Reviews

• gamedeal user

  Mar 7, 2023

  I wasnt really catched by this part. Some minigames where a bit annoying and the totem minigame was after a while pretty annoying. The revamped version of Ross Red was pretty sad in comparison to the original. There also wher too many minigames and to few HIOS (HO´s). Additional the "Bossfight" at the end was pretty lame and the end was too fast and too unexplained( WARNING SPOILER: what happend to the swan princess?) and some items where directly at the entrances and exits of the scenes so that u need to get a clue to find them. All in one it was a bit dissapointing. I hope it doesnt get worse. I wouldnt recommend this part
• gamedeal user

  Jul 22, 2023

  Best of the Dark Parables I played. Wonderful presentation, added extras and a story that's much more sreamlined than the previous offerings. Compared with the previous (final cinderella & little mermaid) this one ramped up the difficulty significantly. Puzzles are not the usual standard hog fare but quite inventive. Also, typical of dark parables the hidden objects are never silly items but rather pieces of items you need to find. Coupled with the arrival of achievements & cards, the Dark Parables got serious and if you like hogs, you definately should try this one if you haven't allready.
• gamedeal user

  Jul 10, 2016

  The Swan Princess and The Dire Tree is the 11th game in the Dark Parables series. Though stand alone, for anyone who has been following this series there are omages to the previous games (Rapunzel #7 and Goldilocks #10 come to mind immediately) and adds even more history to the Prince James (Frog Prince #2) saga. (For those who care the 1st Swan Princess, Odette, was one of the Prince James' (Frog Prince) 5 wives. Also Ross Red (Prince Ross Red) is the fraternal twin of Princess Snow White, now Queen Snow White also known as the Snow Queen (# 3), who was also one of Prince James' 5 wives.) I do so enjoy a series that keeps their overall long term story straight and without plot holes. But enough about the series as a whole. Storyline: As soon as the flying 'Seed of Life' from the Dire Tree (omage to Yggdrasil, Tree of Life) germinates it is stolen by the Black Swan, a title giving to a Swan Guard traitor in the Swan Kingdom on Dire Island. (Swan guards are the lifelong protectors of the Goddess Flora and the Dire Tree.) The whole Swan Kingdom and the entire island of Dire is now facing utter destruction since the 'Seed of Life' used in a life regenerative ritual by the Goddess Flora now can not be performed unless returned. Huge lava filled cracks are appearing all over the island and the present and 6th Swan Princess has sent for aid. That aid comes from the Master Tailor (omage to a fairy tale), who can literally sew the earthen cracks shut with his enchanted "sword" which looks like a sewing needle, and you, the player as the Fairy Tale Detective. Your task find the traitor, the Black Swan (once Head of the Swan Guards) and the flying 'Seed of Life' then return them both to the Swan Princess. The situation is not as it seems, appearances are deceiving and everything changes when the Goddess Flora dies. (Chapter 2). The mission then becomes find out what is really going on, the reasons behind everything and of course, saving the Swan Kingdom from annilihation. That is part of the job description after all, Fairy Tale Detective. The Game: 8 chapters plus 2 bonus chapters. Intricate storyline that has all the plot twists of a corkscrew with magic, mayhem, intrigue, treachery and murder. And I still call this a family friendly game. Fast travel map with things to do highlighted with a star. Pastel color pallette. Built in strategy guide. Four game modes: Casual, Hard, Insane and Custom. No hand holding in this game, and at times the clues are a bit obsure, if not missed because the dialogue disappears way too fast. Personally I recommend Casual for all the little sparklies that are hard to see anyway and the hints on the fast travel map. No reason not to play on Casual. There is no achievement for playing on Hard mode. There are no hint penalties unless in Hidden Object Puzzle (HOP) and no skip penalties. The in-game achievements are same as the Steam achievements. There are even trading cards. All achievements can be earned in a single playthrough, and if any are missed (except