre, colorful, steampunk-ish world of broken hidden objects, magical mirrors, and mischievous chandelier-breaking cats! As Jack Blair, famous Formula 0 racer, you follow in the footsteps of your grandfather who was not only a better driver, but a better Snark Buster as well! The sequel is every bit as whimsical and engaging as the original game, Snark Busters: Welcome to the Club, and it's a treasure of an experience from beginning to end!

Mystery Chronicles: Betrayals of Love tells a tale of love, obsession, and murder which unfolds alongside the dazzling scenery with each clue you uncover and each vista you explore. Will you find out what happened to the countess? You will indeed, and have a great deal of fun along the way.

Mystery is afoot in the snow-logged town of Raincliff! When a busload of university students goes missing nearby, the locals aren't talking... mainly because there aren't any. The town has been deserted for years and nobody knows why, and when you go looking for answers, it's clear that something doesn't want you around and will go to any lengths to keep you from playing the hero. Uncover a bizarre secret, stay one step ahead of a murderous unseen force, and search for clues in this exciting, imaginative installment in the fantastic Mystery Trackers hidden-object adventure series!

Amanda Rose: The Game of Time, developed by Renergy, takes the idea of hurtling through a time-space continuum one step further by way of a small stone in an unfolding cube found by our heroine, Amanda, at the site of a plane crash. It's not an easy ride though and after several days of unconsciousness, she awakes to an adventure that will take her through the wild west of America to the amazing lost city of Atlantis. Of course there are multiple hidden objects to be found to help her on her way.

Note to wizards tinkering with space and time: if you're going to build a magical portal, be sure to calibrate it for humans before unleashing its unstoppable power on the universe! In the far away land of Sefirem, one such wizard failed to do this, and the high-tech portal he was working on went all wacky and trapped him inside. Now, an elfin girl and her rodent pal need a human — namely, you — to collect crystals and find the wizard, else the entire land will fall to ruin! So begins Allora and the Broken Portal, a gorgeously-drawn fantasy hidden object adventure from the folks at AZ Art development studio.

Voodoo Whisperer: Curse of a Legend is a hidden object adventure hybrid that brings the atmosphere and mystery of New Orleans to you in the comfort and safety of your own home. A moody soundtrack accentuates the gorgeous and stunning visuals in the game, as well as the brilliantly detailed and almost photo-realistic hidden object scenes. What Voodoo Whisperer brings to the table is a twist on the usual gameplay along with fantastic atmosphere and a gripping story that keeps the player engaged while sending shivers down the spine.

Dream Chronicles: The Book of Water is virtually a pure point-and-click adventure experience of the old Myst school of gameplay, with some minor hidden object elements mixed in. Book of Water picks up where Book of Air left off, with the heroine Lyra making her way back home to the land of Wish after her adventures with the Clockmaker. Stunning to look at, a joy to listen to (the soundtrack is lovely as always), challenging, entertaining, and downright fun, Dream Chronicles: The Book of Water is a worthy successor to the previous games in the series, while setting the stage for the (hopefully) big wrap up that is to come.

Card games: love 'em or be just sorta "meh" about them. We happen to love them, and when it comes to downloadable solitaire games, you'll always be hard-pressed to outdo the card masters at Anawiki. New from the developer that brought you Soccer Cup Solitaire comes the smooth, attractive, and long-playing tri peaks sort of game Avalon Legends Solitaire. One you start, you probably won't want to stop. And hey, we won't blame you!

They say the price of fame is steep, but when Lisa signs on for a TV show, little does she know it's about running a farm — and she's the star! Think Old McDonald meets Paris Hilton. Fortunately for Lisa, you'll make sure she's awesome at farming in the time management game My Farm Life.

Spirits of Mystery: Amber Maiden offers a lot of fantastic adventuring and hidden object gameplay. The beautiful scenery, the competent voice acting, the amusing animations and the fine interface guarantee lots of fun for fans of the genre. So take some time and explore this gorgeous world while saving the kingdom from a fate that is, while visually very pretty, in reality not all that pretty.

In the first Youda Survivor, your job as a ragged castaway was to impress the chief of the island by brewing potions and living off of the magic of the world around you. Prove you were the stuff of legend, and you would be rewarded! After saving both the island and its inhabitants, you settled down for a nice and quiet civilized life of your own. But as Youda Survivor 2 begins, the island chief calls you back, and it looks like some serious trouble is brewing this time around!

A government experiment gone wrong... an isolated ruin of a hospital... a madman who refuses to stop his work... and a host of angry beings with deadly powers. That should be a walk in the park for you, right? Save the world and track down five experimental super soldiers gone rogue in Orneon's hidden-object adventure! For hidden-object adventure fans who prefer their experiences just a little bit creepy, Agency of Anomalies: Mystic Hospital is the perfect choice, with an emphasis on adventure and puzzle solving to balance out hidden-object scenes.

Blood and Ruby, from Hitpoint Studios, features both traditional bloodsucking vampire villains and the new heartthrob type (he even has a cuddly scarf!) in its new adventure, but thankfully it doesn't take itself too seriously!