Secret Files 2: Puritas Cordis
- October 29, 2009
- Animation Arts
Get on SteamIn "Secret Files 2: Puritas Cordis," Nina Kalenkow, trying to escape her personal and the world's problems, becomes witness to a murder and gets caught up in a global conspiracy involving natural disasters and historical events. With detailed pre-rendered backgrounds and innovative puzzle design, players experience realistic facial animation and 3D character shadows as they uncover centuries-old secrets.
Nintendo Switch
PC
Windows
Nintendo Ds
Wii
Reviews
- The game features improved graphics and well-designed pre-rendered backgrounds that enhance the visual experience.
- The puzzles are generally enjoyable and provide a fair challenge, making for a classic point-and-click adventure experience.
- The story, while somewhat cliché, is engaging enough to keep players interested in the characters and their journey.
- The voice acting is often criticized as being poor, with some characters sounding bland or overly exaggerated.
- Many puzzles lack logical coherence, leading to frustration as players may need to resort to walkthroughs to progress.
- The writing is considered juvenile and filled with cringe-worthy dialogue, detracting from the overall experience.
- story120 mentions
- 30 % positive mentions
- 60 % neutral mentions
- 10 % negative mentions
The story of the game has received mixed reviews, with many describing it as shallow, clichéd, and poorly written, often likening it to a low-quality adventure. While some players found the plot intriguing and entertaining, especially in its comedic elements, others criticized the dialogue and character development as lacking depth and personality. Overall, the narrative is seen as a step down from its predecessor, with a traditional and predictable execution that fails to fully engage players.
“The environments are pretty, the story is intriguing, puzzles are fun, and the game doesn't take itself seriously.”
“Secret Files: Puritas Cordis is a captivating point-and-click adventure game that delivers a compelling storyline, challenging puzzles, and impressive visuals and sound design.”
“The story builds on what took place in the first game, and is just as good.”
“It's not just a matter of the story being far-fetched (which it is), or the characters being uni-dimensional shells with no personality (which they are), but also the dialog is just... excruciatingly, painfully, cringe-inducing.”
“At the time of writing this review, I still haven't finished the story because the end part is so atrociously stretched and doesn't offer any motivation for me as the player to see its blatantly obvious conclusion.”
“The story isn't fully fleshed or in any way intricate, but rather a bit shallow and simplified.”
- graphics30 mentions
- 40 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 10 % negative mentions
The graphics in the game have seen notable improvements compared to its predecessor, featuring beautiful backgrounds and high-quality pre-rendered visuals, although some character animations and modeling appear dated. While many players appreciate the enhanced visuals and sound design, a few have pointed out minor graphical glitches and limitations, such as a fixed 16:10 aspect ratio. Overall, the graphics contribute positively to the gaming experience, despite some mixed opinions on their execution.
“The graphics are beautiful.”
“Improved graphics and well chosen soundtrack for the sequel to the good SF: Tunguska.”
“Secret Files: Puritas Cordis is a captivating point-and-click adventure game that delivers a compelling storyline, challenging puzzles, and impressive visuals and sound design.”
“Graphics improved from the previous game, but still only 16:10.”
“Graphical glitches here and there...not many bugs found.”
“Everything is worse here: the graphics, the story, the music, the puzzles, the characters, and - holy hell - the voice acting!”
- humor22 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is widely criticized for being cheesy and cringe-worthy, with many finding the attempts at comedy to be tiresome and awkward. While some players appreciate the funny dialogues and references to the previous installment, the overall execution is marred by poor voice acting and a reliance on bad puns that detract from the experience. Despite occasional moments of genuine humor, the consensus leans towards disappointment in its comedic elements.
“Funny dialogues.”
“As with the previous game 'Secret Files 1', I had a blast with this one as well. The game is very diverse in scenery, has a great plot, nice puzzles, great diversity of characters with very decent voice actors, and also some funny references to the first part.”
