Eventide: Slavic Fable, from developer Artifex Mundi, is their latest entry in a long line of puzzle and hidden object games. Based in Poland, the developer has made these types of games their focus and many players of all ages enjoy them throughout the world. This time, players take the role of a young botanist whose grandmother has requested her help at Heritage Park, where she has been caretaker for years. Heritage Park is a very special place where humans and mythical creatures live in harmony. Full of incredibly painted and beautiful scenes, and an interesting story, Eventide: Slavic Fable is a must for gamers who just want to relax and take their time.
Set in a world full of actual Slavic mythology, Eventide: Slavic Fable can even be called a teaching tool in many ways. I know I learned much about the stories and characters of a culture that I honestly knew very little of beforehand. The story is driven by the player character’s grandmother being abducted before her arrival. The fairy tale creatures your grandmother took care of and supported are unsure what to do, and it falls on you to put the pieces together and solve the mystery. Find your Baba (grandma) and save the creatures of Heritage Park.
The gameplay is simple in Eventide: Slavic Fable. Players should have no problem using the controller like a mouse to “point and select” various objects, opening and closing things, looking for keys and other items, anything you can pick up can eventually be useful. There are varying degrees of difficulty though if you are hunting for a challenge. Players are provided a “hint flower” on a timer; this item will tell you where to go next every few minutes if you are stuck. It can help to solve puzzles or just get you back on the right path for the story to progress. Checking the provided map is always useful if you want to avoid “cheating” with the flower. Not just a scavenger hunt, there are many different types of puzzles throughout Eventide: Slavic Fable. Some of them were a real brain bender for me. There are also collectible cards, with fun information about the many mythical creatures to find scattered about. Also keep an eye out for hidden collectible flowers.
The graphics in the many painted screens are, as I said, very artistic and beautiful. The high detail made item hunting a great challenge at times. The cut scenes are not as well done; the graphics are older looking, the movements are very basic and low quality, but they do the job of progressing the story well enough. The music in Eventide: Slavic Fable is relaxing and fits the scenes, but voice audio is lower quality than some may be used to. Given that the puzzles and item hunting is the core draw, this was acceptable to me and didn’t put me off of Eventide: Slavic Fable. I really enjoyed the great characters, and the fact that they are based on actual mythology is even better. The story of the “kidnapped grandma” isn’t very original, but Artifex Mundi’s writers did a great job keeping it interesting and flowing well. I was very satisfied by the end of the tale.
While not for everyone, Eventide: Slavic Fable fills a niche market and does it well. Interfaces provide easy-to-learn play and puzzles that are just challenging enough without going overboard. Eventide: Slavic Fable isn’t very long, at about 6-7 hours to complete, depending on how well you are at finding hidden items and solving the puzzles. Most of the time is spent going screen to screen, backtracking to use an item you just found. A player’s memory must be solid to avoid using the hint flower. This item does allow anyone of any skill level to enjoy Eventide: Slavic Fable though. At a MSRP of $9.99, pick up Eventide: Slavic Fable and enjoy a relaxing day of learning and hunting, see how good your eyesight and puzzle solving skills are. Be a detective and save your Baba. You may just learn something too.
Eventide: Slavic Fable is available now on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. This review is based on a PS4 code provided by that purpose.
