Taken Souls: Blood Ritual Collector's Edition Reviews

Great little game, !!!

Constant crashes and confusing gameplay.

I cannot recommend this game. I would like to, but I cannot. The shame of it is is the game itself, if it functioned correctly, would be a truly enjoyable game. I liked the story, the game mechanics, the puzzles, the minigames, and the hidden objects scenes so much I would have liked to play it a second time. However, the game crashed several times, there was one minigame that I correctly solved but doing so did not cause what was meant to happen to happen and ultimately, after several attempts, I had to hit the 'skip' button to continue. There were a couple of hidden object scenes where clicking on one of the correct objects did nothing because the game behaved as if the object was not where it appeared to be, and it took much random clicking to find where the game thought the item actually was. I had an occasional moment here and there of 'why can I not continue foward even tho the game is telling me there is nothing more I can do.' And there was one point in the game where a video sequence was supposed to play, but did not until I completely exited and relaunched the game multiple times. All that made the game unenjoyable. But all of those things can be fixed, and if the Developers cared to fix them, I would give this game a very well deserved 'Recommend'. Sadly they do not seem to care, so I cannot recommend this game even tho I would like to as it is in fact a very interesting game.

Play time is not realistic -- I fell asleep a couple times while playing. (A testament to my own illness, not the game's quality.) I think it probably took right around 3 hours of actual playtime. I like the game... but it's buggy. There were a couple times where I had to quit out to Windows and restart so the game would fix the state it was in. It was like the game was in two states at once, say Act 1 and Act 2 simultaneously. Quitting did resolve the issue, though, and I was able to progress. The English translation of this game is so-so. It was missing articles and some words were mistranslated, and was a little rough around the edges. This made a couple of the HOG items difficult to find, but it almost added another layer of difficulty. I played on the highest difficulty setting, and I had the feeling something wasn't working as intended. There's an eyeball mouse state, that the in-game help says is for getting a more detailed view. But when I click, nothing happens. Having played a ton of games like this, I'd have expected VO or text describing what I was looking at, but nothing of the sort appeared. It really felt like a bug, as opposed to a strange design decision. In the bonus episode, there's a train minigame that I found impossible to complete, because the train bugged trying to go around a curve and instead went on its own path, in no relation to what was possible or likely. This, too, felt like a bug. Fortunately I was able to skip past it so I could progress. I'd love to be able to recommend this game, because I found it more fun than most in its genre, but I can't do so in good conscience unless the issues I encountered are addressed. That said, if you don't mind a little buginess, dive in.

Be a detective, photograph clues, analyse evidence via puzzles & add them to the evidence board. This can at times be a difficult game as you have trouble knowing what or where you should go next. There is a map with a ? For where you have something to do, there’s a hint option too. You can upgrade the UV light, Camera, evidence analyser etc to make them more efficient with points gained from using the UV light to find hand & foot prints throughout the game. There are a few freezing issues but in my case not as many as other reviews have stated. The Bonus section is unlocked when you have completed the game (I hope, I haven’t yet but I will update this review if it doesn’t) with wallpapers, music & a bonus game amongst others. I haven’t had any problem so far with not being able to click on an object in a HOG however some of the items are mis-named. There’s a bug with the game which I have found when in the Submarine, I needed to put a fire out but I couldn’t use the extinguisher, I moved backwards & found myself back to before I entered the Sub I couldn’t return so part of that was not completed yet I could move onto the next chapter. There’s supposedly a strategy guide too but I cannot find it. If you enjoy games where you have to think about what to do next then this is for you.