This game has a lot in common with the other I just reviewed, Amazing Adventures: The Lost Tomb. Actually, there are quite a few Popcap games that are pretty much just pure HO scenes with little to no story. Such is Escape Rosecliff Island but I prefer this game over all the rest. I've played this a few times. I didn't REALLY need to buy it on Steam but I wanted it with my "steam HO set" and also wanted an excuse to play it again. I wouldn't say there's anything remarkable about the game. There's no story other than "escape the island". There's no scare factor - you're just searching for items that will help you leave. There's not much music to speak of. The game is just many HO scenes with puzzles here and there (jigsaw, memory tiles, match 3, and word search). There are 25 scenes that you repeatedly visit but there are so many items in each, you're always looking for something different. Find 50 locks in those 25 areas and you open up 2 Bonus Games. One is Unlimited Match 3 and the other is Unlimited Hidden Objects. Just as in The Lost Tomb, you can clear each hidden object scene completely (when you find an item, the word is crossed off and another pops up in its place). So afterwards, you're left with a thoroughly bare room. It's an extremely fun thing to do! No, this game is not for everyone. You need to be an HO fan and be in an HO mood. If you are, I definitely recommend this game.

I enjoy hidden object games, usually.

The problem with Escape Rosecliff Island is that, unlike a lot of hidden object games, there is almost no storyline. You don't get to explore an island, pick up tools along the way, find hidden object scenes and solve puzzles to advance like a lot of the popular hidden object games. You just pick a scene, find some objects, go to the next one, find some objects. Every once in a while, you break up the endless monotony with an extremely simple puzzle; such as, matching cards and word searches. After finishing the end-level puzzle (word search, match-3, etc.) you receive a tool to help you escape the island.

I tried to push through, until I realized that you start revisiting scenes. After that, I just couldn't take anymore.

Maybe, I skipped a cut scene? All I know is that I have no idea why I was on the island. The puzzles are flat and boring and I have no hope that the ending would do this game any justice.

Quite a nostalgic game with plenty of play time. I remember playing this game 14 years ago when I was a kid on my grandparents' desktop. It's well worth the five dollars for a few hours of fun.

Finally, an actual hidden object game. Not random hidden object parts of a puzzle game, but an actual game where 90% is object finding, and 10% (solvable) puzzles. Love it!

Bought it as part of a humble bundle, so I could decide how much I wanted to pay.
After playing through nearly the whole game I wouldn't recommend buying it for ~10€, because it get's really repetetive after a short while. There are 25 pictures you visit again and again and a lot of the objects you have to find appear on several pictures (the horshoe f. e. can be found in nearly every picture).
Still it was quite fun to play, at least most of the time. If you like hidden object games, you might give this game a try when it's on sale.

german playthrough videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzJ2spTFFQw&list=PLn_lVNW9gh7-bO-ZjrzvB2cjqQWmUIghE&index=2

I wish I could recommend this game, but I can't. Not even for the price of 5 dollars.

Apparently the plot states that you have been shipwrecked on Rosecliff Island, and your task is to collect items to help you escape. There is no explanation as to who the previous resident(s) of the island were, or why the island is now deserted. There is no dialogue with NPCs, no narration, nothing. The gameplay consists of you bouncing from one hidden object scene to the next, and as you finish a "level," you complete a simple "puzzle" game such as a word search or matching tiles. Upon completion of the puzzle games, you are rewarded an item to assist in your escape, such as a bucket or a stack of wood. As you progress along, you begin to see the same hidden object scenes again... and again... and again. As much as I enjoy hidden object games, even I found myself overwhelmed with mind-numbing boredom.

On the plus side, the artwork is nice, with the hidden object scenes not being overly cluttered, and the items were often cleverly hidden.

Verdict: Don't spend 5 dollars for this game unless you happen to enjoy visiting the same hidden object scenes over and over. If so, buy it if it is on sale for 90 percent off.

I prefer the old-school hidden-object games like this one--a bunch of scenes with lots of hidden items to find, with the bare minimum of story to tie them together. Not even a story, more like... a theme. Most "HOGs" today are really just point-and-click adventures with maybe a few hidden-object puzzles thrown in, which are fine, but sometimes I just want to mindlessly scan-and-click on a screen for a few hours. It's like solitaire, but with a cluttered room.

Among the classic HOGs, Escape Rosecliff Island shines for me for these reasons:
- The backgrounds, and items to find, are fairly clear and sharp.
- At least for an American English-speaker like myself, the words used to describe the objects are accurate.
- The background music is fitting for the atmosphere of the game, and even though it repeats, it never gets annoying and the loop isn't really noticeable.

My only complaint about this game is a very minor one. When you're playing the "story", at the end of each level is one of a few different types of mini-games that you have to complete in order to move on to the next level; for example, swap or spin tiles to match a picture, a match-3 game, and I think a "spot the difference" one, too. Once you reach a certain level or complete the story, you unlock only one of the mini-games as a bonus to play on its own, and it's my least-liked one: the match-3 game. Given that, I'll never play it, so it's not really a "bonus" for me. Told you it was minor. :)

The more important unlock for me is the "unlimited seek & find" mode, where you go to a location (scene) and find all the possible items as they are listed, still 10 items at a time like in the story.

I bought this game directly from PopCap and completed it years ago, and when I found it here on Steam, I snapped it up again right away. If you're a fan of the old-school HOGs like me, you can't go wrong with this one.

I'm not sure how but I got this game for free. One day I woke up and logged into Steam and there was a steaming pile of free game so thank you Steam for being cool. Now this review is based on the game being free, let me make this very clear - I would not pay $5 for this game. I would pay $2 or less for this game. It's not worthless but yeah.... not worth $5.

That all being said, here is my review:

You find the missing objects before the time runs out. Some objects are really fun and occassionally you get more cryptic clues like 'Gegs' means you must find scrambled eggs in the picture. The actual pictures are quite creative and I can appreciate that a lot of effort went into drawing everything and putting it together. There is a storyline which quite frankly you stop caring about 30 seconds in. This is something I would recommend to casual gamers. I found myself playing this game when I felt frustrated with other games and wanted to just chill for 30 minutes. So I recommend this game only if you're a casual gamer and it costs $2 or less. Ultimately this game serves its purpose of being a find the hidden object game. It's nothing more and nothing less.

5.5/10

This is a pure hidden-object game: one scene after another, no story and no “adventure." But as such, it features some of the best hidden-object scenes you will ever play. They are very cleverly designed to reward careful observation, riddle solving, and visual memory. At some point the scenes will start repeating themselves but with new challenges, and if you memory is good you will find yourself playing faster and faster and gaining more points.

Points? Yes, points! If HOGs ever become an e-sport, this is the game that will be played in the arenas. :) You earn points for every find and lose points for using the hint button. More importantly, you get bonus points for finding series of objects very quickly. It's thus highly recommended not to click on finds immediately, but instead wait until you find three or more and click them all at once in a series. Again, a rewarding challenge to your memory.

The repetition does become tiresome, though, as the game is quite long. You have to just really love hidden-object scenes to enjoy this.

As for points, I am currently holding the high score: 13,284,800, timed at 9:18:55. Please try to beat me. :)

This is the worst hidden object game I've ever played. It's unimaginative and the same scenes are repeated over and over. I went through this one thinking it had to get better, or it was going to have a great ending -- nope. Complete waste of time and money. The horrifying thing is that two more entries were spawned in this series that are carbon copies with new scenes. Wow!