I played a free demo of ABYSS: THE WRAITHS OF EDEN on PS4 back in 2018 but never got around to finishing the game, until now, and I’m glad I did. I think it’s one of Artifex Mundi’s best hidden object puzzle adventures.
I recently discovered that, for some reason, my oldest daughter had ABYSS in her Steam library. She doesn’t usually play HOPA games and when I asked her about it, she had no idea how it got there. But, lucky for me, we do family game sharing.
ABYSS seems to be inspired by BioShock. There’s no lighthouse, but there’s an underwater Art Deco city called “Eden” instead of “Rapture,” and your fiancé is the man who goes missing there. Through a series of puzzles, and manipulating items in the environment, you save your lost love and unravel the mystery.
Artifex Mundi puts out a lot of point-and-click games. Some of my favorites are Dark Arcana: The Carnival and Eventide: Slavic Fable. But sometimes, their games can be a bit cheesy and slapdash, with artwork that gets sloppy as the game goes on, stories that don’t make any sense, and boring puzzles. But I found ABYSS to be consistent throughout and especially lovely if you enjoy oceanic scenes.
It took me less than five hours to complete on casual difficulty. “Advanced” and “Expert” modes are also available. Players can skip puzzles but there’s an achievement for completing everything without skipping.
Rated “T” for teens, due to blood and violence. There are several dead bodies, spooky red-eyed wraiths, scary tentacle monsters and occult rituals, which could give little children nightmares so parental discretion is advised.
~ J.L. Hilton
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