Once you solve your way through the gates, each attraction or ride requires a ticket, which can only be obtained by spending a special coin (found along the way) and playing the Wheel of Fortune, itself a match-3 mini-game that gets more difficult with each ticket earned. Areas of the carnival are protected by gates, each one a mini-game or puzzle. Navigation is not quite as simple as pointing and clicking, however. Every hidden object scene will yield one useful object that will go into your inventory, and each scene also includes at least one item that you must "create" either by assembling pieces or interacting with other objects. Once you solve your way past the gates (requiring a minor blood sacrifice) there is a handy map to be found that allows you to not only navigate the area but also lets you know where new hidden object scenes have triggered and allows the player to "jump" from one location to another quickly. Sparkles can indicate places to examine, hidden object scenes, objects that can be collected and mini-games and puzzles. Can you succeed in saving your brother's soul?ĭreamland plays like a standard hidden object/adventure hybrid, with a changing cursor, navigation arrows, and the ever-present glittering dots in the scenery. You as the player must try to beat him at his own game, solving puzzles, finding hidden objects, and navigating your way through the maze that is this evil place, while your opponent gloats via a loudspeaker system that is everywhere. The malignant dwarf who runs the carnival likes to play games, you see, and the price for failure is very high. That boy is your younger brother, who has not escaped unharmed, and it is up to you to trace his steps and fight the evil that has damaged his soul. Or sleep really well after playing.Ī quick, frightening animation sets the scene as a young man flees for his life from a carnival that has come alive, attempting to keep him inside. Perhaps a little too perfectly, as you might never view a traveling carnival or circus the same way again. Underneath the surface it seems as if something lurks, something perhaps evil, and Dreamland, the latest adventure/ hidden object hybrid by AstarGames captures this mood perfectly. The coming of fall brings one of childhood's delights, the traveling carnival, but as you get older doesn't it all seem a bit creepy? The bright lights cannot quite mask the rot and decay that is noticeable close up, and cast strange and frightening shadows on the faces of workers and fair-goers alike. Dizzying sights of whirling lights pierce the darkness of night as a chill wind caresses the skin, raising goose bumps magic and mystery are in the air tonight. Wandering, leaves crunching underfoot, wafts of familiar scents evoking pleasure, buttery popcorn, spun sugar, batter coated food frying overlay an undertone of machine oil. The tinny sound of calliope music echoes in your ears, intermittently overcome by the shrieks of little children and the bellowing of barkers.
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