Buy Abandoned: Chestnut Lodge Asylum

Let’s start with the fact that this game was made by these people http://www.lazyturtlegames.com/about.html who mainly have created hidden object games since 2007 and have just over a dozen of them under their belt. I'm not sure where this one falls in place in that timeline of creation and for their sake I hope it was one of their earlier attempts as this game seems rather crude in comparison to the HOG genre we've recently become accustomed to.

This really barely scrapes a thumbs up from me, and like its title you may wish to keep this asylum abandoned. While there are several steam reviews that state that this game has an interesting story, ITS A LIE! Seriously I've seen a better story content come out of my handkerchief after blowing my nose. Maybe they should make a game out of that and start looking for hidden objects...

One of the biggest problems with the game is that there are only two characters you ever come across and both of them are just lucky that my in game sledgehammer was missing by the time i found them. Both of them together seem to have an IQ lower than what might come out of my handkerchief. First there is a young boy which blurts out that he has done something wrong and runs away the second you get there and the second is a shivering policeman who swears that he left the crime scene of a similar boy who was dead at the bottom of an elevator shaft to have some coffee with his partner and upon his return the boy was gone. Is this really to be considered riveting story telling?

Granted this is only a red herring side plot as the main plot is about you a person who wakes up every night in a cold sweat after a nightmare where you’re running down the asylum corridor being chased by an unknown entity. While it might sound supernatural, it isn't. In fact it's rather nothing at all. There are hardly any documents that tell you anything other than the fact of obvious things like your standing in an asylum. There are six skeletons that you will eventually discover and all that they will tell you is that they are dead. In fact a half-eaten chicken leg on one of the asylum dinner tables probably told me a better story than the six skeletons combined did. As you venture to the top floor you will find 7 torture rooms each with their own cut scene animation. None of which make any sense either.

The whole game is so illogical and the worst part is, it doesn’t do a good job in attempting to properly answer everything. Why was the policeman there in the first place? Don't know. Who is the kid and who are his parents? Don't know. Did the skeletons really kill themselves or were they murdered? Don't know. Who are you? Don't know. What happened to the previous mental patients that escaped? Don't know. Why do you have dreams of falling down the elevator shaft when you never actually did that in the past? Don't know. Who the hell is feeding the dog since everyone has been long dead? Don't know. Why the hell are their puzzles on every bleeding door? Don't know. Why are their fresh brains in the bin? Don't know. Why am I searching for other things that I don't need such as a bowling pin, a camel, a penguin, even after I have found the item I need to progress the game? Don't know. Why can't i pick up other objects that seem more useful such as a gun in the hidden object scene instead of just boring stuff like an empty glass? Don't know. Why can't I take all this stuff and sell it on Ebay since everyone else is dead and won’t be needing it? Don't know. Why did they torture us at this assylum? Don't know. Was hidden object finding one of their means of torture? Don't know.

The developers try and pad the walls of the game by making you traverse back and forth constantly treating you with a HO game at each end. There are a handful of other puzzles to solve, most of which are quite easy. Two which gave me some grief. The best thing about this game is that you can easily get through all the achievements in the game in one play through. To do that it is crucial that you never hit the hint button to skip a puzzle or a HO game. The majority of the achievements (22 of them) is to find a morphing picture which fades in and out of most screen shots and click on it.

In final there is some decent animation near the end of the game and some cool background effects and sounds, but due to the tedious set out of HO games and the extremely poorly explained Hodge podge story for the $7.00 it is normally priced at, it's definitely not one to go crazy for.

