Certain genres of games are sadly neglected on review sites. Two of them are the point and click style games from the PC gaming days and hidden object games. Personally, these are two of my favorite types of games, and it’s really good to know they have a home on iOS. While I’ve taken a small break from games, it feels right to get back into things with a game that covers both of these genres.
Nightmares from the Deep: the Cursed Heart is a point and click adventure that uses hidden object challenges to find items you need in the story. You play the game as a museum director who receives a mummified pirate and artifacts related to him to set up an exhibit. As you set up the display, spooky things start happening, the pirate comes back to life and takes off with your daughter and it is your job to save her. Along the way, you’ll find all kinds of puzzles to sort out. The majority of the story is voiced by real voice actors, though the acting is a bit B-roll and cheesy.
The game is very accessible to different viewers play styles. While the point and click storyline is required, the puzzles and hidden object portions of the game are fairly optional. If the puzzles aren’t your thing, there’s a system in place to skip over them. If you don’t like hidden object games, you can play a game of mahjong solitaire instead (which, if you’ve never tried it, is quite fun). By putting these options in the game, the game is less frustrating to people who may have trouble with these particular areas. Also, for the hard-core gamers, there is a higher difficulty setting with penalties for misclicks and other mistakes.
Another big plus to Nightmares, that you don’t see from many video games, is that it has a female protagonist and it’s not a forced thing. Her gender has no bearing on the game, other than as part of her identity. This is a refreshing difference.
In Conclusion
Overall, Nightmares from the Deep: the Cursed Heart is a wonderful escape from reality wrapped up in a casual video game with a very amusing story, despite the acting. As long as you enjoy point and click games, you’ll have a great time here. If you also enjoy puzzles and hidden object games, you’ll be able to enjoy even more of it, but it is not required that you like these. As far as what this game could be, it succeeds in every aspect and achieves near perfection in its niche.
Download ‘Nightmares from the Deep: the Cursed Heart‘:
 Nightmares from the Deep: The Cursed Heart, Collector’s Edition |
 Nightmares from the Deep: The Cursed Heart, Collector’s Edition (Full) |
 Nightmares from the Deep: The Cursed Heart, Collector’s Edition HD |
 Nightmares from the Deep: The Cursed Heart, Collector’s Edition HD (Full) |
