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Mystery Case Files®: Shadow Lake 
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Uncover the evil legend that haunts a forgotten town in Mystery Case Files®: Shadow Lake! In 1973, something wicked took over the town of Bitterford, Maine, after an unsuspecting inmate unearthed a mysterious object from beneath the prison floor.
Years later, Bitterford lies in ruin. You must join forces with psychic Cassandra Williams, played by award-winning actress Lea Thompson, to investigate the events that led to the town's destruction.
Only you can expose the evil that lurks in the depths of Shadow Lake. But beware... What you discover may haunt you forever.
- For a more in depth experience, check out the Collector's Edition
- Get the Strategy Guide!
- Check out our Blog Walkthrough
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Game System Requirements:
- OS: Windows XP/Windows Vista/Windows 7/Windows 8
- CPU: 1.8 GHz
- RAM: 1024 MB
- DirectX: 9.2
- Hard Drive: 1536 MB
Game Manager System Requirements:
- Browser: Internet Explorer 7 or later
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Mystery Case Files®: Shadow Lake
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Customer Reviews
Mystery Case Files: Shadow Lake
156
156
Loved this Game!
I loved it so much I didn't want it to end. It was very nice to see Madame Fate once again as well. I am a big fan of MCF and I still play the other versions. This one was very different and I had a lot of fun with the puzzles as well. Big Fish Rules!
March 13, 2013
MCF, what happened? So disappointing.
I honestly don't know what to say (which will ultimately follow with alot to say).
Over the last few years, MCF has ruled my Mac...and each year, I wait anxiously for the next one. I don't even bother with the demos. If its MCF, it's bound to be excellent. After 13th Skull and Escape from R, your expectations are at their highest and honestly, all other HOG's fail miserably in comparison. Nothing is ever good enough. So what happened here?
The game started off pretty well. I met it with my usual enthusiasm and was pleasantly pleased with the graphics, the use of real actors, and the direction the storyline appeared to be taking. My first 10 minutes seemed to be going well. And then Lea Thompson (or more specifically her character) happened.
What followed from here is baffling. Why is the acting so bad, why was the story so poor, and WHY was there a complete DISREGARD for morphing objects? Sure, there's nothing wrong with a classic object find but if you are going to re-introduce it after MO, make it count. This was terribly boring and far too easy.
So what is wrong with it (Yes, sadly there is more - and it pains me to write it) -
1. Predictable gameplay and very little entertainment value
2. Boring object finds and sadly no MO.
3. Extremely tedious picture finds. The last MCF game I played was EscapeFR and the picture find was great. But here the drawings collected were pointless and in my opinion, not strong enough to base an entire game on. And the videos that followed - goodness no!
4. You would expect some relief when the puzzles are presented to you but I had to fight off the urge to skip each one. I NEVER skip a puzzle and here, it was all I wanted to do.
5. Where were the interactive rooms? Usually, you could play with all sorts of pointless objects. Dolls would talk, drawers would pry open. Again, I refer to Escape FR. Half the fun is learning that the game itself is a toy.
6. The game cuts and back-and-forth'ing are horribly painful
7. I hated that there was an order to EVERYTHING. "Find this and bring it back". Well what if I don't want to? What if I want to stumble into somewhere / onto something else and start a different task? Sure, you might not be able to move forward until certain elements are completed but most of the time, you will find something else to do on a different path - so allow me that option.
8. As much as I can understand that the map might be favoured by many, I love that I need to move through all the areas of the game. Im forced to become more familiar with the scenes and I discover something new everytime.
Whats right with it? Live actors and is some cases, great graphics. That's it. But to be fair, most of your other MCF games included the same and I would play those a million times over. So what does this actually do better?
The truth of it is, I never finished my game. I couldn't. I ALWAYS buy the CE but accidentally bought the SE - and boy am I glad I made that mistake. Was there some sort of missed deadline here? Or did MCF just halve production time to maximize profits? You already have a world of followers, you don't need to fix what isn't broken! Return TR and Escape FR were EXCELLENT, unbeatable in my books. So just keep doing what you're doing and you'll have another hit.
To sum up - too much money spent advertising and too little spent living up to its expectations. Sorry MCF and BFG. Although I am still a huge fan and will continue to play your games, I feel this project has opened some uncertainty for future MCF's. Demo's first from here on out ;(
March 13, 2013
Worst mcf ever
I couldn't wait for this game to be over...way too much live actor scenes...not enough game...terrible games...floating pictures to assemble, really that's the best they can come up with...extremely disappointed...I think big fish needs to reconsider how they determine the game of the year...hope next mcf game is better.
March 13, 2013
Was extremely disappointed
I am a huge fan of other MCF games such as return to ravenhearst. I was extremely disappointed when I bought this game, though. I thought it was really boring because I had to go back and forth throughout scenes to copy scraps of paper for a medium. Also if you're not into spiritual/demonic things, I wouldn't recommend this game.
(Spoiler) there are objects that are exorcised, a medium who throughout the game talks to spirits, and a demonic worship scene which I didn't like. And it felt to me that they were trying to scare you throughout the whole game, and I didn,t like that because after a while it got boring.This game is not as good as other previous MCF games. I regret buying it.
March 9, 2013
Really, game of the year?
