Mystery Case Files 3: Ravenhearst (HOG)
January, 2012 review; updated March, 2019

NOTE: This title played full-screen with no problems.

This is the start of a storyline that is touched upon in MCF4: Madame Fate and continued in MCF5: Return to Ravenhearst (RTR being the first IHOG-adventure of the series).

The most memorable thing about Ravenhearst is the story. It starts out as "just" a hidden object game with a romance as the theme... but it evolves into a dark and compelling tale.

Options include separate sliders for Music, SFX and Environment, with a Full-screen/Windowed option. Happily this title will go full-screen on the Steam version, although the Steam overlay doesn't work (no screenshots - darn!)

You have two difficulty options: Detective Mode (normal, timed gameplay) or Relaxed Mode (which gives you extra time).

There are no cut-scenes, but plenty of story via Emma Ravenhearst's diary entries, which you will find throughout the game.

You have FIVE hints to use per "level". The introductory level has three rooms to search, one of which can't be done until you solve the "puzzle lock". The number of rooms to search increases as you progress through the game. You do not have to find every single item (they give you a two-item leeway), but HINTS are limited, so use them wisely!

A slight irritation is that you have to wait for a moment for your "crime computer" to register that you've found each item - you can't click one object after another because the game won't notice that you've clicked on the additional items.

At the end of every level is a jigsaw-type puzzle, yellowed like an old black and white photograph for you to put together. Finishing the puzzle will bring you a scrolling-text version of Emma's diary entry. You can access it anytime via the diary (top right) or skip it altogether - your choice.

You will revisit levels throughout the game, but never the same set of rooms (ie. at the beginning you visit the front porch, entryway and the parlor. On level two you visit the entryway, dining room and servant's quarters). Items-to-find are randomized, so you may need to find one item you've had to find before, but then have six new ones on the list.

Now, back to the infamous puzzle locks. You must figure out the door locks before you can access certain rooms. Click everywhere, try everything. There is logic to them, so give them a try before looking for solution! I had a lot of fun trying to figure them out on my own, and they're one of the best parts of these early MCF games.

These puzzles are SKIPPABLE, but there is a penalty, and you will lose all of your hints for the next level. The skip option can be accessed by clicking on the telephone on right hand side.

Graphics-wise, there's a lot to take in. There are odd items scattered everywhere, yet the developers kept the "feel" of it from being overwhelmingly cluttered. The way the music, story, graphics and gameplay work together creates a mysterious and eerie ambiance.

This classic Mystery Case Files game is the beginning of a truly enthralling story, and recommended for those who like straight-HOG's, interesting stories and unique puzzles!

Circa 2006, now here is a Hidden Object (HO) game that stands the test of time. This is the third game in the Mystery Case Files series which is one of the longest running hidden object series there is with 13 games as of Aug, 13, 2016. (5 are direct Ravenheart games, with 2 "spinoff" games (Madame Fate) and 1 tie-in (Dire Grove, Sacred Grove) to the Ravenhearst saga). But enough history - so love it or hate it, this is still one of best Hidden Object games on the market today. Old school it may be but this game was also one the first HO games to actually use a storyline.

Storyline: In 1894, a young Emma Ravenhearst arrives in Blackpool, England to begin a teaching career. She meets a dashing young man by the name of Charles Dalimar. He proposes to her and builds a manor house naming it Ravenhearst in her honor. In present day there is a mystery surrounding this woman, Emma Ravenhearst and the manor built in her honor. The Queen of England, yes really the Majesty herself, sends an incomplete and torn diary to you, the Mystery Detective (from Huntsville - 1st game), with the directive to find Emma's diary pages and solve the mysterious happenings surrounding Ravenhearst Manor. Spoilers if I said more since 1/4 of the game is piecing (quite literally) the torn diary pages back together and reading Emma's life as it unfolds.

