Dark Realm: Queen of Flames – Review

Dark Realm: Queen of Flames got us hooked right from the start! The opening cutscene is exciting yet very creative and serves as a great start to this terrific tale. Dark Realm has an eventful storyline, full of interesting twists and fascinating characters. What we also love about the story in Dark Realm is that it also hints slight humor, even in serious situations.

We are already pretty clear on how terrific the art team at Mad Head is. Nonetheless, the gorgeous scenes in Dark Realm have totally blown us away with their beyond beautiful artwork and amazing colors. Moreover, the cutscenes and animations are, perhaps, the very best in the casual games industry. They are so lifelike and expertly-done as if the game is a solid animation feature. Adding on to that, the audio aspects of the game are also very impressive. The soundtracks are top-notch, especially the main menu’s title music which is unarguably one of the best we have heard in a HOPA game. The voice overs are evidently well-recorded by talented voice actors, they give the characters emotions and souls.

As expected from Mad Head Games, Dark Realm is a highly-interactive as well as innovative game. It is undoubtedly a very busy game, filled with smart mini-games and amusing tasks and interactions. The hidden object scenes are simply wonderful; they come in a number of formats, all are superbly entertaining. At the same time, many of the puzzles are very clever and unique – some of them integrated with the storyline in a very thoughtful and fascinating way. Dark Realm also includes some cool features such as the Invisibility Boots and the magical Medallion, which is the source of all of your out-of-this-world powers.

Everything in Dark Realm: Queen of Flames is obviously developed with care and passion, even the interface. Dark Realm’s interface is clean, modern and slick, which gives room for the awesome presentation on the screen. Besides, the way that the Journal and the Map open up are also flawless.

The main game of Dark Realm ends conclusively with possibly the biggest and the most epic ending sequence in the field, the game lasted roughly 3 and a half hours for us. The Bonus Chapter is as worth playing as the main game is, which provided us with an addition of 45 minutes of playing time. Dark Realm has definitely achieved as a Collector’s Edition; apart from the gallery items, there are also a few nice additions – see the checklist above for the full list.