I never write reviews, but couldnt let this one go. Not only was this one of the bottom 10 games I have ever played, it was slow, irritating, and boring. What there they thinking, all of their other games are great!. I found myself hoping for the end, and as it went on, I finally said enough is enough, exited and uninstalled it without finishing. Thankfully I got this at half price. I could go on and on, it was just a very big letdown...
March 4, 2013
repetitive, Repetitive, REPETITIVE and it repeats itself a lot.
Don't know how this got under the classification of MCF which are mostly good games. DIRE GROVE was the best. HUNTSVILLE was a boring HOS. SHADOW LAKE is NOT a good game. The story line is boring and disjointed. It goes on forever and forever. I forgot what the whole premise was and how it began. If I saw one more FLOATING PUZZLE I thought I would scream. I'm not even at the end yet but you can be sure I know what's coming........Go back to the Motel, get pieces, put pieces in place, find objects, Go back to the Motel, repeat.
Wish I could tell you the story line so I could ruin it for you so you won't buy this game but I think I lost it along with my mind about 5 hours ago.
The best part of the game is the cover art of the lake which I haven't even seen yet. I've got one more map location to get to if I can stick it out...maybe I could find the Lake and drown myself !!!!!! Or at least go kayaking.
March 3, 2013
Not bad, not great either...
My review is based on the SE. I wasn't thoroughly impressed with the game as part of the MCF series. By itself, if having not played any of the others, I probably would've liked it a lot more. The game is way too short, especially for the file size. I should've known since I completed the trial 1st chapter in less than 30 minutes. It was a complete surprise that it took me only 2 more hours to complete the game. I found it lacking in puzzles and interactive scenes. I liked the HOS being spread out like they were, but I agree that putting them in a small window was not good. And, some items that aren't needed stick out like a sore thumb, poorly placed, while some needed items blend in a little too well; I had to consult the walkthrough once because I knew what I needed but couldn't find it, and I still needed a screenshot to see it even after I knew where to look. The acting wasn't so bad, I thought that the actors portrayed their characters pretty good. Some of the cut scenes, I felt, were only there to add to the spook factor and didn't complement the story or the game at all. I don't really like jumping from my seat during a game, but they were fairly predictable, so I knew when to look away. This game could be great if there was more to it. There are too many holes in the plot, the story needs more details. I think that if there had been more attention and effort put towards conveying the story and making the game as interactive (or more) as previous MCF games than on those block puzzles, more people would have found it more interesting and enjoyable. I hope that Shadow Lake has another chance to give players more background into the characters and events leading up to the player's arrival. All in all, it was a little too predictable, the map and lack of interaction made it seem shorter than it probably is, and I felt like I couldn't connect with the story or the characters. I hope the next in the series has more puzzles, more back story, more well... Just more. I would recommend to players unfamiliar with MCF. Lastly, to BFG: if you're going to force the credits on us, make sure there aren't any typos first; I'm pretty sure spell check would have caught ASSISTAND.
March 1, 2013
waste of money and time
Ill start with what I liked:
the HOS were more blended in with the game, ea you didnt get a cluttered screen with random object that don't belong there. Always hated that, so that was a good innovation. Still like the real actors, althought this specific actress I could do without. Very nice graphics.
Unfortunatly, thats where the positive ends.The beginning of the game seems very suspenseful and fun but that feeling dies down quickly. One thing I especially hated was that there's no bonding whatsoever with the character you're playing (the detective). No comments when you click wrong, no suggestions, no remarks... Also, he didnt write anything in his journal when an event happend. You could always read up on his thoughts before, which I very much enjoyed.
It was buggy at times! I once got my map wiped out and another time the diary was half empty again. Unacceptable.
The puzzles were absent most of the time. If there were any, they were either stupidly easy or I had no idea what the point was. I always loved the difficult puzzles that gave you a sensation of achievement when you completed them. There's a difference between not having a clue what to do and finding it difficult to do it. Like the latter, hate the former. Near the end, I was skipping a lot, just cause I stopped caring. Also, the repetitive weighted block puzzle was SO boring. It's a simple puzzle, made 'difficult' by making it hard to move the puzzlepieces around. Lazy developing if you ask me.
At some level I liked that you could use an object multiple times (the ladder) but I kept forgetting to bring it along from one scene to the other. Backtracking just to get the ladder was NOT fun.
A terrible hint system! The hints you get are often so vague they don't help at all.
All in all a tremendous let down after enjoying the Ravenhearst games and dire grove. I honestly thought they'd pick up the pace after the failure of 13th Skull but after playing this, the skull seems a great game.
February 21, 2013
Not up to snuff
I am also an avid MCF fan...have also bought everyone...I will not be buying this one. Not at all intreged with the storyline or the lack of intensity. The whole "ghost hunters" thing was pretty cool. but that was it. I think you should give us a new MCF and for free to us MCFaholics.
February 17, 2013
same thing over and over again
Nice having the map. Got bored after a lot of the same stuff over and over. Didn't even use all my inventory. Game just ended as if they ran out of ideas, Taking all the pictures back to her at the hotel got real old, real quick. A big let down. Hated trying to put the pieces of pictures together that were 'floating' around. I really expected more from Mystery Case Files. Always like the 'tie in' from other MCF games like the Madam Fate character that is on the Pachinco game.
February 10, 2013
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