Joan Jade and the Gates of Xibalba

About

Joan Jade and the Gates of Xibalba is a single player casual action adventure game. It was developed by Artifex Mundi and was released on March 7, 2019. It received neutral reviews from players.

Take the role of Joan Jade, archeologist of the year and mother extraordinaire, in her quest to save her children!

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Play Modes

Single-Player

Joan Jade and the Gates of Xibalba screenshot

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52%

Audience ScoreBased on 31 reviews

graphics5 positive mentions

story5 negative mentions

The game has a nostalgic old-school feel with some charming Aztec-themed art and music.
Puzzles increase in difficulty progressively and include some original concepts.
It's a short, chill hidden object game suitable for fans of the genre looking for a quick experience.

The puzzles are highly repetitive with many reused mini-games, which can become tedious.
The story is generic, minimal, and ends on an unfulfilling cliffhanger without strong character development.
The game shows its age with outdated graphics, technical issues on modern systems, small clickable items, and lack of widescreen support.

story
25 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
12%
68%
20%
The story is generally considered simple, linear, and predictable, with some finding it minimal or generic, while a few appreciate its nostalgic, old-school style and occasional twists. Many reviewers note it is brief and loosely tied to the gameplay, with some disappointment in its lack of depth or resolution. Overall, it provides basic narrative context but is not a strong standout feature of the game.
- “Exploring places and finding hints left for me by "my children" made me believe I am a part of the story.”
- “So I believe the story is one of the better ones, even with some twist in the end.”
- “Pros: nice story, some original puzzle.”
- “Ugly design, tedious puzzles, terrible story, and unfulfilling ending.”
- “The story is terrible, the mini-games are highly repetitive, and there is an annoying bird that keeps flying across the middle of the screen.”
- “Its a collection of 5 or 6 minigames joined very loosely by a very linear story.”
graphics
11 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
45%
28%
27%
The graphics are generally described as dated or old-school but still clear and colorful, with some users appreciating the gritty, nostalgic art style. Despite occasional minor issues, such as distortion with custom mouse settings, the visuals remain enjoyable and suitable for the game's theme, complementing the overall experience.
- “The artwork and music is great.”
- “It has some neat interactive scenes, several recurring puzzles, nice graphics even for today's standards and a jungle explorer theme that I always find appealing.”
- “The graphics part is rather good with this resolution.”
- “The game graphics are a bit dated and make it a little difficult to notice some things.”
- “I had to turn off the custom mouse option in the menu since it was distorting the game graphics while hovered over an area.”
- “Reminds me a lot of the older games in terms of art style and story line.”
music
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
12%
38%
The music in the game receives mixed feedback, with some users praising its calm and terrific qualities, while others find it bland, repetitive, or not fitting the overall experience. Overall, the soundtrack is generally appreciated but has moments that may feel slow or annoying to certain players.
- “You have a nice journal, win trophies, hint/skip feature, thorough explanations of the puzzles & mini-games, calm music, and colorful, clear artwork.”
- “The artwork and music is great.”
- “There are nice puzzles and terrific music.”
- “- Bland, repetitive background music that does not fit at all.”
- “It's just bad: art, story, music: everything is annoyingly slow and the hops are a joke.”
- “Ok music”
gameplay
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The gameplay is generally considered uninteresting and lacks engaging mechanics, with an underwhelming story that fails to captivate. Overall, it falls short compared to more recent games in terms of gameplay and narrative quality.
- “The story is pretty lame and the gameplay is not really interesting.”
- “I have definitely played newer ones with much worse mechanics, graphics, storyline, etc.”
grinding
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Users find the grinding aspect tedious and more frustrating than challenging, with repetitive puzzles that detract from the overall experience.
character development
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Character development is minimal, with characters lacking depth and mainly fulfilling basic family roles without significant growth or complexity.
- “No character development; characters are pretty much nothing beyond mom, dad, children, etc.”

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2h Median play time

2h Average play time

2-2h Spent by most gamers

*Based on 1 analyzed playthroughs

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Frequently Asked Questions

Joan Jade and the Gates of Xibalba is a casual action adventure game.

Joan Jade and the Gates of Xibalba is available on PC and Windows.

On average players spend around 2 hours playing Joan Jade and the Gates of Xibalba.

Joan Jade and the Gates of Xibalba was released on March 7, 2019.

Joan Jade and the Gates of Xibalba was developed by Artifex Mundi.

Joan Jade and the Gates of Xibalba has received neutral reviews from players. Most players liked Joan Jade and the Gates of Xibalba for its graphics but disliked it for its story.

Joan Jade and the Gates of Xibalba is a single player game.

Similar games include Frankenstein Master of Death, Vampire Legends: The True Story of Kisilova, Mirror Mysteries, Sea Legends: Phantasmal Light, 9 Clues: The Secret of Serpent Creek and others.

Joan Jade and the Gates of Xibalba

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