A good puzzler with a creepy atmosphere. Some of the puzzles really require you to think laterally; contextual clues are important. Sometimes insignificant details prove to be the way to crack the many pictorial codes and sequences. Some are obvious, some are head-scratchers. It ultimately winds up being much more than the sum of its parts, and that's not something that can always be said for puzzle mystery games. If you like puzzle mysteries, you won't beat it quickly. It took me a rewarding 10 hours to beat without using a guide, others will undoubtedly take longer or succumb to hints.

Mixing together elements of an adventure title with a heavier-than-usual focus on puzzles, Dissolution does have some appeal. Out of the gate though, it can be a bit aggravating as it does a poor job of getting you started with what you’re supposed to be doing. Given a little time and some flailing around the rooms you’ll likely catch on, finally finding a key item or two that you’ll recall being handy for puzzles in rooms you’ve already been through. The very brute force method of working things out sort of left me cold though, with the experience often feeling less focused on smarts and ingenuity and more on simply walking around and trying everything until it pans out. The puzzles, thankfully, are generally more engaging, though as always seems to be the case they generally vary in quality. It doesn’t make for a bad experience, but given the amount of competition in the space it’s also hard to get more excited about what it has to offer. ****/2021/12/mini-reviews-december-29th-edition.html

Forgotten Hill Disillusion is a point and click puzzle game in the Forgotten Hill franchise. You do not need to have played any of the other games to get into this, and since I haven't played any of the other games, that's good. The game mainly consists of single screen areas, you navigate around using arrows on the side of the screen, and certain areas will have puzzles and riddles you need to solve, to progress in the game. When you first start playing, you might feel a little confused, and the puzzles can be quite hard, but just as you are about to give up, you may find as I did, that you are starting to get it, you are starting to understand how the game works, and the nature of how to complete the puzzles. This will probably happen when you first get stuck and realise there is an inbuilt hint system. The hint system usually comprises of about 3 stages, hint one gives you an idea of where to look, hint two tells you what you need to do, and hint three basically solves it for you. As I mentioned, the moment you start to properly understand the game, even if because of the hint system, that is the moment the game catches you in its hooks. And if you like a good puzzle game, then this is one you should add to your collection. There are 60 puzzles and riddles to solve, some will be about moving objects to match a pattern you have seen elsewhere in the house, or you might need to help someone with something, read a recipe book, find or craft the parts, everything is there right in front of you when it comes to solving the puzzles, you just need to keep your eyes open and think logically, and you can do it. If you get the hang of it, the game should last you between 2-3 hours to complete, the graphics are simple but well drawn, and help with the whole horror/grotesque atmosphere the game is portraying. The Good Well-crafted puzzles, nothing is too abstract or out of the box, meaning that everything is solvable if you are willing to spend the time. The Bad It may take you a bit of time to get into the game if you have not played any of the previous ones and already know how everything works, but stick with it and you will be fine. Overall I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the game as a whole, much better than I expected, and it is easy for me to recommend. I score Forgotten Hill Disillusion on Nintendo Switch a solid 8/10. A very good puzzle game.