Based on my experience, when a HOG comes out from Gogii Games, we are to expect either a real treat, close in standard to Artifex Mundi, or a complete waste of time that would make you pull your hair out with frustration. For Voodoo Whisperer: Curse of a Legend, I sincerely cannot decide what to say. It is neither of our expected choices. There are good things and bad things to say about this game, but they kinda even each other out at the end.

The curtain opens up to 1930s New Orleans, Louisiana. After witnessing a séance between a Voodoo priestess named Marie Leveau and her young apprentice Lillian, it takes a brief moment for us to understand what's going on. It seems that Marie Leveau and many other residents of New Orleans fell victim to a curse, and all hope rests on Lillian's frail shoulders to solve the mystery, save residents and confront the responsible villain. So, as an apprentice Voodoo practitioner, Lillian ventures out to do all that is expected from her.

The setting and background artwork are really interesting. Anecdotes specific to New Orleans are scattered all around and Haitian Voodoo culture is a great pick to make a HOG game out of. Character animations, on the other hand, are little more than illustrated blocks, moving as broken puppets would do. There is no lip movement to match voice recording at all. Characters just stay around to look surprised and mysterious while a mediocre voice acting follows during cinematics. Game menu can only be reached from the map, and the map itself is rather unnecessary since it only shows acts of the game, rather than usable places in an act.

There is little to no puzzle sequences: 2-3 matching games, a pipe game and 2 rotation games. There is no challenge to neither of them. That's about it. HOG scenes are pretty imbalanced too - 12 or so obvious items and 3 impossible even in a million years items - , with a favoritism for British vocabulary, rather than American. There is no cookie jar, yet there is a biscuit box. So be warned. One adventure element that I've come to like is Lillian's Grimoire: we collect recipes for spells and voodoo dolls that we have to gather items for, and combine them to cast a spell to progress. The Grimoire also contains some lore about Haitian Loa spirits like Maman Brigitte, Shango, Ogoun and Legba... and it all comes to an end within 2 hours. That's it.

One fair warning: the ending is no ending at all. The game stops at a bad cliffhanger and declares "to be continued". Sadly, there has never been a sequel, and the development team parted its ways with Gogii Games. So there is little to no hope for Lillian's story to continue. There are tons of unanswered questions and irrelevant sub stories that get away without closure. As a side note, one whole act of the game is completely cut out in this version - The Hotel. The game progresses right down to the Bank after the Bar, and leaves already frustrating storyline with more holes. If you'd prefer the complete version, go to Big Fish Games to give this game a try.

These are all common perils to HOG genre, I know. But it seems I've become picky after playing Artifex Mundi games. Considering the story has huge continuation problems and the Steam version is missing a whole part of the game, I'll end up giving this game a downvote when I think of many elaborately developed HOGs with complete stories out there. Maybe I'll update my review in the future... come to think of it, maybe not.

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So I'm not really into the hidden object point/click adventures, but I was amused by the concept and thought I would give this one a try. I liked the idea, so here we go.

Good:

The concept is actually pretty interesting. The story has a basic set up: New Orleans has fallen under some kind of curse and its up to a rookie voodoo witch to set things straight. The idea of an adventure that themes itself around 'realistic' magick and spell-craft is pretty cool in my opinion, and it seems to be done well.

There actually is a bit of homework that went into this. For example: the brick dust, or red clay dust, you get at the beginning of the game actually is a thing for voodoo practioners as a defensive item, and its not uncommon to serve up mojo in cloth bags like you see in the opening sequence and throughout the game.

You spend most of the game looking for such spell ingredients and picking up mojo to cast spells and solve problems (or give you hints). Which, is an interesting break from what I normally see in clicky-click adventures. You still have plenty of times when you need to do practical things like search for a screwdriver to unscrew a latch and other things, but there are some pretty interesting moments when you solve problems in an impractical way by using magicks or spells to achieve supernatural results.

And I can give a game credit for putting a little meaning and history behind its spellcraft, instead of just saying "Magic power!"

The story actually does a decent job at throwing a few curves into the mystery of what is going on, but only every now and then. Its otherwise straightforward, and not really noteworthy or condemnable either way.

