...is a hidden object game. Katy Reed is visited by the ghost of her aunt, who invites her to visit the mysterious House of 1,000 Doors and right the wrongs of past tragedies.

After a brief intro of one or two scenes, you arrive in a house that opens up in multiple directions, allowing you to visit other places and times through portals, where you pick up objects, figure out puzzles, and helping tormented ghosts and the house's unusual inhabitants.

You'll find plenty of items to pick up during the way, whether parts and pieces to solve puzzles, keys to unlock new doors and portals, and various more. Some objects are meant to interact with the environment, others are ingredients required to solve various riddles, and more are pictures you put on a wall to build the family tree of past inhabitants.

As for the namesake hidden object puzzles, they consist of a scene filled with various items scattered across the panel, in which you're given a list of items to find. Some will require the combination of two objects to make the one you're looking for, others are hidden from sight and must be revealed in boxes or by moving curtains and the like.

There are a lot of scenes and locations to visit, yet they never branch out so far as to make the backtracking too tedious. All background images are hand-drawn as usual, and removable objects in those or in Hidden Object puzzles blend in well enough as to not make it too obvious which ones are intended to be picked up.

Objects are extremely plentiful. You aren't limited to picking up a few items that are meant for immediate use, but will instead accumulate many of them that won't be used until much later in the game, making it a bit more challenging to figure out when and where they will be used, removing a lot of the obviousness seen in such games.

Puzzles are nothing special and can sometimes be downright too easy. I haven't felt challenged once, never needed to use the clue system. While the Hidden Object puzzles have plenty of clutter, they bring nothing unique, nothing that distinguishes it from other, better games of the genre.

It also lacks certain feeling of accomplishments. No progress achievements, no special unlockable. There are "Beyond Objects" to find, but they're just random objects under the guise of other objects, no theme to look out for, so you'll only find if you clicked absolutely everywhere. There's no catalog of your progress, no way to track which ones you're missing.


I'm not going to tell people not to buy it, because it's a serviceable hidden object game, but it doesn't stand out from the crowd. House of 1000 Doors: Family Secrets – Collector's Edition is an OK specimen of the genre that will still offer a nice exploration in a story-lacking setting.

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This was just my opinion.

If you found this review helpful, please consider giving it a thumbs up, and feel free to check out more of my (purely opinionated) reviews.

If you like finding stuff, this is recommended. Not so much hidden object as I thought as they are many other puzzles to not make it too boring however it is still a 'hidden puzzle' game so as far as that genre goes this is a nice game.

So don't buy this game if you plan on:
Shooting lots of zombies in the face
Shooting lots of people in the crotch
Shooting at all

A great Hidden Object game. Remember those Highlights magazines or I Spy books as a kid? Its kind of like those, but throw in some puzzles too. Its nothing too hard though. So if you are looking for adventure or a challenge I'd say look elsewhere for this is for those who enjoy the journey and story and its not how fast you can get through to the end. What it is, is simple problem solving and a whole lot of finding things that are hidden beyond others.

To put it simple it's a Point & Click. You go about the house pointing and clicking, sometimes "dragging" (rarely). Most doors and objects of intrest are locked. Sometimes you can go and find the key, other times you play a mini Hidden Object game (which you can hop in & out of fairly easily without losing what you found so far, which is a plus). Upon completing the mini HO game you are always awarded a object that you will need (its worth noting: usually the object awarded in question is one of the objects found in the mini game). Aside from the hidden objects sprawled about the house, there is a great deal of puzzles that must be solved to obtain other items of intrest. Also there is a tie-in with ghosts and such; you help ghosts sovle mysteries based upon themselves. In doing so, you resolve their need to be at peace.

Such is how this game is played. I find it soothing. Relaxing. A quaint little title (or not so little, but still) It's not an adventure, its an experience. And I enjoy it.

This game gets a "Yes" from Awsome Weegee.

This is an extremely well done game. I played it a couple times before ever getting Steam and then, once I became a Steam addict, I bought this game for the cards. And played it again. And now I'm playing it for the fourth time. Yes, it's really that good. If you're a hidden object fan, you should definitely check this out.

I’ve recently got my mom to start playing Hidden Objects Games (HOGs for short) – which means I’ve been inadvertently playing them right along with her. Steam (and more importantly, bundle sites) are so flooded with the damned things that I’ve got dozens in my account without ever making a conscious effort.
So I might as well do a month-long writeup of the HOGs that I’ve got.

What are HOGs? (We just don’t know)

Is that a daft question? I mean, they’re just this:
http://i.imgur.com/KZsZU5l.jpg

Right? At least, that's what I kinda assumed. Finding a bunch of hidden objects is right there in the name of the genre. Well… not really.