Gameplay: As I said before: OLD SCHOOL. The hidden object scenes, 30 plus, is a room within the manor or a place around the manor (a porch, 3 floors inside the manor, a tower, basement, cellar, shed, treehouse, garden, etc). The scenes could be considered repetitive though the list find objects within the scene change with each new diary page chapter. This repetitiveness is a GOOD thing since each diary page chapter is TIMED. The initial time to solve a diary page chapter starts at 45 minutes but decreases in time to 30 minutes or less depending on the diary page chapter difficulty. Fortunately the scene itself does not scramble the objects, so rote learning of where the list find objects are helps as the overall time decreases. TIME DECREASES as more diary pages are found and assembled, and the AMOUNT OF OBJECTS needed to be found INCREASES. (Go repetitiveness of room scenes and the objects staying put where found last.) Each diary page chapter ends with an actually piece together "jigsaw" puzzle. The diary page has been torn to bits and must be reassembled, all within the time limit. Each illustrated pencil drawn page tells the on-going story of Emma and her ultimate fate.

A few words about the scenes and list find objects: Charles is an EXTREME hoarder. Every scene is jammed packed with items (100s of items) and the player must find only 8-10 objects in each scene. There are truly no unfairly hidden items there are simply 100s of them to sort through and the graphics, at least on my computer are comparable to the game I already own. Each diary page chapter increases the overall amount of items needed to be found up to somewhere around 64 items in 30 minutes in about 8 different scenes. (forgive the math, it is not accurate just using the numbers as an example). Fortunately the player does not have to find everything generally there are 2 or more objects in every diary page chapter that do not need to be found.

A word of ... warning about the find objects. Looking for a plane now that could be a wood plane (a carpenter's tool) or an airplane which could a jumbo jet, a toy, a decal or a paper airplane. Compass is another one, I recommend looking for a drafting compass first (that metal "V" looking thing with a pencil attached) before the round object with North and South. The list find objects may or may not have more then one meaning to them. Also for anyone born after say 1995 they may or may not recognize some of the find list items, like reel (which is a film reel), or phone (land line phones - can one even buy those anymore?) or even camera (since most things are now all digital on a cellphone). Just thought I would warn everyone.

The find objects as I stated before do not move randomly about in the scene fortunately. However the player will get a few new objects to find in previously played scenes or simply new scenes to play as the game progresses. Keep in mind as the game progresses the TIMER is getting less and less minutes on it, so knowing where find objects are is wonderful.

Now a little spoiler besides being a mega-hoarder Charles has a hobby of creating some very intricate and puzzling locks on some doors. These are the scenes that have a key hole on them. I recommend looking for and starting with these keyhole scenes because these intricate, complex locks are puzzles. I call them master puzzles. These master puzzles have NO INSTRUCTIONS and MUST BE figured out from the clues provided somewhere on the puzzle itself. Basically a master puzzle is a bunch of little puzzles that form a much bigger and more complex puzzle all with the intent to find the "key" that opens the door. Remember solving these lovelies are part of the overall TIME which is why I recommend doing them first or one can skip them at the cost of 5 minutes.

Here are some examples of the types of mini-puzzles found on a master puzzle lock: 1) Need 5 batteries - oh that upside down sign says "all on", board above has little light bulbs all off, pull the lever and some of the lights turn on, now click on the lights to get them to all turn on, repeat until there are enough batteries. 2) Need to 2 eggs, the boot behind the chicken kicks it when the lever is pulled making the chicken nose dive into an empty feed dish, no feed, no egg, no egg to solve the colored egg puzzle below which opens the door. So where is the feed, oh above the chicken but which of the 3 feeds or combination of the 3 feeds is needed? Look for clues. And this why I recommend starting with the master lock puzzles.

Last paragraph I promise. The End Game, and of course it is timed, 30 minutes to be exact. Object find 7 keys scattered throughout Ravenhearst and solve the final master lock puzzle. Does not sound hard until one has to search through about 15 hoard filled rooms or places looking for a single key which may or may not be in that particular scene. Fortunately the game helps a bit with that and once all the keys are found in that area (1st floor, outside, attic, etc) the area can not be assessed anymore limiting the search. Then there is the end game master lock puzzle - no hints, no instructions, and NO SKIPPING. If the player runs out of time, the game scrambles the keys into new locations and the player starts again. (Actually at any point in the game if the player runs out of time, that diary page chapter starts from the beginning of that chapter.) Do remember repetitive scenes and repetitive non-moving list objects in that scene are a bonus to the player especially when trying to beat the clock timer.

Highly recommend, especially as a change of pace from the point and click, mini-game, hand-holding, hidden object games of today.

