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Time Mysteries: The Ancient Spectres 
ExclusiveTake on Time Mysteries: The Ancient Spectres, a challenging Hidden Object Puzzle Adventure game! Stop the evil witch Viviana and save Esther's family! With her heritage on the line, it's up to Esther to discover the history of the ancient Ambroses and explore time itself. Go on an incredible adventure and change events in the past to solve an incredible mystery in Time Mysteries: The Ancient Spectres!
- Save Esther's family
- Explore time itself
- For a more in depth experience, check out the Collector's Edition
- Get the Strategy Guide!
- Check out our Blog Walkthrough
Click images to enlarge
Game System Requirements:
- OS: Windows XP/Vista/Win7/8
- CPU: 1.0 GHz
- RAM: 512 MB
- DirectX: 9.0
- Hard Drive: 715 MB
Game Manager System Requirements:
- Browser: Internet Explorer 7 or later
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Time Mysteries: The Ancient Spectres
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Customer Reviews
Time Mysteries: The Ancient Spectres
97
97
One Awesome Game
This game was beautifully done. It was long and it was very captivating. I loved the time machine with the little built in map of different areas.
The music was easy listening and soothing. The scenes were artfully done and colorful. The hidden objects were easy to find with some that were not.
The game gave you a little bit of the past and present with a little bit of evil thrown in. Makes you want to either go back in time or into the future.
I thought for a while that I had to redo the whole game over because of the last part of the game,but I soon learned that nothing was wrong with the time piece. No errors at all. Whew. Just follow the directions if you use the walkthrough. I had to because I thought I had caused an error in the game as per the time piece.
On a scale of 1 to 20, I would definately give it a 20. I enjoyed the game and even though I fell asleep for a bit (lack of sleep), I did eventually finish it. Almost 8 hours to do it.
I highly recommend this game and can not wait for the sequal to come out.
Thanks BFG for the game and thanks you developers for producing it.
We got "SNOW". Brrrrrrr.
December 2, 2011
This is a must-play for all HOG fans!
This game, which is from Artifex Mundi, took me over 5 hours to finish (SE version).
I usually don't like games that take too long, because I get bored very quickly. However, this game was never boring.
You play the character of a woman living in 1830 England. You have to travel back in time (to several different time zones, and not only within England, but to Venice as well#, in order to change the past so that different versions of the past and future get changed.
There are quite a few iHOS #interactive hidden object scenes#, but the graphics are beautiful, and objects are easy enough to find.
However, if you get tired of the HOS, you can switch to a Match-3 game and do that one instead.
Gameplay is first-class, and the puzzles are fun.
Graphics are excellent.
There is voice-over, and lots of animation.
There is a choice of custom and system cursor, but the cursor does not change when you declick the "custom" cursor box. The system cursor is just a fraction smaller than the one that is supposed to be the custom cursor. However, I like the cursor just the way it is. Not too large and intrusive, but informative when pointing at different objects.
There is a diary, which keeps track of the story, and shows you your objectives.
There is no map as such, but the time capsule - once you have put it together - can be used not only to jump to different time zones, but also to different areas.
There are 2 play modes, normal and advance. The HINT button is always available, there is no refilling in normal mode, and the SKIP button fills quite fast.
The game filled all of my widescreen laptop, and I had no problems with the game whatsoever, using Win7, 64-bit.
I haven't had this much fun with a HOG #hidden object game# in a long time.
December 7, 2011
Very Good, But Not Brilliant
This is not my new favourite game, but it is very good. I enjoyed the quality production - graphics, sound effects, atmosphere. I also like the silhouette feature.
There are lots of HO scenes with enjoyable puzzles. Optional Match 3 game was an interesting toy, but I'm mostly into HO so I didn't use it much.
Help is good and you get plenty of direction using the time machine itself. I thought the family tree, tracing the branches of the family throughout history particularly fun.
Why not brilliant? Sometimes I lost track of the "why" in the storyline, some tasks didn't exactly have an obvious purpose that carried the story forward. Also, much as I loved the fireflies, I wished they'd have disappeared as history was being fixed.