Below is me playing the game up to the point where you get into the asylum and meet the two characters, it should be enough of a play through for you to work out if this is a game for you. Thanks for reading.

https://youtu.be/ZgRuxO-G1UY

Abandoned: Chestnut Lodge Asylum was the very first HOG I played nearly 4 years ago, and it made such an impression on me that I’ve been a fan of the genre ever since. Despite its age, the title holds up very well with an interesting story, beautifully atmospheric artwork and rewarding adventure-light gameplay.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=529672360
Every night you find yourself frantically trying to escape that dark place, your dream ending the same time and time again – plummeting to your death. It is only when you read a newspaper story detailing a very similar death at an asylum that looks eerily like the one of your dreams that you realize there may be more to your nightmares than you originally believed. Determined to find the truth, you decide to investigate this asylum and discover what answers it holds of your past and the nightmares that plague you. Although the story isn’t the most original fair, the mystery is interesting and creepy enough to keep you searching for answers, even if you’re likely to figure things out early on.

The game plays more like old school point-and-click adventures than recent entries in the genre, especially on Expert difficulty. While there are indeed a lot of hidden object scenes, you’ll find your inventory loaded with items, some of which may not have a use for quite a while. There is also a bit of backtracking as you wander around trying to figure out what to do next. This may prove irritating for players who prefer a map with quick travel, but I didn’t feel it was too troublesome as the game area is rather small (perhaps 30 screens total) and relegated to the asylum and its surrounding grounds.

The biggest challenge may be in the hidden object scenes themselves. As was common in older HOGs, there are A LOT of random items in each scene, and unfortunately, the muted colors in the artwork make some of them very hard to locate. Quite often items blend in so well that you’ll find yourself stumped for what feels like hours looking for that dang pen that just happens to be nestled within the crease of a windowsill that is the exact same color. Normally, this isn’t such a huge issue, but it makes finishing all achievements in one play through fairly difficult. I also came across a couple of typos which made finding said items a tad more challenging than they should be (hummer instead of hammer was particularly fun), as well as oddly named items that required some mental gymnastics to figure out.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=528471576
Despite my issues with the HOS’s, the touch of realism in the artwork is a welcome reprieve from the cartoony aesthetic of modern HOGs. I’ve always felt there is elegance in decay, and the asylum is an excellent example of that. The dash of realism painted into each scene adds much to the atmosphere and provides us with beautifully decrepit areas to explore. The artistry is phenomenal with creatively-designed rooms telling their stories through the details they hold. If only the game were twice as big, I’d have been in heaven.

Abandoned may not be as flashy as more recent hidden object games, but it’s a title that deserves to be experienced even if only for its gorgeously atmospheric art. A few annoyances are easily overlooked for what is one of the better HOGs of yesteryear. If you’re even mildly interested, don’t hesitate to check it out. The price is worth it for the amount of enjoyment you’re sure to receive from this old school gem.

Bottom Line: Highly recommended to all hidden object fans.

Story: Reoccurring nightmares bring a young woman full of questions to the abandoned Chestnut Lodge Asylum after seeing a news report concerning yet another mysterious death at the place she recognizes from her nightmares. During the course of play the answers about the mysterious deaths and her own reoccuring nightmares are revealed.

Gameplay: Creepy (just another dark and stormy night and that whispering voice), slightly scary (a mystery boy, a terrified policeman, and six skeletons in very odd places) and full of mystery (Why, oh Why is any of this happening, that age old question). I kept expecting jump scares but that just might be because I played Enigmatis lately, or from the initial and later nightmare scenes.

The game plays in 3D causing the screen elements to move and the entire screen to move side to side (unless the gamer adjusts it to widescreen.) Adds to the creepy atmosphere and the internal fear guage of the unknown. Just a warning if playing in this 3D mode, check the side edges of your screen for new areas and hidden object find items. (I do believe there are complaints over this from the easily annoyed and the less exploratory gamers).

This is a true hidden object game, with hidden object finds nearly exclusive as the puzzle elements and plot movers meaning the inventory reward item. They are a bit on the challenging side, with at least one very well hidden find. Also the developers used at least one obscure, if not very obscure clue per hidden object scene. For example calling a grater a grinder, or a spool of thread a cotton reel. (That one made me smile even as I said "jerks".)

There are few actual puzzles in this game comparatively speaking, making the true puzzling aspects of this game how to do something, like open locked doors, slide across a wire or just exactly what purpose that television has. Some of the actual puzzles found in this game are rarely used by any game developer, which makes them fun and challenging.

