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Mystical Riddles - Ship from Beyond is a Hidden Object Adventure game from the catalogue of Domini Games.  I have been checking out the Collector's Edition version of the product which bundles various extra items to enhance the playing experience.  These bonus offerings are made up of a mixture of those that are available immediately while others will require needing to be encountered first in the main game.  There is also a chapter than blocks your entry until the main game has been completed.

Domini Games usual selection of options are available for adjusting the playing environment.  Various volume levels can be set and the game can be viewed in full screen mode with user-defined brightness.  Settings for a custom icon, special effects and a select indicator can be turned on or off as suits.  The game can be played in Casual, Advanced, Hardcore or Custom modes that offer different speeds of Skip and Hint recharging plus the degree active zones are indicated.

As you might suppose from the product's title, the game has a strong maritime influence.  A waterfront town, which relies on fishing as its main source of income and finance, is under some mysterious threat as is fishermen work force is beginning to disappear.  At the same time, an eerie fog was blanketing the area of the town.  Your role will be to investigate the fog and discover what is causing the fishermen to disappear.

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Assisting you in this task, the game provides a number of tools and certain types of layouts to indicate certain circumstances.  Running across the bottom of the screen are icons representing a Journal, with sections for notes and tasks, a map, camera for taking snapshots, inventory showing up to five items at a time, plus shortcuts for a Strategy Guide and Hint feature.

A pop-out indicator on the left of the screen provides feedback on the state of the game's Collectibles.  The pop-out will shimmer whenever a Collectible is present in the current scene as well as letting you know how many of the sea instruments, seashells and starfish you have already collected.  Also emitting a shimmer will be the camera icon whenever you need to take a Polaroid snapshot of an object as part of your investigation.

Your investigation into the fog and disappearance of the fishermen begins as you take a trip on a fishing trawler and encounter a strange cloud formation.  This strange cloud brings you into contact with a ghost ship, named appropriately "Hope".  This ship had sank several years ago with many of its passengers trapped as wandering spirits. 

This discovery leads you on to tales of a legend featuring further disasters that can only be stopped by implementing certain conditions.  Unless you act and handle matters by freeing those trapped in this ghost environment, its affect will grow.  It could even take over the waterfront town and its citizens.

Along with the tools mentioned earlier, the game features familiar resources such as the cursor changing shape to indicate when certain actions are possible while sparkles are used to pinpoint areas of interest.  Special effects will identify ghostly figures with a split screen being used when a game character has information to impart in spoken and printed dialogue.  In some cases you will have a choice of response which could affect the flow of the story line.

The usual mixture of mini game puzzles and Hidden Object scenes have their part to play.  In both types of case you will be granted Domini Games' usual choice of options.  A mini game puzzle lets you select from an Easy or Hard version of the problem.  If the style of Hidden Object game play does not appeal then you can opt for Match 3 grid action.

While some of the story line seemed rather familiar, I found myself being drawn into the game's atmosphere as I enjoyed the game's challenge.  I downloaded my copy of this well-designed game from Gamehouse.com where it is priced at $19.99.  You can also download the game from Big Fish Games where it is priced at £15.69.  The game requires a 2.0 GHz processor with 1024MB of RAM running Windows 7 and later.

Mystical Riddles - Ship From Beyond Collector's Edition | Big Fish Games

Mystical Riddles - Ship From Beyond Collector's Edition | GameHouse