The primary reason this game didn't get 5/5 is the ending. The game ended without finishing the story and I hate that. If you are enjoying the story, it leaves you feeling conned.
December 13, 2011
TO BE CONTINUED!
Nothings worse than getting into a good game and then not be able to finish it because it is "to be continued." It was a great game, but that ruined it for me. I wish that if a game was going to be one in a series it would say that up front. Or it should at least end the story at hand and start the next game as a new adventure as already seen in many great HOG games. I still would recommend this game to anyone who knows that up front.
December 5, 2011
maybe a 3.5 out of 5. Two things were very good about this game
What makes this game different is two things; an interactive transporter map and a ?click on 3 or more? mini game which you can toggle back and forth during a hidden object scene.
You don?t get the map until about 30 mins into the game and very annoyingly at the end of the game it is taken from you, so there was needless back and forth.
As well as the transporter aspect there is also a time element, change something in time, and travel to the same scene at a different time and that will have changed. I really enjoyed that aspect. The map also gave you an exclamation mark in areas that you could do something in, which was good.
I also liked the progressively hard mini game which you can choose instead of doing the hidden object scenes, and can even toggle back and forth during the scene if you change your mind. I did not like the repeating of the hidden object scenes, all were at least repeated twice and some more than 4. If it was just repeated twice I?d get it ? you can do the hidden object scene one time and the mini game the other. There seemed to be more time and thought into the ?click 3 game? (I wouldn?t call it a match 3 as you didn?t have to drag an item to make a chain of 3 or more).
But that is where my enjoyment ended, and I did mostly enjoy this game until near the end when I lost the map then I had no patience.
THE NOT SO GOOD -
You repeat one puzzle a few times, another puzzle twice, and apart from a standard pipe puzzle at the end, and a couple of others there weren?t any puzzles. This was an inventory game a lot of ?pick up and use in other scenes?.
Continuing on from the previous game in the series, there is a cliffhanger, here a literal ?to be continued.? I hate these, especially when the plot wasn?t that gripping to begin with ? I was bored with it.
the repeating of the hidden object scenes slowly grew more annoying.
Some tweaks, this game could have been a good game, it was so close. For those that like a change from hidden object scenes and like those ?match 3? minigames, or if it?s a DD it?s worth a look. It?s a standard length ? it took me about 5 hrs. About C+ rating - quite a good rating for me.
(I am now doing 'out of 5' star rating and not the 'like' etc rating)
March 6, 2012
Awesome Game
I truly enjoyed this Adventure/Hog game. I sometimes get lost in time travel type of games, and then get bored, but the developers really had a handle on that, and made it easier to remember what was where, and when :)
I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of puzzles, loved those too, and fairly easy to figure out. The graphics were very good and clear,enabling these 64 year old eyes to still focus after playing a few hours :) The theme is saving Merlon, the story is about saving him, and gathering necessary items to do that.
I appreciated all the detail that the developing team placed in every scene. The rooms in the mansion, furniture and art works, just beautiful. For a while I just sat and checked it all out. Other times I played around and click on the little fire fly like fairies? just to hear the cute sounds they make. If it wasn't for the fire thing, I'd like to have a few flitting around the house :) All in all I had a good time playing this game, and hope to see their next game come out real soon.
Have a great day E1.
Carol
December 6, 2011
The best game in a while
Wow, what an enjoyable game, it took me a couple of days playing many hours each day to complete it. I have played a few lately that are over with in just a couple hours, this really was worth the money, can't wait to see more!
I don't listen to the music or sound so I can't rate that, but I can tell you the quality of the rest. The story was really good, there wasn't too much talking but you were never lost in the story. And the spelling was good, didn't find any mispelled words and the structure of the sentences was correct. I know that some of the game designers are from other countries and English is second or third language and that maybe they don't know someone who speaks English well, so they have spelling and structure difficulties, but it still irks me to see them.
The visual effects were astounding, I really like the way you could move from on place to another without having to walk all the way there. Granted, the playing area did get a bit large towards the end and if you didn't know where you were going it took some time getting there, but hey, isn't that why we play, to figure our ways around places? I just wish this game could have gone on even longer than it did.