HOGs like "House of a Thousand doors" are basically all about a set of arbitrary obstacles, overcome by “special keys”, gathered through lite adventure game puzzles, arbitrary “real” puzzles of the sort you might find in a puzzle book for 4th graders, and relatively fairly few scattered hidden object hunts. Check out this screen:

http://i.imgur.com/fK2bOB9.jpg

I'm going to need to find a pendulum for the clock, a record for the player, a way to put out the fire, a spring for the door, weights for the cales, some thing or another for the creepy hands-clock thing on the right, and an axe to murder the guy drinking the coffee (I don't need the coffee, but his tie has a button needed to complete a puzzle later on).

Some of these objects can be found in hidden objects mini-games like the one above. Some just hang out in new screens you access. Some are acquired after completing a basic mosaic / numbers substitution / item rearranging / maze completion puzzles. Still others (and this is really fun) show up on totally unrelated screens after you've completed an arbitrary number of puzzles. Thankfully, you have a big old recharging ? in the corner of the screen, telling you what to do and where to go next. You can easily play through the game with only a very vague understanding of what's going on, why you're here, what you're doing and where you're supposed to go next, merely hammering the hint button in order to progress further.


House of 1000 Doors: Family Secrets Collector's Edition (As an aside, every single HOG on steam is "Something of something: Subtitle here". I think there's a law and a regulatory commission) is literally the first HOG I ever played, and pretty much formed the standard for the rest - incoherent plot, semi-decent puzzles, interactive map (though you have to dig around a bit to use it) and a fairly fast "hint" button. All standard HOG features I came to expect in later games.



Obviously I'm reviewing this game first because the haunted thing fits the the whole October Halloween theme. I mean, look at how horrified this very good actress is about all this fuss.

Seriously though, despite the fact that most HOGs fashion themselves in some trappings of Gothic horror - haunted mansions and spooky portals and creepy statues and other fuss - they're not exactly twitch stream jumpscare material. "Horrors of the Deep" isn't contending with SOMA, "Weird Park" is probably not as scary as...The Park, and Spooky Town Terrors aren't particularly spooky or terrifying. I suppose a generic horror-ish setting provides a good background for the detective / medium / writer (generally the protagonist is one of the three, if not all three at once) to investigate.

But I mostly introduced this game to my mom first because it had a semi-sane and heavily tutorialized introduction to the adventure-game-lite logic on which these games operate. Let me break it down for you, because I was genuinely dumbfounded by how it progressed.

The heroine receives a package, which you must cut open with a handy KNIFE. Inside is a a wind-up automatic typewriter (which were apparently a thing back in the 1920's?) with a message for you. USE the KEY on the typwriter to wind it up. No paper, and the typewriter ribbon is depleted of ink. OPEN the CUPBOARD, to recover a sheet of paper and some ink. Place the ribbon in the ink slot - you now need TWEEZERS to remove it without getting your hands dirty. Of course you're going to use your Golden Quill award as a key to your jewelry case, which contains your tweezers inside. Because it's never too early to introduce ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ adventure game logic.

The typewriter types out an invitation to a seance. When you arrive there, you don't speak to anyone (in fact, you don't even see anyone's face, just a bunch of hands reaching towards a crystal ball) and immediately start trying to figure out how to cut the power line leading to the ball. Once you do, a ghost of your dear departed granny appears. Having manifested your medium abilities (?) you are instructed to enter the House of 1000 doors - a spooky teleporting mansion that's about to show up next to the statue of Liberty - and uncover its secrets in order to exonerate your granny from some unspecified crimes she was accused of. The entire freaking intro had absolutely nothing to do with anything - granny could just as well had manifested in your cozy suburban home, with nothing of substance lost.

So whenever you see a review praising a HOGs storyline, treat it with a bit of caution. In the House trilogy, at least, the plots are scattershot bits and pieces, as arbitrary and interchangeable as the obstacles in your way. Maybe the game makers are operating in the Square-Enix "[s]cutscenes[/s] game screens first, plot later" style.

The one thing that could have been unique about this game is the setting, but even that is a bit of a wash: Despite being set in the “House of 1000 doors” that can teleport to between space and time, and is full of inter-dimensional portals that the heroine is curiously incurious about, 90% of the game takes place in the same locale. Creepy mansion, creepy basement, creepy shed, short interlude for a creepy ghost train, creepy attic. Same old.

In terms of ease of use / help for casual players / my mom (because as a hardcore gamer, I naturally never had to resort to such measures) the game has an in-built walkthrough, a semi-hidden map that tells you which screens have something for you to do, and the big pulsing ? recharges fairly fast and doesn't get used up if the hint is "go to different screen". (These are actually all fairly regular HOG features, just particularly well implemented. On the same note, whenever you need something to progress, the game is remarkably clear about what you need - another virtue that should be common enough, but still good to have)

So, not bad as an introduction, not really that brilliant either. Then again, I'm not a HOG connoisseur, so I'm sure the game is great / terrible by a set of measures I'm not familiar with. Pretty much every HOG you'll find on steam will have a "Very Positive" aggregate score, with the exception of a few stinkers which merit a "mixed" due to being literally impossible to play, so praise in reviews should be treated with a bit of caution.

