Crystals of Time
- June 13, 2014
- exosyphen studios
- 4h median play time
Get on Steam"Crystals of Time" is a mystery adventure game featuring Ashley Ford, a skilled thief seeking her missing father. Armed with a time-traveling crystal, Ashley explores the secrets of the Three Oak Mansion across 80 hand-drawn scenes, solving 24 mini-games and hidden object scenes. The game offers a classic gameplay experience with an atmospheric soundtrack.
PC
Windows
Reviews
- The graphics are beautifully rendered and painted, creating a visually appealing experience.
- The soundtrack is relaxing and adds to the atmosphere of the game.
- The puzzles are engaging and provide a good challenge, making the gameplay enjoyable.
- The game suffers from excessive backtracking, requiring players to revisit the same locations multiple times without clear direction.
- The hint system is often necessary due to vague objectives and poorly defined areas, leading to frustration.
- The story is thin and lacks depth, with an abrupt ending that leaves players unsatisfied.
- story144 mentions
- 24 % positive mentions
- 57 % neutral mentions
- 19 % negative mentions
The story in this game is generally considered weak and unengaging, with many players noting a lack of coherence and depth. While some elements may be interesting, the narrative often feels disjointed, leading to confusion and frustration during gameplay. Overall, the storyline fails to provide a compelling experience, with many reviewers expressing disappointment in its execution and abrupt ending.
“The story does its job of giving you an excuse to explore and solve puzzles.”
“If you're a fan of the whole story-based seek and find with a few puzzles thrown in, you'll want to buy this game because it's an example of the genre.”
“The story itself is not bad though.”
“The game lacks any meaningful narrative that drives the story or tells you what you should be looking for.”
“The story is pretty much non-existent and the characters are uninteresting.”
“Very boring storyline, nonsense sequence of flow.”
- music70 mentions
- 57 % positive mentions
- 39 % neutral mentions
- 4 % negative mentions
The music in the game has received mixed reviews, with many players praising its beauty and ability to enhance the atmosphere, describing it as relaxing and fitting for the game's mood. However, some users noted issues with repetitiveness and long stretches of silence, which detracted from the overall experience. Overall, while the soundtrack is often highlighted as a strong point, its limitations and inconsistencies have left some players wanting more.
“The soundtrack was also relaxing and never felt repetitive.”
“It had a great atmosphere and the music is truly lovely - melancholic but modern.”
“A really good hidden object game: the music is beautiful and not overbearing, the puzzles increase with a good difficulty and the game is somewhat not too linear.”
“Music/sounds cut out every so often.”
“If it wasn't punctuated by long segments of no music at all, it'd be the highlight of the game.”
“Music didn't wow me but they chose to have no voice acting rather than bad voice acting; I applaud that decision.”
- graphics50 mentions
- 60 % positive mentions
- 32 % neutral mentions
- 8 % negative mentions
The graphics in the game receive mixed reviews, with some players praising the beautiful artwork and cohesive scenes, while others criticize the grainy, low-resolution visuals that can hinder gameplay. Many noted that while the graphics are visually appealing, they can appear dated or blurry on modern monitors, and inconsistencies in lighting and object definition detract from the overall experience. Overall, the artwork is often highlighted as a strong point, but technical issues and a lack of clarity in certain scenes are common complaints.
“As the entire experience plays out in a series of still pictures (with some minor animation at times), the player is treated with a wide array of stunning visuals that range from the vast, brooding insides of a sprawling mansion to a glittering moonlit coast.”
“It is an art style which is relatively simple, but detailed and colorful enough—with an excellent use of source-light shadings—that it never gets tedious to look at.”
“The graphics are beautifully rendered and painted.”
“Really dated, the graphics seem almost blurry on a new monitor.”
“The seek and finds are tediously repetitive, the graphics are grainy and low resolution (adding to the tedious nature of the seek and finds) and the ending to the game is ultimately unsatisfying.”