PS I own every single Mystery Case File game there is and have played them multiple times. For those interested: Any Mystery Case File not found on Steam can be found on the Big Fish Games website. And thank you BFG for bringing this series to Steam.

PSS I even know where the BFG logo is hidden in this game. : )

The most important thing to know about this game before you buy it is that it's an old-school hidden object game, NOT like the more modern Artifex Mundi-style titles.

This means that there is no real map, no inventory, no walking around to different locations. Each "level" consists of a series of scenes ("rooms") that are cluttered with roughly 9849259025 items, and like modern HO game scenes you have to find around 8 objects in each room. The "level" is cleared when you've found the right number of items; there are generally about three more items on the list than you need to progress so there is a little wiggle room if you really can't find something. If you play for an extended time in one sitting, you'll find it gets a little repetitive; personally, I find this one better as a time killer once in a while rather than something to spend an afternoon playing.

The minigames are few and far between and consist of a puzzle to unlock a new room. The puzzles are not the standard HO game fare that you may be used to if you play the more modern games.

Plot is unfolded through a series of jigsaw puzzles after each "level" that unlocks a journal entry.

The biggest complaint I'd have is resolution; this game is made for older computers and it shows. Items are sometimes difficult to find due to graininess/blur. However, it is perfectly playable and although it perhaps didn't age all that well from a graphical standpoint, it is enjoyable if you like purely hidden-object games.

So in the end, the recommendation is positive for people that enjoy the HO aspects of modern Artifex Mundi and similar titles. If you play the more recent titles and hate the HO part, you'll want to avoid this as there is little else.

I would NOT get this game at full price; $9.99 is far too much for a ten-year-old game without any frills that didn't age that well. Wait for a decent sale if you're planning to pick this up.

This is one of my favorite hidden object games. You are a detective and your job is to search around a huge mansion to find clues about a missing woman. There are basically 3 parts to the game. 1. You'll need to find, say, 30 items. The game will give you a few different rooms to search with a total of 35 items. So if you can't find a super sneakily hidden thingymabob, you can just switch rooms and search for other items. Once you find your "30" items, you go to 2. You need to complete a jigsaw puzzle. The picture will unlock a page of the missing woman's journal and you'll slowly unfold her enthralling story. Keep finding items and putting together jigsaws to complete the journal. So now I'll mention 3. You don't have access to all the mansion rooms at first. Many are locked and you have to do multiple things in a scene to get it open. Each puzzle scene is quite unique and you get no hints so you pretty much have to click on everything until you figure out what to do. This may sound annoying but, believe me, it's not. The locked doors are extremely fun to figure out and you really feel a sense of accomplishment when you solve them. The atmosphere of this game is spooky. Things will howl in the distance, floor and wall boards will creak, and a ghostly voice will let you know that, no, this mansion is not a pleasant place. :p I've played MCF: Ravenhearst many times on Bigfish and I DO have to warn that the Steam version is a bit wonky. You can't chat or take pics while playing and when you quit the game, Steam tells you it's still running so you have to shut it down via task manager. Major pain. Still, I have to give this game a thumbs up because I really enjoyed playing it, for the umpteenth time. Also, if you enjoy this little gem, there's a sequel - Mystery Case Files: Return to Ravenhearst which is much more like an Artifex Mundi game, with an extremely creepy story. Actually, I'm about to start playing that next! If you're an HO fan, I highly recommend Ravenhearst and Return to Ravenhearst, either on Steam or Bigfish or wherever else you might find them. :)

As a special agent, you're sent by the Queen of England to investigate the curse of Ravenhearst Manor. You have Emma Ravenhearst's diary, a young American that came in England in the 1870'. What will you uncover?

MCF is a well-known series that was one of the most famous during the first era of hidden objects games, though the series is still continued and was even ported to portable devices, like the DS, iPad or even on consoles like the Wii. This game is the 3rd installement and is opening the Ravenhearst story-arc.

The goal is simple: you clear scenes with a list of items, you open doors with elaborate locks (and with stuff that aren't used but are just there to confuse you) and at the end of a level, you have a jigsaw puzzle to build in order to read the next page in Emma's diary.

You have also five hints that can help you.

