Mystery Case Files 4: Madame Fate (HOG)

Options include separate sliders for Music, SFX and Environment. Choice of difficulty between Detective Mode (timed) and Relaxed (which will give you extra time).

NOTE: The Steam version will NOT go full-screen unless you change your desktop resolution to 800x600. If you're still having trouble, try running as administrator, and you should be good to go.

Ah, the HOG's of yesteryear, when the games were truly a challenge, and items were really well-hidden. Revisiting Madame Fate - the game that originally drew me into the world of hidden objects - was a real eye-opener. The scenes we scour aren't just junk piles... Sometimes it's hard to tell that they are HOS at all! Some of the items are beautifully-hidden, and truly hard to find.

Madame Fate has foreseen her own demise. Collect clues on 15 employees at Fate's Carnival, and help her find the culprit before it is too late!

For each carnival worker, you will search multiple scenes until you find enough clues to present to Madame Fate. If you're having trouble with one location, just go to the map and jump to another location for a while. Some locations have zoom-in areas that have their own full-length lists.

There is some light interaction at times (ie. put the puzzle pieces in place before you can collect it), and other times you'll need to find 10 of one item. While you're sleuthing, keep an eye out for morphing items... When you collect enough, you'll unlock new locations!

FINDING MORPHING ITEMS WILL EARN YOU A HINT if you have less than five available.

In this fourth installment of the MCF series, you can at last find multiple items in succession... As a matter of fact, finding items quickly back-to-back will net you a time bonus! Woo woo! Be careful with rapid misclicks, though, as you'll earn yourself a time penalty.

For each staff member you investigate, you'll do one word puzzle-type of game, as well as a modified "door lock". Unlike Ravenhearst, these puzzles are actually really difficult - you're going to have to use your brain to figure these out!

The graphics are bright and colorful, and the cast of characters comically memorable. Madame Fate interacts with you often, and her voice acting is very well done.

This is not an easy game, but I highly recommend it to those who enjoy challenging themselves. Use yer brain, eh!

Yeah, I couldn't resist buying this at full price but if I wanted to follow the Ravenhearst story-arc, I needed it.

In MCF: Madame Fate, after freeing Emma's spirit from Ravenhearst, Madame Fate contacted you as she saw her own demise in her crystal ball - she needs you to find who among her employees wants her dead....

And you'll ask me: why is it tied to Ravenhearst? Because the storyline has a huge twist at the end, that will make you go back to Ravenhearst Manor in the fifth installement of the series.

You're now visiting a fair, along with people: you'll have a number of items to find in order to access to the future of the employees (doomed, doomed and doomed.... anyway). Each scene contains also beyond objects items (changing appearances) that will unlock special places where you can gain time - mainly if you're in the normal mode where you have a timer.

When visiting an employee, you'll have a puzzle of words to solve, each time different in the thematic. Then, there, you'll have to find specific items (5 clubs, 10 moons, 15 jelly beans, etc...).

And when you want to reveal their fate, well, you'll have a puzzle to solve - an elaborate one as sometimes, it's hard to see what to do.

As you understand, Madame Fate, while being in the first era of hidden objects games, has a tendancy to orient itself towards modern "hidden objects" games: beyond objects, puzzles, and hidden objects scenes in a scene.

However, I felt the game being long for a simple reason: you have many employees to check AND some objects are so well hidden that you'll need a magnifying lens to see them. Also, as the game is in English only, I had an hard time for the puzzle words (I don't know all the fruit in English or even the feelings) and for some items, like a dolly, where I was searching for a doll when it was something else (a tool used to carry boxes or crates). So in other words, Madame Fate isn't opened to everyone, at least on Steam. If you want a multilanguage game, you need to find it elsewhere or in retail.

Madame Fate's ambiance, however, is between cynism and dark humor. It's perhaps less creepy than Ravenhearst, the previous game, but there is still evil lurking around and the fair Madame Fate owned isn't the most joyful in the world.

