Introduction
Haunted Manor 2 – The horror behind the mystery is an interactive horror game published by redBit games. It is available on android for 2.99 USD. It is available in two versions: the full version and the light version. This review covers all the aspects of game like gameplay, graphics, sounds, and if it’s worth your money or not.
Gameplay
The game is set in a rainy, stormy and dark night. You are driving your car and it crashes in the woods leaving you to survive the whole night in the midst of the dark woods. However, you find a big abandoned mansion nearby and it is your only chance of survival. The feels and visuals of the mansion are exactly what you may expect from a horror game.
The mechanics of the gameplay are similar to the classic escape the room games available on different app-stores. You touch on different things to interact with them and find your way around the haunted mansion. You store all the items that you find on your way around in an inventory and use them later in rather creative ways to progress to the next scenes. You also have a journal to keep track of all the clues you find around the scene which are useful to crack the cryptic puzzles. The mechanics and controls of this game are elementary and easy to get used to.
The gameplay that this game offers has more to do with solving complicated puzzles and mysteries rather than a number of jumpscares. Infact, this game has no jump scares except the random appearances of the aesthetic ghost of the haunted mansion. All the scenes are designed in such a way that you have to think outside of the box and use all the available items on your inventory in many perceptive ways to progress to the next scene. These mysteries contain of logical puzzles, observational enigma and some other stuff that you may not be able to solve and might have to look up on the internet to progress.
The total runtime for gameplay of this game is about one and a half hour which is pretty impressive for a non-repetitive android game. However, you will take a lot longer in completing the entire game considering that you may get stuck at a scene for quite a while. This gets frustrating at times as there is no “hint” option available. So, if you get stuck your only option is to look for a walkthrough on the internet. However, the gameplay does not fail to keep you engaged with aesthetic visuals and interesting mysteries.
Graphics and sounds
The game is packed with some stunning visuals considering that it has been developed for android. Most of the scenes are inside the mansion but the game does spend a considerable amount of scenes in the rainy backyard of the mansion. All the graphics are beautiful and are detailed enough to notice all the important stuff around the scene you need to interact with. The graphics have improved a lot from its predecessor game, The Haunted Manor 1.
The sound effects are just as mesmerising as the visuals and carry the whole mood of the game perfectly. The sound of the stormy night along with scary sound effects masked with the sound of interactions around the scene make the game very engaging and fun. However, some of the sound effects may seem repetitive after a while but they don’t muddle much with the gameplay.
The flaws/cons
Every game has it’s flaws and this game is no exception. There are some glitches in the game that are not major but may cause the game to misbehave. The probability of encountering such glitches is very low and only a few players have reported it. Also, some of the puzzles may be very tricky to solve and the game not having a “hint” options is also a major drawback. However, the internet is always to your help in such cases.
Is the game worth it?
If you are into the classic escape room games with a touch of horror to it, this game is worth every dollar you pay. If you think that a horror game would be packed with jumpscares, this game ain’t the one. The game adds the flavour of horror of using the aesthetics of the game instead of using unnecessary jumpscares. The long gameplay along with the mesmerising visuals and engaging sound effects makes this game a treat for both mystery solving and horror genre lovers.