Ravenhearst isn't so different from what I remember of Huntsville and Prime Suspects, that I played years ago in retail versions. However, the setting is more dark and is orienting the series towards more paranormal/obscure storylines. I understand why they expanded this universe, as many questions are still unanswered, apart for Emma's fate.

And while the locks could get you some white hair, the hidden objects are respecting the code back then: some very obvious, others well hidden or so small that you're missing them easily (I still don't know where is the hotdog in the treehouse for example). Thanks god, you don't have to clear each scene completely as you need to find a required number of clues. Generally, you can let two items on the side.

Another thing is that Ravenhearst doesn't seem to be translated here on Steam. So, unless you're used to English, you'll have some difficulties to find some items. I still don't remember what a spigot is and a fudge stick isn't something I would have in mind.

The graphics are quite correct and creepy, even if you're marvelling at the number of rooms in that manor. I mean, a surveillance room, really?

Anyway, if anything, I'm glad to see Ravenhearst finally discounted during these sales. This one was on my wishlist since 2011... and while the price is reasonable, nowadays, you can find the game for less (I found some HOG in retails for 3 euros for example), so, yeah, a discount is probably the best way to acquire it.

I love this game, I use to play it when I was younger with my mom, of course that's before steam was even around lol, but I'm glad bigfish and steam got together and brought this amazing Mystery game to the community, This game you have to sit there and try finding things like you're playing Ispy or something, and then to be able to continue to the next level you have to solve puzzles, its really cool and fun.

I distinctly recall sitting on my couch with my mom as a child playing all of these games. A favorite enough that I repurchased it all these years later!

 
My Mystery Case Files journey has taken 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. The most notable difference in Ravenhearst is with the introduction of the infamous Rube Goldberg puzzles.

To date, there are 26 games in the Mystery Case Files franchise. Games 1-9 were developed by Big Fish Studios, Games 10-11 were developed by Elephant Games, Games 12-20 were developed by Eipix Entertainment, and Games 21-26 were developed by Grandma Studios. 

MYSTERY CASE FILES: RAVENHEARST 
Just as in its predecessors, Huntsville, and Prime Suspects, you are tasked with searching for clues in the form of Hidden Object Scenes, but this time you are searching 32 rooms of Ravenhearst Manor.
 
DIARY PAGE ENTRY PUZZLES 
The goal is to find all of Emma Ravenhearsts' Diary Entries by finding clues via hidden objects scenes. They have given us a fifth Hint, but I strongly suggest that you save the hints for the Door Puzzles. Each room has 8 objects to find, but you don't need to find every item (the amount required is shown at the bottom of the list) so if you can't find an object, simply click the Map tab and move on to the next room. Once you find the required clues/objects, you must piece together fragments of a diary page by rotating and placing each piece correctly, at which point you can read Emma's entry.
 
DOOR 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. At first glance, it may seem overwhelmingly impossible to figure out, but trust me when I say that if you just tinker around with the crazy gadgets, you will figure them out! If you have saved your hints, they will come in handy now because they can be used to figure out the next step of the puzzle. I have played every game in this series, and it saddens me that no one has been able to recreate the Rube Goldberg door puzzle masterpieces since Big Fish Studios handed over the reins of this series!
 
Up next: Mystery Case Files: Madame Fate to find out who kills the psychopathic fortune teller at the stroke of midnight!

•Huntsville
•Prime Suspects
• Ravenhearst
•Madame Fate
•Return to Ravenhearst
•Dire Grove
•13th Skull
•Escape from Ravenhearst
•Shadow Lake
•Fate's Carnival
•Dire Grove, Sacred Grove
•Key to Ravenhearst
• Ravenhearst Unlocked
•Broken Hour
•The Black Veil
•The Revenant's Hunt
•Rewind
•The Countess
•Moths to a Flame
•Black Crown
•The Harbinger
• Crossfade
•Incident at Pendle Tower
•The Last Resort
•The Dalimar Legacy
•A Crime in Reflection

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A true classic hidden object game. I was very pleasantly surprised to find this game would run on my current PC as so many of these older games just can't function. Challenging enough to make you think and actually hunt through the scenes but not so complicated to feel like you can't actually finish.

the old games are way better and theyre still so much fun.