Joan Jade and the Gates of Xibalba Reviews

Seriously: how old is this game? It`s just bad: Art, story, music: everything is annoyingly slow and the HOPs are a joke. Only good thing: it reminds you of the "good ol` days" of 90s gaming. But definitely not worth such a high price.

Who knew that going into a jungle and looking for treasure... I mean your kids, would be such a snore? It's not even the graphics. It's not even the old school style of H.O.G. It's the puzzles...! I think I've seen that same fish puzzle like... 5-7 times?! I certainly "did" the "sokoban" one 4 times... "Did" Heh heh... Because in all honesty... The puzzles that repeat? Which is like 80% of the game... It's easier to just "skip" them then keep doing the same thing over... And over... And over again... Granted they got better... As I am familiar with the Publishers/Developers, but this....... Can the plot save them?! Well... It was nice to play a Tomb Raider... Minus the raiding and the enemy killing I suppose. Then you get to the end and... WHO IN THE HELL ARE THOSE PEOPLE?! And the entire time she is sending letters to her husband... Who is back at the police station... HOW?! TELEPORTING THEM INTO HIS HANDS?! So she is hoping and "feels him" behind her... Not an euphemism for something... And then... He hasn't moved from his spot at the police station. Wot...? Who in the hell did SHE FEEL?! Oh and the story ends in a cliffhanger. But seeing that there is NO JOAN JADE 2... I'll tell you what happens next. Ahem. *Clear throat*: Joan Jade goes into the temple to find the "treasure"... Along with those bad guys from earlier... Whoever they are. They race against time and against one another to open that one door! Then when they do... Joan Jade will outwit them and find the "treasure"... Which is too precious for the world to have. So she decides to let it rest and seals the door, so that the next FAR SMARTER tomb raider shall acquire it! Yes. Yes THAT'S how bored you'll be during repeated puzzles that you'll actually write a damn part two! Puzzle repetition is okay, but... A little variation? Maybe the fish could have spots! Come on! Use your imagination! Anyway, I know it's useless to yell at an old game, and if this was their first project... It would be passable... But knowing that they went onto other H.O.G.s, they can remember this as a failure that got them through towards making even better games.

It's a dinosaur, not in size but age wise. Still it could be amusing, were it not for that unwelcome tutorial which I didn't ask for, but which after playing for 40 mins still gets in my face. If y'all want to do some research in the history of gaming, this is the one.

This is a very short game and even at a big discount at £1.81 I can barely (BARELY) recommend it when there are far better hidden object games out there (and better discounted too) I liked the setting, puzzles were just ok, music was nice, art was ok. no dialogue, story was pretty generic, VERY short. verdict, only if you are running out of Hidden object/puzzle games to buy, its super cheap and you like Mayan setting

Played the hell out of this game when I was younger. Very excited to see it on steam after years of no memory of this even existing. (No joke, I only remembered of a dream) Not sure if I'm biased by nostalgia/ looking through rose tinted lenses but I really did still enjoys this game even now. the artwork and music is great.

Old school feel. Parents rush to the jungle to find their kidnapped children. Aztec art is the basis for everything including the puzzles. Basically you search locations for items and break through secret doorways and such as you solve mini games. The HOS pertain to the story and action, for example, finding broken statue pieces and putting them on the correct statues. You talk to other characters. Conversations are in text form. Use inventory items to solve problems, like finding broken stalactites and vines to make a raft. Some of the mini games are the "car-park" puzzles, matching pictures and connecting pipes. In one mini game, you have to walk her through an area while avoiding or destroying obstacles (fire-breathing statues). In another mini game you guide her through a maze while collecting keys. You have a nice journal, win trophies, hint/skip feature, thorough explanations of the puzzles & mini-games, calm music, and colorful, clear artwork. This is a relaxing game.

The game is so old, it flickers and is blurry on my FHD screen. It's unplayable. Not sure why Alawar is selling it in it's current state.

old school, graphics gritty but I liked the story and it didn't frustrate me enough to quit. i have many games I haven't played due to difficulty or requiring a controller which i am not comfortable with. I need some hands on cuz reading the instructions aren't helpful. Some things I just learn better from seeing and doing. I am currently unwilling to figure it out. But I am also running out of easy games so...

A really stale game. The story is pretty lame and the gameplay not really interesting. The minigames are all the same and really easy and the overall game is pretty low budget and boring. Even though it ends with a cliffhanger, its not really a game you want to play a second part of. Its not really bad, but too boring and pricy to recommend it. Thats why i can recommend it

One of the first Artifex Mundi games so I appreciate seeing the progress of where they started and how they improved their HOGs over the years. Game play consists of simple hidden object scenes and a collection of around 10 mini games that get repeated but more challenging as the game goes on. Some of the mini-games I didn't care for but other like the riddles I had a good time. Each area is pretty contained so navigating through the game was pretty smooth even though the game graphics are a bit dated and make it a little difficult to notice somethings. Story was pretty straightforward and mostly followed image stills with speech bubbles which were fine. Around a 2 hour play time hit the sweet spot for this game experience. I had to turn off the custom mouse option in the menu since it was distorting the game graphics while hovered over an area. Overall while not the most exciting and engulfing game, it was a good chill HOG to pass some time and your mileage may vary depending on whether you are a fan of HOGs or not.