Unsung Heroes: The Golden Mask

About

In "Unsung Heroes: The Golden Mask," become immersed in a time management adventure game involving a trio of passionate archaeologists. Unearth ancient artifacts and uncover the tale of Xi Niu, a Chinese girl seeking justice for her parents' death 10 years ago. Uncover the story as you switch between modern day and ancient China, playing as both the archaeologists and Xi Niu. Solve puzzles, manage time, and unlock the secrets of the golden mask.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

Unsung Heroes: The Golden Mask screenshot

+11

76%

Audience ScoreBased on 29 reviews

story27 positive mentions

stability4 negative mentions

The game features a compelling storyline that intertwines the lives of modern archaeologists and the historical narrative of Xi Niu, making it engaging and immersive.
The graphics and character designs are visually appealing, with beautiful backgrounds and a unique setting in ancient China that adds freshness to the time management genre.
The mini-games and tasks related to Xi Niu's story are enjoyable and provide a nice variety, making the gameplay more interesting despite some repetitive elements.

The game suffers from numerous bugs and glitches, including issues with mouse visibility, character animations, and level progression, which can lead to frustrating gameplay experiences.
Many levels in the present-day sections feel repetitive and lack variety, requiring players to replay them multiple times to collect all artifacts, which can become tedious.
The ending of the game is abrupt and unsatisfying, leaving players feeling disappointed after investing time in the storyline.

story
79 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
34%
62%
4%
The story in "Unsung Heroes: The Golden Mask" is a compelling blend of past and present narratives, focusing on the journey of three archeologists uncovering the tale of a young girl named Xi Niu. While the ancient storyline is engaging and well-developed, the modern-day segments lack depth and character development, leading to a somewhat uneven experience. Overall, players appreciate the rich storytelling and emotional elements, despite some gameplay frustrations and predictability in the plot.
- “The story and the artifacts are really cool and detailed.”
- “With such an interesting, multi-layered storyline and a two-timeline concept, the game is absolutely worth playing just for the storyline alone.”
- “Regardless, Unsung Heroes: The Golden Mask is a beautiful time-management game that contains a wonderful story where the player can see the protagonist Xi Niu growing a lot.”
- “The story is trite and the personality on offer is stretched too thin between the three girls.”
- “Half of the story doesn't have any characters to speak of and a very simple plot.”
- “But that’s sadly already everything, there is no interesting insight into the archeologists other than their comments to Xi Niu’s story, and I didn’t find them very impactful for the overall story.”
gameplay
25 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
40%
48%
12%
The gameplay has received mixed reviews, with many players finding it repetitive and tedious, particularly in excavation levels, while others appreciate its addictive nature and engaging story. Some users noted that the gameplay mechanics can feel unbalanced and frustrating at times, especially with issues like mouse control and awkward animations. Overall, while the gameplay may lack variety and polish, it is often complemented by a compelling narrative that keeps players entertained.
- “Another game from gamehouse that brings us a compelling story, bright visuals, and challenging addictive gameplay.”
- “Overall, despite some certain flaws, it does have its engrossing concept that will keep you highly entertained in the gameplay.”
- “There are occasionally generators, nighttime scenes, or an excavator to mix things up, but you'll be using the same tools and doing (mostly) the same minis at every site, so I'd suggest some more variety in future games, but overall, this is a solid title with fun gameplay and an interesting story.”
- “The gameplay, first of all, is insulting even beyond its absurd grind.”
- “The story and characters were on point as always, but the gameplay was lacking a lot.”
- “Although the story is excellent, as always from this publisher, the gameplay felt a little bit frustrating.”
music
13 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
23%
54%
23%
The music in the game has received mixed reviews; while some players appreciate the beautifully magical and nostalgic soundtracks that incorporate traditional Chinese musical styles, others find the absence of music in many levels and cutscenes disappointing. The lack of background music in the present levels is noted as particularly boring, detracting from the overall experience despite the quality of the music when it is present.
- “The soundtracks in the game are beautifully magical and nostalgic.”
- “I love how they are so smartly incorporated with the Chinese traditional musical styles.”
- “The soundtracks made the game even more enjoyable and gave a very deep impression of expression to the game plots.”
- “Also, there is no music, only sounds of work… it's a little bit disturbing, to be honest.”
- “Also, by design there's no music in the present levels, but that makes it even more boring.”
- “Additionally, there were more than enough stages and even cutscenes where the soundtrack was missing, which I found very disappointing given they are so good.”
graphics
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
60%
20%
20%
The graphics in the game are praised for their bright visuals, beautiful character design, and impressive attention to detail, particularly in reflections. However, some users have reported lighting glitches affecting character features, which may be influenced by the use of integrated graphics. Overall, the visuals contribute positively to the game's compelling story and gameplay.
- “Another game from gamehouse that brings us a compelling story, bright visuals, and challenging addictive gameplay.”
- “The graphics are beautiful in Unsung Heroes: The Golden Mask, especially since I’m a huge Asian history fan.”
- “I like the graphics and character design a lot, but I was floored by the care the designers put into the reflections.”
- “There were also some lighting glitches on the eyes and mouths of these characters. To be fair, I am using integrated graphics, so this may improve with a better graphics card.”
stability
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game suffers from various stability issues, including item and audio glitches, as well as occasional freezing during gameplay, particularly when searching for additional treasures. Users recommend purchasing the game on sale due to these frustrating technical problems, which may be influenced by hardware limitations.
- “The levels are just getting harder, and it's frustrating to have a good streak only to restart because an item glitches.”
- “The game has so many awful audio glitches and sometimes mouse glitches, so I can only say buy this on sale.”
- “At chapter 4, in the first two levels, when you want to find additional treasure, it sometimes freezes - restarting the game helps.”
character development
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
75%
75%
Character development in the game is inconsistent; while some players appreciate the noticeable growth of characters like Xi Niu, others feel that many characters lack depth and fail to evoke sympathy or attachment. Overall, the quality of character development varies significantly across different characters, with some receiving more attention than others.
- “Something that I absolutely adore here is that the character development is noticeable, and the player can see Xi Niu growing.”
- “Character development for Ivy, Stephanie, and Diana is impressive and adds depth to the story.”
- “I like the graphics and character design a lot, but I was floored by the care the designers put into the reflections.”
- “I felt like they were just there to have an excuse for implementing more modern themes, but I wasn’t able to sympathize with them nor get attached to them due to the lack of character development.”
- “Character development for Ivy, Stephanie, and Diana is lacking.”
- “The character development is noticeable here and the player can see Xi Niu growing.”
grinding
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be tedious, particularly in the excavation levels, which detracts from the overall enjoyment. While the story is engaging, the repetitive nature of grinding for modern-age levels can lead to boredom and frustration, causing some players to abandon completionist goals.
- “The levels, especially the excavation ones, can get pretty tedious after a while, but the main thing in this game is the story and less the gameplay.”
- “Sadly, you quickly realize that modern-age levels require a lot of grinding and get somewhat boring because of that.”
- “This was so tedious that I stopped collecting them soon. Although I love to 100% Gamehouse’s games, I think well-implemented achievements are supposed to be a challenge, not repeat the same level until the player unlocks it.”
emotional
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Reviews highlight a mixed emotional response to the game; while some players appreciate the emotional depth and romantic elements typical of Gamehouse titles, others feel let down by the ending, perceiving it as a waste of time.
- “So, it’s no secret that I’m an ultimate fan of Gamehouse’s games overall due to, besides containing addictive gameplay, the story always being quite emotional, fueled with romance most of the time.”