Anyway, it's still a good game, a good moment to pass just to know the fate of the employees and who wants to kill her. I spent 10 bucks that I'm not regretting, however, you should prefer a discount on it, that will perhaps happen one day, as Ravenhearst and Return to Ravenhearst were during this sale!

Probably one of the hardest games to complete in the Ravenhearst series (yes series), this game is exquisite in its design, execution, and entertainment value. Again, it is a must for my follow hunt and peck people out there, unlimited replayabilty and a great story unfolds as you look into the murder at a carnival.

Full screen does not work in windows 10 for me.

Very nostalgic, unique suspects and surely Madame Fate knows what will happen at the stroke of 12 😏

Madame Fate is the fourth game in the Mystery Case Files series. I decided to replay the entire series, and it has given me a whole new perspective watching new features unfold with each new release.

Mystery Case Files: Huntsville wasn't just the first game in this series; it was the first Hidden Object game of its kind... EVER, and it gave birth to the Hidden Object Puzzle Adventure genre. 
 
Let's do a recap...

MYSTERY CASE FILES: HUNTSVILLE 
You begin this game as an ordinary detective, but as you apprehend each of the 14 members of the S.T.A.I.N Organization, you'll climb the ladder to become the infamous Master Detective...Fun Fact: The Master Detective was a female detective in the earlier games! 

Huntsville was a diamond in the rough. The scenes were grainy and jam-packed with an abundance of ordinary objects, some of which were extraordinarily tiny. With just 3 Hints per chapter, you are tasked with finding 8 objects per scene and completing a repetitive square tile-swapping game within a given time frame.

MYSTERY CASE FILES: PRIME SUSPECT 
After becoming a Master Detective in Huntsville, I was sent to the Capital City Piazza Gallery in the United States to find the culprit who had stolen the Queen's Hope Diamond.
 
Big Fish Studios debuted Prime Suspects a year later on April 5, 2006, and reported record-breaking sales of 3.3 games per minute! Just as in its predecessor, Huntsville, you are tasked with searching for clues in locations across the town in the form of Hidden Object Scenes. There are 22 Levels that take place over 29 different locations. Each level requires the player to search a handful of locations that have 8 listed objects per scene within the allotted time (which varies depending on the number of locations)
 
They added a fourth Hint and a new feature requiring you to find a Battery that unlocks two different HO varieties. A device to search items in the dark using a flashlight or a device to search through walls using a magnifying glass device. They added two new mini-games and designed the game to have different items to search for every time you replay the game.
 
MYSTERY CASE FILES: RAVENHEARST 
Mystery Case Files takes a supernatural twist! Her Majesty The Queen has asked me to investigate the unsettling rumors surrounding Ravenhearst Manor. My mission is to find the missing diary pages of Emma Ravenhearst, but first I'll have to solve a series of bizarre Door Locks placed by Charles Dalimar. Was Charles trying to keep someone from getting in...or out?
 
Ravenhearst marks the beginning of the Dalimar legacy and Master Detective's nemesis for many future Mystery Case Files games. A fifth Hint has been added, and a new Diary Entry puzzle of rotating & placing fragmented pieces.
 
The most notable difference in Ravenhearst is with the introduction of the infamous Rube Goldberg puzzles. Charles Dalimar may be long gone, but he still haunts you with a series of maddening locks. These are Rube Goldberg puzzles that require thinking & tinkering. Click on anything and everything until you find codes or clues as to how to solve each section. These puzzles may seem impossible to figure out at first glance, but the solutions are logical; they just have bizarre and creepy graphics.
 
MYSTERY CASE FILES: MADAME FATE 
Madame Fate has foreseen the future from within her Crystal Ball, and it has predicted her demise at the stroke of midnight. Determined to change her fate, she has asked Master Detective to investigate each of the 15 Carney's to find her murderer.