Good hidden objects scenes.
Puzzles are simple. A little bit too simple.
Plot is... not important. But if you have to know then yeah - It's boring.
Add owerwhelming amount of backtracking and you have right picture.

Only for HOG's fans.
And only with discount.

Whats behind 1000 doors? Good voiceacting with lots of spooky stories because you play the super spook detective Kate Reed! The hidden object puzzles are real creative, instead of looking like a flea market threw up they fit the scenery for item hunting. There is a hint button, and the puzzles arent too difficult, but you cant stuck because if a person wants to just throw their life away they can hit the "skip" button bringing shame and dishonor upon their family. A helpful map indicates areas of interest because with 1000's of doors a map is kinda critical. ooOOoooo the artwork is so nice in this game, everything looks so spooky and the objects in the Hidden Object Games are very crisp and clear so people shouldnt struggle to much. This game plays like a book, its a very exciting page turner, where instead of just one story there are several stories to free the ghosts trapped here on earth. The house can travel through space and time, so who knows where you might end up!

There is a bonus game after the main game that lets you solve some additional mysteries. More than just a mere room its a whole series of events, puzzles, and more hidden object games so this game is a good value at the price.

(A concept art gallery would have been nice because the art is very good, seeing how it came to life would be nice.)
Rating: 10/10 Value: $9.99

A decent hidden objects game, albeit quite easy in terms of puzzles. If you are looking for a charming story and a decent atmosphere, look no further. The story draws on clichees of occult practices and occurrences to create a setting that suits this genre well. However, if you care for puzzles that this kind of games are usually strewn with, you might want to skip this and find something more challenging.

House of 1000 Doors: Family Secrets is the first game in the House of 1000 Doors series. You're a young woman, lost in a mysterious manor that appeared suddenly. In your way to find the mysteries of it, you'll meet the inhabitants... and understand why it's called the House of 1000 doors... as they're appearing and disappearing...

I'm redoing the review as I've replayed the game, which is part of the House of Stark 6-in-1 Bundle, with the Snark Busters Trilogy and three (out of four) games in the House of 1000 Doors series.

The story in itself has no real goal but to wander around and help the residents to finish their tasks or to relieve them (Sammy, Chloe and Amanda are all being disturbed by something). However, the mystery in itself is in reality a test and a choice that Kate, the protagonist, has to make. The bonus chapter is the return of the manor and a request from Margaret Fox, Kate's grandmother.

The gameplay is pretty standard: find items around, use them, solve puzzles (they're really easy apart for one), clear hidden objects scenes (I must say that you don't have many of them and that the developpers recycled some scenes up until 5 times at least). As I've already said, everything is easy, even the hunt for beyond objects as they're easily spot thanks to a change of shape of the cursor. It didn't prevent me to miss some of them as they were in close-up scenes (meaning that some locations had two instead of one).

While the graphics in the cutscenes are average, I liked however the rest of the game as the scenes are really well done. The soundtrack is also very enjoyable.

True, the game isn't any Artifex Mundi developed but it could be easily included in their publishing catalogue. By saying that, it means that I consider this first House of 1000 Doors as a high quality game. For me, it's a must-have.

The art of the game is quite nice and the hidden object scenes are pretty well done. However, I played the game on a mac first and it crashed often, it had a screen resolution bug which auto set my mac resolution to 4k at a non widescreen format with no option to change that. I played the entire game and endured the bugs and crashes only to find the cards did not drop. I then installed it on my PC and had to complete the entire game (3 hours on 2nd playthrough) a second time for the cards to finally drop. On PC there were no bugs for me. Overall the game took about 3-4 hours to complete and I was no longer enjoying it after about an hour or so. I do enjoy hidden object games, but this one didnt really do it for me. Stay away from this one if playing on a retina display mac is your only option. MAYBE pick it up in a bundle if you play on PC.

Pros:
Some nice artwork. The backgrounds are nice.
The hidden object scenes are pretty well done often requiring several steps to repair or paint or uncover objects.
Some of the puzzles are well done.



Cons:
The bugs on the mac version: resolution bug. game timer bug. crash to desktop bug. cards dont drop bug.
some pretty bad voice acting, or pretty bad script reading...can't really say acting. Major con for me.
repitition of the same hidden object scenes
overuse of hidden object scenes. At some points you are faced with one for what seems like every action.
several instances where you find an item that you need but it doesn't work ex. Needed a lantern... found a lantern, but it wanst the lantern I needed and the game does not tell you that particular lantern is not the one you need.
no map for fast travel between scenes and the game requires massive amounts of backtracking
NO ACHIEVEMENTS!