Great storyline with an original mystery, but the gameplay could have been more somehow.
It involves a 2D image with 3D characters on, and being able to move around the image on screen. If you want to move your character elsewhere, it opens up a new 2D image. You move the cursor around the screen to identify objects to take a closer look at or interact with, and to talk to your characters. Its fairly easy to play as the cursor changes if there is an object or person you can interact with.
You can't get killed in this game, or take the wrong path or decision. So its a case of trial and error until you find the right action. There are videos along the way as you progress through the story. There is alot of walking around, and just as much talking to other characters, so if its action you're after then look elsewhere. This is more an adventure, but it can be a slow adventure at times. Walk and talk, walk and talk, and then figure out how to complete a task.
The graphics are very detailed, and I like the old Victorian industrial look to some of the buildings, landscapes and objects. This common theme helps to connect the different places that you visit.
The best part of the game is obviously the storyline. It is very immersive with mysteries, puzzles and lots of unanswered questions. You go through the game wanting to find out more, wanting to answer the questions and figure out what is going on. In a way its like a detective story as you travel to locations, find clues, and slowly build up a picture of what happened in the past.
I found in later parts of the game, it became more difficult to know how to complete a task. Figuring out what you had to do was easy, but knowing how to do it became more harder. You had to do a specific action or say a specific phrase to a specific person to progress further and build up the necessary information and objects to complete a task to get the mission done. Therefore some of the more difficult tasks could have been made a little easier to figure out, without having to view a walk-through document.
The game finished answering some of the main questions, but ended on a cliff-hanger resulting in you not knowing what will happen next. This is clever of the game producers, as if you want the story fully answered, then you need to buy part 2 of the game! I've even heard of a part 3 possibly been released in the future, but I don't know when or if that will definitely happen.
It would be good for this game series to be published in a written novel in some way, as the story is good with main characters, villians, puzzles, and an original mystery that goes back in time to before modern human civilisation reached parts of the world.