Mystery Case Files: Madame Fate is finally beginning to look more like a HOPA with the introduction of animated graphics, Hot Spot Zoom Zones, Brain-teaser Word puzzles, Rapid Clicking ability (you can now click on items back-to-back without having to wait), 5 Hints with the ability to earn more (and the ability to earn additional time on the timer), a Hot Line Phone to skip Crystal Ball Puzzles, and my favorite feature of all time...Morphing Objects.

Hotspots-Zoom Zones
Some locations have a sub-scene that takes you to an additional HO scene. These levels have a slight glow around them on the Map, and you can enter the hotspot by clicking on the area with sparkles. Many of the listed items within the hotspots are listed in the form of a riddle or require an interactive task, such as "A Happy Devil," meaning you have to find an item to drag to the devil to make him happy.  

Mysterious Changing Items-Morphing Objects
On the level map, you will notice that some locations have a purple Question Mark icon. These are the scenes that have a Morphing Object in either the main scene, the hotspot scene, or both. Finding Mystery Changing items will unlock additional secret locations integrated into the next chapter (click the Attractions tab > Mystery Items tab to see the required amount). The secret locations allow you to earn extra time on the clock as the clock goes backward with every item found. Finding Mystery Items will also give you an additional Hint.

Word Puzzles
There are several types of Word games available:
-Ten From Seven: Form 10 seven-letter words from the letters in the center.
-Six 2 Win: Form 6 words that are related to each other (weather, birds, bathroom items, etc.) by swapping letters.
-Attraction: Swap letters to form 2 words that have opposite meanings. (Negligent & Diligent)
-Rocket Dog: Guess three different words by clicking on letters. You get six guesses for each word. If you guess correctly, the letter fills in the blank spots in the correct placement. If you guess a letter that isn't in the word, one of the six rings will disappear. I loved this hangman-type game!

Crystal Ball Puzzles  
These are the infamous Rube Goldberg "door puzzles" first introduced in Ravenhearst. These are tricky puzzles, and I had to consult a walkthrough for several puzzles to figure out what I was supposed to do. Once I figured out what I was supposed to do, I could usually figure out how to solve it. I completed every puzzle but one. I had to use the Phone Hotline to skip the puzzle where you click on squares to change each square to assemble the correct cat picture. I was able to solve every picture with the exception of the lion's face. I would get all the tiles to change except 1 square in the middle of his nose. I ran out of time on my first attempt, and on the second attempt, I tried every which way but loose before giving up :(


Carney Hidden Objects-Multiples of the Same Object
Another new feature is a Hidden Object variety where you must find multiples of two different items in a scene featuring a Carnival worker, such as 10 Lightning Bolts and 10 Spades. In theory, this sounds like a simple task but these items are blended into the scenery seamlessly....very challenging and fun!
 
15 Chapters 15 Carneys
🎪The Amazing Larry
🎪Lucy the Bearded Lady
🎪Marlena the Mermaid
🎪Art the Carney
🎪Twyla Tangle the Contortionist
🎪Bianca the Daredevil Diva
🎪Fabiano the World's Strongest Man
🎪Lance the Sword Swallower
🎪Armando the Ringmaster
🎪Tabitha the Lion Tamer
🎪Franco the Excessive
🎪Dr. Goodwell the Medicine Man
🎪Puddles the Clown
🎪Dante the Tattooed Man
🎪Mao & Amber Tan the Acrobats

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It's the fourth game in the series.
It's a hidden object game, with word scramble included here and there, each lvl also ends with a skippable puzzle (only the final puzzle cannot be skipped.) It has 15 levels, and some story.

I played this game as a kid and returned for a much-needed nostalgia break. Visuals are obviously dated but still breathtakingly magical. I had missed the song-rich environment of the MCF series. Looking forward to playing this again in 15 years :D

Out of all the Mystery Case File Games - I recommend this one the most. The only bummer is that there are no Steam achievements to unlock with this game.

The game cannot be switched to fullscreen. Also after shutting down the game, Steam still says it's running and I have to restart the computer to get rid of it.
Case closed, refunded. Fix your game!
(My OS: up to date Windows 10)