Big Fish Games- Mystery Castle

 Disclosure / Disclaimer: I received this game, free of charge, from Big Fish Games for review purposes on this blog. No other compensation, monetary or in kind, has been received or implied for this post. Nor was I told how to post about it.

The men folk will be tied up watching the 'super' game later today. You've already spotted the best previews of the 'super' expensive commercials, and aren't interested in the game itself. I have the solution for you- a way to escape the screaming horde (aka the menfolk) and actually INCREASE your brain matter while having FUN!

Want to find out how?

Let me introduce you to:

Midnight Castle is a new game experience from a game source we all love, Big Fish Games, that is designed to appeal to female gamers , between the ages 35-70. Yup, that's right- for the MOMS and Grandmoms! AKA, us! And before you go, pftttt, that's for kids, read on!

Last year, German researchers found did a 2 month study and found that video gaming for 30 minutes a day can cause INCREASES in the grey matter, in the brain regions responsible for spatial orientation, fine motor skills, memory formation and strategic planning  Why is this important? Alzheimer's research has shown that mental stimulation is one of the important steps to holding off the disease. Strategy, memory and puzzle games are the best to keep the brain stimulated and active. But those 2 studies together, and 20 minutes a day on Midnight Castle might just qualify as a health benefit (and your kids thought you were just 'playing'!)!

Midnight Castle is a beautiful hidden object adventure, where players need to find hidden objects that will help them on their quest through a magical estate to learn the fate of a deceased uncle. And when I say beautiful, I mean it takes up your WHOLE screen and the colors and artwork are just flat out STUNNING! You may find yourself just checking out everything before you even start playing. This games is worlds away from the Zelda game you played in your younger days!  

During your quests, you will need to gain the trust of the occupants of Midnight Castle and earn gold along the way, which you do by successfully completing each quest. You complete the quests by searching for the objects in the scenes. 

As you can see above, they aren't always simple to find. A great thing is that the objects look the same every time. So if you hunt for a vase on your first scene, you know in scene 15 it will look the same. This is great for mind recall/recognition, and you may find yourself finding objects without consciously realizing you did! And if you do get stuck, you can hover over the hint button on the bottom, and it will show you where ONE object is. You can also use your special items (shown bottom left) to find ALL the items, if you get really stuck! You also need to make sure you have sound hooked up, as it is a huge help to have to conversations and instructions. Without them you can still play, but you are missing a vital quotient.

As you earn gold, you use it to unlock additional game scenes or areas of interest, to complete pieces in the castle laboratory (you craft smaller items into the more powerful artifacts you seek, after your find them), or special items (like charm bracelets). You can also take the small objects you find and send them of fin the airship for additional points. You also encounter whimsical enchanted beasts during your journey that will become your pets and aid you in finding needed items. 

Warning though- be VERY careful while playing any of the betting games, as when you loose your jewels, it can prevent you from having enough to complete the quests! So you have to keep an eye on your bank on the top right of the screen. This is very important, as your scenes will increase in difficulty, based on the more you complete, and how quickly you complete them. So instead of only needing to spend say 1 diamond for the quest, you may need 3!  If your bank gets too low on the diamonds, you may have to buy more. So far, I've been able to earn my way through the game and not had to purchase any more, but it's been REAL close!

 The objective of all these quest is to collect keys you will need to gain access to the castle’s Mystery Chamber, where you will learn the truth behind your Uncle’s demise. Did I mention this game is highly addicting? No? IT IS!!!!! The game has different game ideas from a variety of types of games all put together into a wonderfully exciting video game that really DOES appeal to women! I am totally hooked! 

You can check out a video of the game on the Midnight Castle page before you download it- you can play the game for free! It IS a pc/online game only. There is no mobile app yet. And honestly, I don't think it would be suited to a mobile app- it really needs the full screen so you can see the amazing artwork and intricacies of the search quests.

Need more games?

Today only, use the code GAMEDAY and get any of the Big Fish games for only $4.99!



About Big Fish Games

Founded in 2002, Big Fish is the world's largest producer of casual games; dedicated to bringing engaging entertainment to everyone, anywhere, on any device. Through its proprietary, data-driven platform, millions of consumers seeking engaging entertainment easily discover and play PC and mobile games created by Big Fish's in-house studios and its network of more than 140 exclusive development partners.

The company has distributed more than 2 billion games from a growing catalog of 3,000+ unique PC games and 300+ unique mobile games. In 2012, the company entered the free-to-play market with top-grossing free-to-play games offered for both PCs and mobile devices. Big Fish's games are played in 150 countries on a wide variety of devices and in several languages.