I have to admit, I was not at all excited to play Mystery of Unicorn Castle: The Beastmaster based on the title and description. I’m not one to judge a book by its cover, but I really had the feeling I was stepping into a very low-budget, B-rated horror film setting. I mean really, a Beastmaster and a Unicorn?  But I held out hope that I could find some redeeming qualities, and I guess I wasn’t entirely disappointed.

Mystery of Unicorn Castle: The Beastmaster begins with a cut scene showing adorable little Sophie sitting on her bed playing, when a grotesque creature smashes through her window and steals her away.  Pretty much every kid’s nightmare, so don’t let the little ones see that opening scene. 

You receive a call about the kidnapping and set off for Unicorn Castle, the Beastmaster’s suspected destination after snatching Sophie. Before you can reach the castle, you are waylaid by a giant rat and cast into a creepy cemetery from which you must escape in order to save Sophie.

The graphics and animation in Mystery of Unicorn Castle: The Beastmaster are well done and better than I expected, but definitely have a retro feel. I personally wasn’t a fan of the music and background sounds so I turned them down. 

All the classic elements of a collector’s edition are present including bonus content, achievements, collectibles, integrated strategy guide and interactive map. I found very few of the collectible pumpkins along the way, they are extremely well hidden. 

The achievements were fun to watch pop up for certain tasks, like completing 5 games without a skip.  The integrated strategy guide was huge for me, as was the interactive map, because I found myself stumped more than once trying to find the next step.

The most unique feature of the game that I found was the “karmic choice” options you will come across.  For example, a bug is in your way and you have bug killing spray and gloves. The method of bug removal you chose will influence future aspects of the game. That little bit of “choose your own adventure” style of play was unique and definitely improved my thoughts on the game.

The few hidden object scenes I found at the start of Mystery of Unicorn Castle: The Beastmaster were very typical – straightforward find lists with a few interactive items or progressive finds. Nothing too exciting and can be completed quickly to move on. As with the rest of the game, the HOS graphics have an old-school look and feel to them, which can make it a little more challenging to find some of the objects.

In addition to enjoying the karmic choice element of the game, I found the puzzles and mini-games in Mystery of Unicorn Castle: The Beastmaster to be fun if minimally challenging. In other words, they did make me pause to think, but I solved them easily enough on my own without getting frustrated. 

They are well themed to the game – complete a circuit to restore power, unlock a garden gate by aligning plant symbols, etc. 

I still think my initial impression of Mystery of Unicorn Castle: The Beastmaster based on the game description was not entirely inaccurate. It certainly has all the elements of a cheesy horror film including a huge creep factor from all the insects, fire breathing rats, and giant mutant beasts.

On the bright side, there were elements of the game I truly enjoyed, even though I didn’t care for the storyline itself.