Dark Romance: Winter Lily begins the story with Nivella, a witch in search of eternal youth, something that can temporarily be achieved by stealing souls of the young. But there is one special soul that can keep her young forever – Princess Lily of Winterhelm.

Sound familiar? There are many parallels in this story to that of the fairytale Snow White, down to the dark hair and beauty of “Winter Lily.” Her quest creates havoc on the people of the kingdom of William of Lanceya – the king she wounds while trying to find out where Lily may be. Hurt badly, he stumbles to another residence, needing assistance, and who should he find to help him? That’s right – Princess Lily of Winterhelm.

It’s interesting how you begin this game as King William of Lanceya, and as needed, you get to change characters – to Princess Lily of Winterhelm. You enter as the King, wounded and needing help, but you can’t make your own potion while bleeding profusely, so voila – you switch to Lily’s character.

This happens often and adds a nice touch to the game. In fact, all the characters are unique and engaging. Prospero the Alchemist is one of the best while the fairy, although dressed beautifully, has a voice that is whiny and grating. Once she exits scene, however, you’re happy humming the merry little winter tune while you look for important objects.

The graphics are well done and include chilly winter scenes complete with gently floating snowflakes and sparkling ice (which you find has frozen some of the objects you need). Beautiful rich hues of blue and purple glow softly as you move around each scene in search of what you need.

The graphics are well thought out, something that you get to see in each detail – especially the costumes and surroundings. I loved some of the items stuck in the snow. There are some interactive objects – like birds – that sing and fly off when you click on them. The music plays softly in the background, nothing was too loud or distracting.

The hidden object games are plenty and fun to play. They are cleverly done and not your ordinary, run-of-the-mill games. It was enjoyable to try and figure out what I needed to do to match items or integrate two items together to make the one I needed. In one case, a book would give you information as you found objects – and it would only proceed when you found a certain amount. There’s about 13 of these, so take your time and enjoy them.

You will also need to find 15 dwarven artifacts, 12 chess pieces, and 48 lilies. Once you find a good amount of lilies, you can use them to go to the royal chambers to purchase items to decorate the room (fireplace, chairs, bed, etc.). The mini games were appropriately challenging, although I really didn’t like it when I made a mistake and the snarky voice was quick to say, “You lose! Try again.”

Dark Romance: Winter Lily was a great game to play. Not only are the graphics visually appealing, but the hidden object games and objectives were fun to complete. Switching back and forth between two characters was a fun way to jump around in the game with different objectives to complete. All in all, it’s a great game to play, and if you like a dark mysterious fairy tale, then you’ll really love this game.