“Nina still uses some really bad puns that are so bad they're kind of funny.”
- gameplay12 mentions
- 17 % positive mentions
- 58 % neutral mentions
- 25 % negative mentions
The gameplay retains familiar mechanics from previous installments, featuring item collection, puzzle-solving, and character switching, enhanced by a new running animation and a polished interface. While the experience is traditional and somewhat predictable, the addition of detailed environments and character designs adds depth. Overall, players appreciate the improvements but note that the gameplay remains largely conventional.
“++: gameplay is polished.”
“Apart from that, it's a very traditional experience in terms of gameplay, and in terms of story it has a couple of mildly interesting takes but resolves things again very traditionally.”
“Gameplay: pretty much what it says on the tin: you point, you click, you combine objects in slightly counterintuitive ways.”
“Mechanics are the same; you collect items, solve puzzles, switch between two characters, and swap inventory items in some phases.”
- music8 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- 38 % neutral mentions
- 13 % negative mentions
The music in the sequel to "Tunguska" has been praised for its well-chosen soundtrack and ability to enhance immersion through cutscenes and the score. However, some users feel that the overall quality of the music has declined compared to the original, with criticisms directed at various aspects of the game, including the music itself.
“Cutscenes and music score add immersion to the experience.”
“Improved graphics and well-chosen soundtrack for the sequel to the good SF: Tunguska.”
“+ good soundtrack”
“Everything is worse here: the graphics, the story, the music, the puzzles, the characters, and - holy hell - the voice acting!”
- emotional6 mentions
- 67 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 33 % negative mentions
Reviewers express disappointment with the emotional aspect of the game, noting a significant decline in voice acting quality compared to its predecessor. The characters are described as lacking emotional depth, with monotonal performances that detract from an already uninspiring story. Overall, the emotional engagement is seen as severely lacking, impacting the overall experience.
“They all speak with the slightest emulation of any kind of emotional expression possible.”
“The emotional aspect is overshadowed by a boring story and main characters that are either poorly developed or made worse by their terrible voice acting.”
“The emotional depth is lost due to a lackluster narrative and unlikable characters, compounded by subpar voice performances.”
- atmosphere6 mentions
- 17 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 33 % negative mentions
The atmosphere in the game diverges from that of its predecessor, which some players preferred, but many feel that the engaging story, length, and riddles compensate for this change. However, the need to skip dialogue may detract from the intended atmosphere and humor. Overall, while opinions vary, the atmosphere is seen as a mixed aspect of the game.
“The atmosphere is different from the first installment, which I adore, but the story, length, and riddles definitely make that up.”
“However, this still means that you’ll be skipping most of the dialogue and whatever atmosphere and hilarity they were trying to convey.”
“The atmosphere is different than the first installment which I adore, but the story, length, and riddles definitely make that up.”
- replayability4 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 75 % neutral mentions
- 25 % negative mentions
Overall, players find the game's replayability lacking, with many expressing that a single playthrough is sufficient and not worth revisiting, particularly due to the limited character diversity and negative portrayals of female characters.
“I enjoyed a single playthrough, but I can't see any replay value or spending money on the third chapter.”
- stability2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Overall, users report that the game exhibits some graphical glitches, but these are infrequent and not accompanied by significant bugs, indicating a generally stable experience.
“Graphical glitches here and there... not many bugs found.”
“Graphical glitches here and there... not many bugs found.”
- grinding2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- -50 % neutral mentions
- 150 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect of the game tedious and lacking, contributing to an overall unsatisfactory experience that detracts from the adventure elements. The game feels overly drawn out, making the four-hour playtime feel longer than necessary.
“But it just falls short in pretty much every aspect that makes an adventure game good, and just makes for a very tedious experience of about 4 hours from start to finish.”
“The grinding feels endless and repetitive, turning what could be an exciting journey into a monotonous chore.”
“I found myself stuck in a loop of grinding that drained all the fun out of the game, making it feel more like a job than an adventure.”