the parables) during gameplay (including the collectibles) they can be picked up through the Extras menu. All Hidden Object Puzzles (HOPs) and mini-games can be replayed in the Extra menu. There is a mini-game called Souvenirs where the player goes back through every scene in the game and looks for a single item (watch for cursor change, if the item is not immediately apparent.) The Extra menu includes art concept, wall papers, music, video, etc. The main game screen includes buttons for achievements, parables and collectibles so the player can keep track of their progress without leaving the game. One of the newest features of the game series is the 3D elements. This feature is quite prominent when opening smaller boxes. Also they have stirred away from the traditional morphing/ghost objects and made their morphing objects (which morph into a flower) their parable pieces. The other extra hidden find, the collectibles, are tiny acorns with wings on both sides. Some of these can be quite tough to find. (Did I mention that built in strategy guide that so happens to have at the end the location of all parable pieces and acorn collectibles.) Gameplay: A smooth blend between point and click, problem solving, HOPs, and puzzles. Nothing is contrived, all four of those elements appear where they should. Point and click to adventure about, problem solving when a task needs to be done, HOPs when looking for or needing a specialized object like a key and puzzles on anything that locks or opens usually. The problem solving bits can be a bit obsure at times and chase about on the fast map. But it does not happen often and the clues are there. Just be very observant, click on everything, and look for cursor changes. Some places are rather small in out of the way places or seemingly unimportant places like a brazier at the top of a staircase. Everything is very logical in the story progression and what one would normally do if presented with the same type of situation in real life. And yes, keys are the only thing that open locks. (Though the "key" may not necessarily be a standard type of key. Gems are used as keys.) The HOPs are pictures unlike the usual list finds. These types of HOPs are standard for this series. Basically some object has been disassembled into pieces and the HOP consists of finding all the pieces. The game will automatically assembly the pieces when finished. The pieces are divided into three different sections, so as the pieces of each section are all found that part will assembly itself. When all three sections have assemblied, those three pieces will assembly into the completed object and go into inventory. Once the mind accustoms itself to this, the HOPs can become very easy. Nothing is unfairly hidden, though some pieces are half hidden behind other things or obsured in some way, and the size or color can change slightly. Color changes are generally due to "poor light" or "shadows" in the game scene. For example the game scene is heavily shaded by trees and slightly in creviss. Every item is drawn according to these light conditions. Though in this game finding the mosaic pieces on the mosaic itself was a challenge. It was like looking for jigsaw puzzle pieces on the jigsaw puzzle itself. The puzzles are varied, diverse and something NEW. There are several types of mazes including a vertical tower maze, sliders, rotators, a jigsaw puzzle, a tangram, a recipe, logic puzzles, matching and a NEW type of puzzle my friend mickmane called a logic connector. I would call it a math logic connector or even a circuitry puzzle. These puzzles are found on the rune pedestrals. How they work is there are numbered dice (the amount of connections allowed) scattered all over the board and to solve the player must connect lines to every die for that amount of connections. Seems simple when hearing it explained, looks daunting when seen, and logic is the name of this game. And it is NEW. After a lifetime of puzzles, I have never played this type of puzzle before. Thumbs up!! Well I think I covered everything, and thanks for putting up with all the history about Dark Parables but I have been playing this series since 2010, more then once. I highly recommend this game even at full price. It is a bit more difficult then the usual fare and certainly not cookie cutter or predictable.
• gamedeal user