A few words about achievements: The bulk of the achievements (22 of 27 in fact) come from finding the morphing/shifting objects. These morphing/shifting objects in a few cases can be quite the challenge to find. I had to look up four, two I knew were in the scene but could not find, the other two were really well hidden and I missed them completely. Finding those objects is a challenge all by itself.

This game plays well for all level of player, novice to expert. One final note in this game all achievements can be completed in a single play through. Well almost the final note I forgot there is no game map. (I forget about maps since I rarely use one or there are penalties for map use.)

This, like many HO games, has a recommendation with a "get it on sale" caveat. There are many, many better games out there, but this one is perfectly passable if you've exhausted many of the other options.

Plot is a little lackluster in terms of depth but it does really do well with the creepy factor, especially later in the game, and also especially because the deserted asylum setting, although hackneyed, never fails to give us chills. There is no real bona fide horror involved, unless you're like me and find clowns and dolls absolutely terrifying. You'll see what I mean if you play.

Art/graphics are decent in the stillshots and quite nice in the cutscenes (taking into account the age of the game and general quality of HO game animation). The HO scenes themselves are challenging, with items really blending in sometimes. Minigames are less frequent and are the usual fare, but are still entertaining.

The one major complaint I have with this game is the very badly done object naming for the HO scenes. Other than blatant misspellings (I spent forever trying to figure out what a "hummer" was until I accidentally clicked on a "hammer" and it counted), some of the object names are so patently bizarre that I don't even understand where they came from. A couple examples: a milkshake being called a "milk cocktail" (WTAF?) and "yarn with spokes" that baffled me until I realized the "spokes" were actually knitting needles. This sort of thing makes me absolutely crazy and seemed to get worse as the game progressed, as if quality control went out for lunch partway through, got swallowed by tigers, and never made it back.

The game would have benefited from a map system and what I call the Zoom-Zoom option, which is being able to jump directly to a particular location without endless back and forth, and there was a LOT of back and forth. The progression of the game wasn't always intuitive either, so the more modern map function of "here are the places which have objectives remaining" would have been very helpful rather than making the player wander around the whole area looking for something they may have missed or a new HO scene that opened up.

So overall, I did enjoy the game with a few exceptions, and if you've exhausted the generally-excellent Artifex Mundi catalog and are looking for another decent game, this one will do you just fine, especially if you can nail a good sale and you aren't too picky about the little things.

This game lacks a lot of things I've come to appreciate in hidden object games: a map, a fast-travel system, and most importantly hints to point the way. Hints in this game only work in the same room as the current objective. -_-

I was gonna go for expert mode and the "no hints nor skip" achievements, but the above plus the slow pace of the game encouraged me to turn back to casual and hint myself through the latter part of the game. Except that the hints weren't that good, as mentioned.

There are better HOGs around, buy those instead. Unless there's a sale, because then everything goes.

Still has bugs. Needed nails to attatch boards to tree and game says they are not in my inventory even though I retrieved them. Game says new item found %s. Now I cannot progress....... Was good at first......

I really enjoyed this game :)

The story is really catchy, the art style is great ... the musics are a little bit short but they still put you in the ambiance.

Also, one of the cinematics could be the most scariest sh*t I've seen recently in a game!

was enjoying this game and would have recommended it right up until 3/4 of the way in and the game stuffed up and i had to restart thw whole thing :(

This game was very good. The story itself was interesting and had a nice twist. The setting was eerie throughout without the annoying jump scares. Most of the gameplay is hidden object of course but it wasn't overwhelming, and there were puzzles mixed in with figuring out what to do next so it didn't seem to drag. The only downside were some of the items were not named correctly. They were similar so you can figure it out but not the same. For example a shovel is not a trowel and vice versa. Didn't happen every hidden object scene but when it did it was only once per scene so not too terrible.

Fun game, has nice puzzles and nice graphics as well. The story is not half bad, all in all a nice game to play!
Recommended!