The Mysterious Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a hidden object puzzle game developed by Ocean Media and published by HH-Games. The version of the game I played released on Steam on January 14, 2020, however there was a version created for PC’s and Nintendo DS back in 2010. The games look identical aside from this version appearing to have slightly more polish but even then, this steam version only runs in a resolution of 1024×768 with no option to adjust this. If a game is to release in 2020, it really needs resolution options.
The story follows the major plot points of Robert Louis Stevenson’s 1886 novel titled ‘Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde’ and features some of the characters such as Richard Enfield and Mr Poole. I haven’t read the novel but know of the Jekyll and Hyde story. For those that are not aware, this is set in London in 1886 where Sir Danvers Crew has been killed. It is up to you to investigate and search for the killer. The story is intriguing and mysterious with twists and turns, urging you onwards with each investigation, though knowing how the story ends takes away from the intrigue of it all. The music was mysterious too and it was good fun to play through.
The gameplay is based around hidden object puzzles which my wife absolutely loves. If you haven’t heard of this genre, it’s like a visual word search, only you’ll be searching for items within a scene. Each scene will have characters engaged in written dialogue that you need to click through, which helps to set up the investigation around the circumstances and the sometimes-grim scene you’re faced with. In each of the 30 locations across the game, you will be tasked with finding 20 items of varying nature within that scene. Things such as a gun, lamps, paintings, notepads, cats, dragons, letters, numbers and so on.
Some of these items stand out like sore thumbs while others had me scratching my head and asking my wife for help. They’ve done really well to disguise some of the objects within the scene. For example, there might be a white picket fence but on closer inspection, you’ll see one of the fence pillars is actually a ruler. Another example is when I was looking for a pillar. That’s all the description you get, and you don’t know how big or what colour or shape it is. I spent ages scouring every inch of the scene and I just could not find it. Like most hidden object puzzle games, you are afforded a ‘hint’ button that can be used 5 times. I had to use this in this instance, and it turns out the pillar was disguised as a book in a bookshelf. You can get more hints by looking for green potion bottles in the next scene.
Once you’ve found all 20 objects, you may then need to find fingerprints, footsteps or other clues that will lead to more details about the killer. Some more dialogue will summarise your findings and then you will be faced with a mini-game style puzzle to solve. These range from memory matching items, putting pieces of a torn-up letter back together, mixing a potion, dressing a mannequin using items of clothing you found in the previous scene, amongst others. These aren’t overly challenging, but a good mix of pace. Once you complete that area, you will be able to read a journal entry which is read similar to the novel, explaining in detail the characters, dialogue and story.
There are five scenes/puzzles within a chapter, and six chapters in the overall story. Once you complete a scene or chapter, you can go back later to do those puzzles again if you wish via the main menu. These puzzles are not overly challenging so there’s really no reason to do them again, but it was good to have the option to do so. Hidden object puzzle games make you think differently to other puzzle games and I like playing these every so often. It’s a nice change of pace with no movement or combat, and if it’s got a good story like this one then it’s like progressing a visual novel.
The Mysterious Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde took me around 2 hours to complete so I got value from the AUD5.95 price tag, especially as my wife enjoyed playing it too. The only disappointing factor was the inability to adjust the screen resolution. I recommend this game if you like the hidden object game genre as the story is intriguing and it was challenging to find some of the well camouflaged objects. The fact that it’s such a well-known story spoiled the whole plot for me, but I still enjoyed completing every puzzle, as did my wife.
The Mysterious Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is available now through Steam. This review utilised a game key provided by the publisher for review purposes.
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Written by: @ChrisJInglis
