The Secret Order 8: Return to the Buried Kingdom
- January 30, 2020
- Sunward Games
- 2h median play time
Get on SteamIn "The Secret Order 8: Return to the Buried Kingdom," Sarah Pennington is back for the final installment of the saga to maintain balance and peace in the kingdom. Explore beautiful locations, encounter unique beasts, and solve challenging puzzles to lift the curse and defeat the evil Necromancer and his skeleton army. Play as a strong female character and prepare for an immersive and mesmerizing adventure.
Reviews
- The game features beautiful artwork and environments, enhancing the overall visual experience.
- It offers a relaxing gameplay experience with straightforward puzzles, making it suitable for casual players.
- The inclusion of quality of life features, such as a collectable indicator and fast travel map, improves the gameplay experience.
- The game is notably short, with a playtime of around 3 hours, which may disappoint players expecting more content.
- Many puzzles feel recycled from previous entries in the series, lacking innovation and challenge.
- The story is underdeveloped and can be confusing, particularly in the bonus chapter, leading to a less engaging narrative experience.
- story22 mentions
- 32 % positive mentions
- 55 % neutral mentions
- 14 % negative mentions
The story in "The Secret Order 8: Return to the Buried Kingdom" has received mixed reviews, with many players finding it underdeveloped and confusing, particularly in the bonus chapter. While some appreciated the revisiting of familiar locations and found the premise interesting, overall, the narrative was described as thin, lacking coherence, and failing to engage compared to previous entries in the series. Many reviewers noted that the plot felt phoned in, with tedious puzzles that detracted from the overall experience.
“This story relates to events in The Secret Order 5, but doesn't require you to have played it in order to follow the story.”
“The Secret Order 8: Return to the Buried Kingdom convinces with immersive gameplay at the highest level and an exciting story.”
“The storyline is great, keeps me interested.”
“The story is wafer thin and ends incredibly abruptly at the end of the main game.”
“The story is barely fleshed out at all, to the point where things don't make sense or the transitions are really jarring.”
“The story is hard to follow because there is no notebook and insufficient dialogue to explain what's going on; this is worst in the bonus chapter (I had no idea who I was or what was going on).”
- gameplay9 mentions
- 44 % positive mentions
- 33 % neutral mentions
- 22 % negative mentions
The gameplay in "The Secret Order 8: Return to the Buried Kingdom" is described as immersive and polished, offering a satisfying experience despite some criticisms regarding a lack of difficulty and innovation. While some players appreciate the refined mechanics and engaging story, others may find it repetitive and lacking in new challenges. Overall, the game successfully maintains a stable gameplay experience, though it may benefit from fresh ideas in future installments.
“It's not difficult in the slightest, but it's such a departure from the usual gameplay that I enjoyed it a lot.”
“Anyways, like the past handful of games in the series, the mechanics and puzzles have become polished and stable enough to not need major changes.”
“The Secret Order 8: Return to the Buried Kingdom convinces with immersive gameplay at the highest level and an exciting story.”
“It might be a bit boring for those focused on new mechanics, new puzzles, new levels of difficulty though.”
“Time to end this series now, focus on a new theme and slightly better gameplay but otherwise a satisfactory installment.”
- graphics7 mentions
- 57 % positive mentions
- 14 % neutral mentions
- 29 % negative mentions
The graphics are generally praised for their solid and beautiful artwork, contributing to a relaxing gaming experience. However, some users noted inconsistencies, describing certain elements as sloppy and mentioning that cut scenes occasionally fall short. Overall, the visuals are considered a strong point of the game, enhancing its appeal.
“The graphics, as always, are superb; the music that goes along with it is tasteful and well suited to the game.”
“Great artwork, nice entry in the series.”
“Nice visuals and makes for a relaxing afternoon when I'm having to wait around on things.”
“The artwork is grimy, gungy, and grainy.”
“Decent enough graphics (apart from cut scenes at times).”
- music5 mentions
- 60 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 40 % negative mentions
The music in the game is generally praised for its beauty and suitability, enhancing the relaxing atmosphere and complementing the stunning visuals. However, some players find it repetitive and annoying over time, with a few describing certain tracks as jarring, leading to mixed feelings about the overall audio experience.
“Lots of fun puzzles, beautiful scenery, great music and voice acting.”
“The thumbs up comes from the music and art, along with the relaxing flow of the game which is a welcome change from other intense games out there.”
“The graphics, as always, are superb; the music that goes along with it is tasteful and well-suited to the game.”
“The music was repetitive, especially by the end, and the 'atmospheric' sounds became annoying later on as well; yes, you can turn it all off, but I shouldn't want to with a game this price.”
“Some truly jarring music.”
- atmosphere2 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The atmosphere is characterized by eerie, skeletal, and swampy visuals that create a compelling setting; however, the repetitive music and sounds detract from the experience, especially as the game progresses. While the ambiance is initially engaging, it ultimately falls short due to a lack of depth in the plot and audio elements.
“There's lots of creepy skeletal, swampy scenes that were cool and atmospheric.”
- grinding1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect of the game tedious, with puzzles that feel repetitive and a confusing point-and-click mechanic, leading to a lack of engaging content in the story.
“The puzzles are all pretty tedious, the point-and-click mechanics are often confusing and muddled, and there's just not much there in terms of the story.”
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