The main meat of the gameplay is the hidden object scenes, where you have to clear out a small list of items from a messy scene, which ultimately rewards you with keys or ingredients you need. They usually aren't too hard, and are a lot more entertaining than I thought they would be; coming from an action game guy. There are some puzzles too, but they are usually very short and very easy, and the exploration is a little too straightforward to be called gameplay.

And the game's still graphics look great by the way.

Some of the hidden object scenes are really quite absurd though, and it does make me wonder how any sane person could keep some of the messes seen on the desks and tables in this game!

Which brings me to the bad...

Bad:

This game's setting is really dark and gloomy. I feel like there is some legitimate work that went into this game to make it a 'dark adventure. But, then the game happens, and there is a huge dissonance in game and setting.

The game is ridiculous and inconsistent most of the time. It expects you to do things out of order, and what you can and can't do at times isn't exactly clear.

The game has a tendency to force you to do things step by step. Anytime you go through a process, instead of being able to get the whole thing done at once, you have to do part A, go get items for part B, do part B, go get items for part C, do part C, instead of getting all the items and preparing to do the task in one go like a normal human being would do. The game will literally not let you get everything you need at once; either the protagonist will say she doesn't know what to do with this, or the game just won't even notice it and write it off as background until you need to pick it up. It just causes a lot of needless backtracking.

And sadly, all the magicks and spell crafting in this game are contextual and very limited. You only make and perform each spell once, and you only use spells every now and then. Which is a shame, as I feel like the game kind of undermines its own idea by not using the character's voodoo abilities more often. Instead, it tends to favor more traditional point/click gameplay.

The story, while decent most of the time, has a lot of bumps. Lillian is noblewoman, but can somehow pick locks with no explanation as to how she knows that. She talks as if she doesn't know her own house in the first chapter, and given that her suitcase is kept in the pantry I'm not surprised. It seems like everyone you meet is very familiar with voodoo, and nobody seems to really be interested in the fact that you are saving the town with magic. Dead people don't know they are dead until you talk to them, but can accurately recall their cause of death anyways. Villains don't fry you on the spot for no reason other than to give you time to defeat them.

Its not cringe-worthy, but certainly not good. I'm not even nitpicking either. This is THE GAME. This is pretty much what makes up the story.

But here's a nitpick: For a wealthy family that owns a maid and a gardener, the house is an absolute sty.

I would actually go as far as to say that the only real effect this 'curse' has is to make things messy, as cursed presences take the form of piles of junk that have to be magicked away.

The music is ok, if overly dramatic most of the time. The 3d animations and 3d models range from bad to horrifyingly bad. I would have prefered this game to be in all 2d and still images. The voice acting is decent during some of the cutscenes, but the dialogue is overall amatuerish, cliche, and sometimes just silly.

At one point, the game asks you to put ham in a mortar and pestle. It even says it in your magic spell book, IN THE SPELL's DESCRIPTION, to put "a smelly ham" in a ceramic mortar. Someone seriously wrote that as a spell.

That's this game's biggest problem. Its got a dark adventure setup, but the game's action is just too stupid to be taken seriously. The ridiculous actions combined with the absurd dialogue just makes this game seem foolish, and that's a huge red mark for a game with this kind of set up. The constant backtracking doesn't help either.

Finally, this game is painfully short, and has the nerve to force a "To be continued..." ending.

In summary, I would just say that this game is trying to be too serious for its genre.

Overall:

I would have liked this game to be better than it was. I would have liked a game that stuck with its concept and tried to break out of the genre it set out for. I think a puzzle game that focuses more on magicking rooms back in order and a more open adventure with a focus on collecting and testing out ingredients to find solutions to problems would have been more interesting than the hidden object games. Its pretty, but the gameplay just doesn't work with the story.

Maybe I'm expecting too much of a genre I know nothing about, but I'm just going with my opinions. There was serious game potential here, and it was wasted on a silly object find game with silly writing.

I like a game with a good concept and setting though, and there is a pretty good setup. And for what it is, it was still fun for a few hours. I just would have liked a bit more content and a bit better gameplay

I don't know. I'll call it at a coin toss. I personally was more amused with this than I thought it would be, but if you have any kind of high expectation for this I'd stay away. Take that for what its worth.

I played it. I finished it. I didn't hate it. So I recommend it. Try it or don't. Its a gamble of a game in my opinion.

This is the first time I have wished that there was a Neutral button for a review.