“Graphics are mediocre; it usually wasn't hard to tell what something was, but everything looked cut-pasted with no consistent lighting, plus the usual mindlessly hiding long things on edges.”
- gameplay42 mentions
- 29 % positive mentions
- 57 % neutral mentions
- 14 % negative mentions
The gameplay of this older hidden object game is characterized by clunky mechanics and a lack of clear direction, often leading to frustration as players navigate between scenes to find key items. While the mini-games provide enjoyable diversions, the overall experience is marred by repetitive tasks and poor design choices, making it feel drawn out. Despite these issues, the game is considered worth the low price, especially for those who appreciate its artwork and soundtrack.
“The first 30 minutes or so of gameplay are excellent; the diary gives you hints as to what you need to do, and you don't mind skipping between locations to complete tasks/find objects.”
“The mini-games were quick, fun little diversions that enhanced the otherwise repetitious gameplay.”
“4 hours of gameplay seems about right for the price.”
“The gameplay is a bit clunky, in that it is sometimes difficult to figure out where you need to go, and what you need to do.”
“The worst part is the gameplay and the presentation; the game is littered with horrible design decisions.”
“Speaking of which… the gameplay mostly consists of running back and forth between half a dozen hidden object scenes to get your next key item, and after using said item you yet again search the entire house to find the one hidden object scene that opened up.”
- grinding18 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The grinding aspect of the game is heavily criticized for its excessive backtracking and lack of meaningful progress, making the experience feel tedious and repetitive. Players find the limited fast travel options frustrating, as they are forced to revisit the same locations multiple times without clear guidance or engaging puzzles. Overall, the grinding detracts significantly from the enjoyment, leading to a sense of boredom and dissatisfaction with the gameplay.
“However, when you need to travel back and forth across the map to areas you need to search and there are painfully so few quick travel points on your map, it makes it beyond tedious.”
“The seek and finds are tediously repetitive, the graphics are grainy and low resolution (adding to the tedious nature of the seek and finds), and the ending to the game is ultimately unsatisfying.”
“Stay away, this game is one of the worst games of its type that I've ever played. The story is somewhat interesting, but there's no hook, no progress, and the ending is boring. Too much backtracking without explanation or story hints, no animation or voice acting, lazy puzzle design which repeats many times in your playthrough. You can't warp, and even though the game isn't that big, since there's so much backtracking, it becomes tedious when you go from one point of the mansion to the other.”
- atmosphere12 mentions
- 67 % positive mentions
- 17 % neutral mentions
- 17 % negative mentions
The game's atmosphere is enhanced by a lovely, melancholic soundtrack that complements the visuals, creating an immersive experience. While some areas may feel generic, the music and effective voice acting contribute significantly to the overall ambiance, making it engaging despite a lack of variety in the environments. Overall, the combination of art and sound design effectively establishes a compelling atmosphere.
“It had a great atmosphere and the music is truly lovely - melancholic but modern.”
“They had a pretty decent musical score that fit the atmosphere well, and the voice acting was on point.”
“The areas themselves don't look so bad, but they don't provide much atmosphere besides 'spooky (maybe haunted) mansion wooo'.”
“In addition to the art, the soundtrack is both simple yet effective, adding to the atmosphere of the game in a substantial way.”
- replayability6 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 50 % negative mentions
The game is criticized for having little to no replayability, with multiple users noting that it offers minimal value for revisiting once completed.
“There is no replayability to this.”
“Minimal replay value.”
“Zero replayability.”
- stability4 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game suffers from significant stability issues, including frequent glitches, unreliable object interaction, and visibility problems with text, which detract from the overall experience despite its creative ideas.
“There were a lot of nice ideas in this game, but that can't save the spotty object clicking, glitches, tough-to-read language, and game length padding.”
- emotional2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The emotional aspect of the game is largely criticized for its lack of engagement, with reviewers describing the storyline as boring and the sequence of events as nonsensical, leading to a disconnection from the narrative.
