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Delayed slightly due to the pressure of work in progress, an invite has arrived to join a mysterious Halloween party organised by Vlad.  This event is being held at his secluded Romanian hotel that is often referred to by the local inhabitants as The Hotel Frightsylvania.  This location and festival forms the latest release in Domini Game's series of Hidden Object Adventure series of titles.

As usual with Domini Game's title, Gloomy Tales - Hotel Frightsylvania is available in Collector's Edition format.  Supplementing the main game will be a number of bonus items including an extra chapter.  You also have the opportunity to replay Hidden Object scenes and mini game puzzles plus check out the various collectibles and morphing items dotted throughout the adventure once the main game has been completed.

Arriving at the hotel, along with your friend Annette who has chosen to wear a Witch's costume, you discover that there is much to be done to get the location ready for a party.  As one of the early arrivals, it is up to you to get everything ready for the other quests as they arrive to enjoy themselves.

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Assisting you complete your tasks in preparing the hotel for the party are a selection of tools.  Arranged across the base of the screen displaying areas of the hotel are a Journal with sections for Tasks and Notes; a Map showing locations and where you might find items or carry out actions; an Inventory that decorates its content with a plus sign if they require extra work; plus a Strategy Guide and Hint features.  Located on either side of the screen are pop-out tools indicating your progress at finding Collectibles on the left and checking Decisions made during the game on the right.

As you explore the various rooms and amenities of the hotel, you will encounter numerous examples of scurrying hands going about their business with the occasional appearance of a ghostly figure to add atmosphere.  There will also be a guest called Abraham who claims to be a historian.  At various times you will be asked to make certain decisions which will affect the flow of the story line depending upon which of the options you select.

At the relevant point, the game's focus will change dramatocally.  You will need to switch from a Halloween party organiser to the protector of all types of monsters from forces who plan to destroy them.  This change of focus will open other areas of the hotel previously unexplored as you attempt to safeguard the hotel guests.

Dotted throughout the numerous task-based operations making up the game are numerous mini game puzzles and Hidden Object scenes.  Unusually there are far more mini game puzzles rather than Hidden Object scenes in this title.  With a mixture of planning routes, rearranging sections of an image, carry out actions in sequence, mixing potions ad solving codes, there are more than 40 mini game puzzles in this game.  You will be given a choice of Easy or Hard version of each puzzle.  Hidden Object game play, identified by an outbreak of sparkles, offers a mixture of scenes or book pages from where you can find required items listed as words, patterns, silhouettes, riddles, paired items or differences.  You will be given the option to switch to Match 3 game play if that suits.

While there were stages during the game when I felt confused as to why certain actions might be necessary, overall I found the game to be enjoyable.  I downloaded my copy of this title 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.

Gloomy Tales - Hotel Frightsylvania Collector's Edition | Big Fish Games

Gloomy Tales - Hotel Frightsylvania Collector's Edition | GameHouse