The Good:

This game has a great story that pulls you in, a great atmosphere that gives some genuine chills, some well done puzzles and the objects that you need to find to use to progress make sense.

The Bad:

A very abrupt cliff-hanger ending that leaves your heroine in peril with no sequel in sight. :-( It leaves you feeling as though you are missing two thirds of the game.

Conclusion:

Although I enjoyed what there is of it, I was very glad that I didn't pay the full price. If you enjoy hidden object games then you will enjoy this one but buy during a sale and be prepared to be very annoyed with the abrupt ending.

Too bad there is no middle ground here: it's a positive or a negative rating you have to make. Not everything is bad in that game, yet I can't recommend it and forced to put a negative rating with the system.

I love Hidden Objects games and while I can forgive a lot of stuff, I can't really recommend this one for a reason: I don't always have enough hints to guide me into the story. The tasks are self-explanatory but you don't have any hint for where to go. And when you're sure you need a tool you've seen in a scene, you might have to wait until something else happens or worse, you collect stuff BEFORE the task was given. As a result, while the story is interesting, it can be confusing because of that. Also, when you begin the story, you don't know why your character is with a medium (are you a client? Someone with abilities?), which is sad, because having a little background wouldn't hurt.

Another negative point is in the HOG scene itself: some of the objects are barely visible (I remember the fingerless glove having the same shade of color than the ground - or a wheel padlock in a light that was so bright that you couldn't really see the object).

But otherwise, graphics are correct, soundtrack is correct and while you're in the end always doing voodoo dolls to free people, you're acquiring spells that help you to advance (and THERE, you have suddenly hints for when to use them). Too bad they're underexploited. It would have been nice to use them more than three times.

Besides, will I buy a second Voodoo game? Yes, because I want to know the end of the story. They managed to make a cliffhanger. Besides, maybe they've improved it: after all, Samantha Swift, Mystery Cases Files, Mystery P.I. or any game made by Artifex Mundi improved over time.

If you can pick this up cheap then it is worth roughly 2-3 hours of clicky click. The find the hidden object parts are pretty easy and it has a decent story but it ends with....To Be Continued.....

I really enjoyed this game. More of an older style adventure game with hogs, but the hogs were quick(easy to find items with the helpful magnifying glass accessory) and fascinating as all the items were of the period and beautifully depicted. The story was engrossing and I didn't want it to end, which sadly it does, on a cliffhanger.
This developer (Gogii games)is Canadian (like me!), and I feel proud , as it can't have been easy, competing with the big name developers of the time. I will definitely play it again.

I love hidden object games. I understand there are some items that are confusing or that you don't expect what they are, but that's the point of those games. There's a couple of problems of this game that makes me dislike it, but not hate it.

I live in south Louisiana, so I know about the culture and stuff around here. Apparently, this game failed to capture it. Using only Voodoo to relate to New Orleans doesn't help.

Another thing is the abrupt ending. I like the story, but the ending just washed it away.

This isn't a good game, but not a bad game. I got this game because I love to see stuff that takes place in Louisiana. This one, was a slight disappointment.

Surprisingly good game. Very entertaining and for less than 5€, it's a catch.

If you dont use the hint button a lot and if you try the advance mode, it's more fun to play and you prolong the gameplay.

All in all, a very clever game with lots of puzzles, amazing searching of things/clues and interesting enough plot to make you keep playing on.

Warning, it has four areas to search/play and stops there with a "to be continued"...sadly I wanted more areas to play and find out the secrets behind the story which takes place in Old New Orleans...well, patience till the next installment or update.

DON'T BUY IS NOT FULL GAME. The game is not full it ends with a cliff hanger and there is NO SEQUEL.
It was a good game and there is quite a bit to it. However one of the comments posted a response from a Dev saying they ran out of money and never finished the game or made a sequel.

At first sight you expect to have a whole game. But what you get is nothing like it at all.
It seems to skip part of the story. It says go to the hotel, but instead of that you end up at the bank. The map is big, but only a few places will become active. And they cut the game short by putting in a "to be continued". But there is no part 2.
So, at this point, the story is unfinished, and you will never know the ending.

The story itself is interesting, but because at least 1 part is missing, it leaves a hole.

There are a lot of hog's, and that is a plus. But the object hidden in the background are not visible. So if you click around, you suddenly find the item. But you never saw a part of it.

I would not recommend it, because you got, at max, half a game.