  Mar 10, 2018

  [b][u]Game Information[/u][/b] "Dark Parables: The Swan Princess and the Dire Tree" Collector's Edition is a Fragmented Object game. The game was developed by Eipix Entertainment and published by Big Fish Games Studio. "The Swan Princess and the Dire Tree" is the ninth episode of "Dark Parables." Previous episodes: "Curse of Briar Rose;" "The Exiled Prince;" "Rise of the Snow Queen;" "The Red Riding Hood Sisters;" "The Final Cinderella;" "Jack and the Sky Kingdom;" "The Ballad of Rapunzel" and "The Little Mermaid and the Purple Tide." Since this is a collector's edition game, it comes with extra features that are not available in its counterpart; the standard edition. [b][u]The Game Review[/u][/b] Game Visuals I want to mention that the visuals for the game are nicely done. The visuals can be adjusted in the game's option menu. Game Audio I want to mention that audio for the game is well done. Even though the audio is somewhat simplistic and repetitive. The audio can be adjusted in the game's option menu as well. Gameplay There are four different game difficulty modes to choose from: Casual; Hard; Insane and Custom. There is no notebook in the game. But there is an objective panel in the game; it is used to keep track of all the objectives in the game. There is a padlock feature that is available to lock the inventory panel in place to make it stationary. There is an interactive map in the game. It allows the player to fast travel between each location quickly without having the need to constantly backtrack. It also indicates that there are a variety of tasks that can be completed at various locations within the game. The interactive map is automatically given at the start of the game. There are some interactive items in the game. Most of the interactive items may require extra components before they can be interacted with. All interactive items are marked with a symbol in one of the corners. The hidden object scenes consist of the following: Fragmented items. Some of these hidden object scenes may require little or no interaction. Most of the hidden object scenes can be replayed in the game's extra feature section. The puzzles are fairly easy to solve without having the need to skip any of them. Some of the puzzles can be replayed in the game's extra feature section as well. There are two sets of collectibles in the game: Parables and Hidden Signs (Acorns). They are scattered throughout the game for the player to find. There is a separate collectible in game: Souvenir. But it can be accessed in the game's extra feature section only. There are twelve different achievements that can be unlocked from playing the game. Each of these achievements does come with some requirements that need to be completed before they can be unlocked. Since this is a collector's edition game, there is a bonus chapter, but it can be accessed only after the main story is completed. Miscellaneous There are extra features in the game: Bonus Chapter; Bonus Hidden Object Scenes; Bonus Puzzles; Wallpapers; Soundtracks; Concept Art and Game's Strategy Guide. Most of these extra features can be accessed only after the entire game is completed. There are six different trading cards to collect. Only three of those trading cards are given out by the game. There are several ways to get the rest of the trading cards: Purchased from the Steam's Community Market; Trade with friends; Booster Packs and its Booster Pack Creator. Final thoughts: I have found the game enjoyable to a certain extent. The replay value for the game is low. I Would recommend this game, but not at the game's full price value.
• gamedeal user

  Nov 8, 2018

  Great game. The story is interestnig. Although the game is enjoyable played on its own,, I recommend playing all the DP games in order because each game builds on an overall story.
• gamedeal user

  Aug 21, 2019

  This game was so boring that I almost didn't notice when it was actually over. In fact, I didn't notice until I was literally taken back to the home screen. This game abuses a lot of the tactics that hidden object games love to use to stretch out the game time. There must have been dozens of emblems that we picked up to use for this or that thing, with little point to it all. Additionally, the game logic could get so warped at points that I would end up looking for a solution just by throwing everything in my inventory at the problem until something stuck. Not exactly my definition of "fun". There is potential here, though. The story was interesting in places, though constantly distracted by new plot threads. The art was very nice, for the most part. I even liked the characters, somewhat. But I find it difficult to say I enjoyed playing it.
• gamedeal user

  Nov 7, 2019

  [i]Fair warning: one scene has a spider the size of a truck (or common house spider in Australian terms).[/i] [h1]Short version: 30%[/h1] The good-looking surface of Dark Parables 11 hides a dark, dreary, drab, and dull game. If you decide to play it, get ready for endless backtracking. [h1]Long version:[/h1] If we define a video game as a product meant to entertain players, then we cannot classify 'The Swan Princess and The Dire Tree' as one. This supposed fragmented objects game is so boring that it can murder your soul. The story is a disjointed mess about a traitorous bodyguard and her largely unexplained plot for revenge. Revenge for what; who is that chick that sometimes pops out and orders you around; why do we have to spend half of the game to play nurse to a redheaded guy? If you need answers, then gather all the hidden parables, because the cut-scenes will leave you in the dark. Then again, the dark is a comfortable place, because then you do not have to endure what I will humorously refer to as gameplay. The fragmented object scenes never invented brightness, the fragments are microscopic, and they are often the same colour as the background. The best solution for the needlessly long puzzles is waiting for the Skip button. As for the adventure-lite parts… I hope you like running in circles, because, trust me, this will be your entire life if you play Dark Parables 11 for some masochistic reason.
• gamedeal user

  Apr 15, 2020

  This is only Dark Parables game that has Steam achievements. The others have achievements, but only in game, not in Steam. This one also has trading cards, as do a handful of the other DP games. If you only like to play HOGs with cards and achievements, but you're worried you won't understand this one if you haven't played the others, don't worry. You can play this and understand the story just fine without playing the others. The only benefit of playing them in order is that you recognize past characters who have cameos in other games. As far as the DP series goes, I would rank this somewhere in the middle. The story is fairly interesting and there's a fast travel map, which is nice, but the gameplay is sometimes confusing and a couple of the puzzles were tedious to the point of being like a chore. Thankfully you can skip most of them and still get 100% achievements. You can also replay the HO scenes and the puzzles from the main menu to get achievements without having to replay the entire game.