Temptation: Episode 1 HD uses a lot of the standard mechanics found in Hidden Object Adventure games, like using a sparkle to indicate an area you should investigate or using a group of sparkles to signify a Hidden Object scene, but they also introduce a few new tricks which really kept things interesting. While you are still in your village, you receive three magical flower petals from the tempting raven to aid you in your escape from the fog. Eventually, on the palace grounds you will find the actual flowers that these petals came from and they can do impressive things. The Flower of Gold will make gold objects come to life, while the Flower of Beauty turns ugly things beautiful again. Lastly, the Flower of Growth makes items grow larger. These will come in handy quite often as you encounter objects of gold that block your path, or decrepit things that won't work, or even something too small to allow you to reach a hard to get to spot. You will also use finger gestures often, instead of just tapping. For instance, one puzzle had you gather the ingredients needed to make a pie, then actually bake the pie using finger gestures to simulate stirring, etc. Another puzzle had you using a shadow cast on fabric to create a dress pattern, then cutting the fabric out. Still another puzzle had you pulling straps of fabric down by sliding your finger down the screen to create a fairytale picture. This puzzle was a bit tough, but very creative. What I really liked was that the puzzle would play out so you could see the solution, if you decided to use the Skip button. Sometimes I know how a puzzle needs to be solved, but don't always have the patience to go through the motions.
You will have a Task button to help you on your journey and your task list will be broken down quite nicely in small steps. There's also an Arrow button so you can see what choices you have as far as travel. The Hint button comes in handy if you aren't quite sure where to proceed and you can sometimes use it to get to the correct area, then proceed without actually having used the button up. In other words, until you actually click on the item or puzzle needed to proceed, the Hint button will continue to direct you without "using" your Hint up.
I did experience some buggy behavior with Temptation: Episode 1 HD and it almost always surrounded the magic flowers. Twice, the game thought I had picked up the magic flowers, but the flower didn't show up in my Inventory. I couldn't use the flower to proceed with the game and using the Hint button merely took me to the next puzzle, since the game thought I had the needed flower. I ended up turning the game off in frustration, only to return later to find the flower in my Inventory. This happened numerous times, even after I had obtained the flowers. When this happened, it always ended in frustration, but was never enough to make me stop playing the game permanently. There were also multiple times when I had to tap an item twice to pick it up, so this mechanic could use a little tightening up for the next installment.
I can honestly say that Temptation: Episode 1 HD is great fun and I can't wait until the next episode is released. The storyline was dark, magical and a bit terrifying and played to some of humanity's best and worst traits – kindness and greed. Hats off to Vogat for creating a truly original Hidden Object Adventure. Here's to hoping the dev team can figure out the buggy flowers for the next episode, because I can't wait to see how the story plays out.