The puzzles weren't so difficult that you would have to skip them, but were just enough to make you think a bit. The hidden object scenes almost always had you finding different things if you had searched that one previously. The objects were cleverly hidden and once you found it, you could see it without magnifying glass or telescope. The lighting was good also.
So overall, I think this is a great game, a definite buy. I wish I had bought the collectors edition now, oh well, I will just have to buy the next in the series! If you buy it, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did, in fact, I'm sure you will.
December 5, 2011
So disappointed by the end that it ruined the game
This game was fabulous! Great visuals, excellent challenging games, fun story/world.
That said, the end was so abrupt and disappointing that I can't give this game a good rating. I feel like I want my money back. I love a sequel game as much as anyone but this game has no resolution and leaves you so unsatisfied. It was like a crescendo that never broke. I happened to go to the gargoyle instead of some of the other rooms that had exclamation marks and he stole my time device which I never got back so I was never able to finish those other parts of the game. I thought it would take me back to them eventually but alas it did not. It's almost like the game creators got lazy. All the puzzles and hidden object areas were clever and challenging and then (what turned out to be) the final climactic end-of-the-game challenge was a cake walk. I just don't feel I can truly recommended this game.
June 20, 2012
Great Game! Odd Ending!
I had a blast playing this game! The graphics are amazing, the puzzles are challenging and the storyline is fabulous! I did, however, dislike the ending. The ending indicates a sequel, however, it was too much of a "cliff hanger" in my opinion. I'm actually rather confused at this point regarding the story and the ending. Anyway, there are two game modes to choose from, which I really like. If you choose to play in the casual mode the hint button fills up immediately, so you don't have any wait at all if you need it again right after using it. If you do use the hint button it doesn't tell you exactly what to do, it just points you in the right direction, which is certainly something that I like. I hate when the hint button spells out exactly what I need to do next! During the HOS you can choose to either play the HO game or you can choose to do a match 3 game instead. I love having the choice, because it mixes it up for you in case you get bored playing the HO games during the game. There were quite a few hidden object scenes during this game, which I didn't like very much, but some people love that, so I thought I'd put that in my review for you HOG lovers! :-# I prefer more adventure and finding things and putting them together to a ton of the hidden object games, BUT that would NOT stop me from purchasing or recommending this game, because this game is truly a lot of fun. There's lots of running around #so to speak# BUT I love that there is a time travel device where you can travel from place to place, and/or room to room, in the blink of an eye and you don't have to backtrack and run around so much using a ton of time to get from one room to another and then back to another room, etc. Just click on your time machine, pick your room and off you go! All the backtracking may not bother some people, but I hate having to run around and go back and forth and back forth, because I forget what I was doing and forget what I've seen and which place needs what; that just completely discombobulates me! I hope that makes sense! :-) I'm going to play this game again in the harder mode, which I hardly ever do after I've already played a game, but again, this game was a lot of fun and I'm hoping to understand the ending better by playing it again, maybe I missed something in the final scene?! Oh yeah, the music ... after a little bit the music kinda got on my nerves, so I turned it down, but left the sound turned up, so I could hear the people talking and hear the "devices" and "machines" noises. All in all, this game was super fun, challenging, but not so hard I couldn't figure it out, the storyline was great, but the ending was too much of a cliffhanger for my taste, the music annoyed me, but I was able to turn it down and leave the sounds on, which I enjoyed and the graphics were absolutely amazing!! Oh yes, and be sure to read your diary/journal, because you will be totally lost if you don't. That's really the only thing that explains the storyline, because there's hardly anyone to talk during gameplay! I've tried to cover all the aspects of the game that I like reading in reviews before I play a game. I'm sure I've left out some things, but I hope that this review helps some of you decide whether or not this would be a game you'd like to try! I personally think this game is great and hope those of you who choose to play it enjoy it as much as I did! HAPPY GAMING!!!
December 21, 2011
This game is so much FUN..............
Awesome game! Great story line and a whole lot of adventure interaction. Lots of hidden object scenes with the ability to see a silhouette of the item if you want AND you can switch between a mini game & hidden object to find items. The time travel is super and the games are just right. Try it. You will like it......
December 3, 2011
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