In The Emerald Maiden: Symphony of Dreams you receive a mysterious invitation to visit The Emerald Maiden, a luxury destination that specializes in dream simulation. The summons appears to be from your biological mother, who left you at an orphanage 25 years earlier. Will you finally get to meet your family and uncover the dark force that powers the Emerald Maiden? Find out in this surreal hidden object adventure game!
The Emerald Maiden: Symphony of Dreams takes you to an underwater playground that is the ultimate destination for the wealthy and elite. The Emerald Maiden promises to make all your dreams come true – which sounds perfect to someone who has spent her whole life wondering where she came from.
The promise of discovering your biological mother and finally having a sense of family draw you to the location with no questions asked. However, upon arrival, it’s clear to see there are dark and powerful forces behind the Dream Corporation’s creation.
The Emerald Maiden: Symphony of Dreams is well-made and the graphics are interesting, if not crystal clear. Everything seems to have a tinge of an underwater haze, but that may be intentional to tie in with the theme of game.
The supporting music was not distracting and the voice-overs and sounds are well integrated in the game. There are endless cut scenes and videos that provide clues to the past and help in identifying your mother. I felt they took away from the game, because it eats up quite a bit of time watching them all.
Sure, you could skip through the scenes, but the storyline is rather confusing, and I wasn’t sure if I would know what was going on without the scenes. So as annoying as it was to constantly stop and watch, I thought it was necessary in order to move forward with even an inkling of what was happening.
The hidden object scenes in The Emerald Maiden: Symphony of Dreams were less than challenging for me. Each scene was a mixture of finding lists, multiples, or silhouettes. I was thankful they weren’t overly crowded but would have liked a little more of a challenge.
Some scenes also contain interactive pieces where you uncover parts to something and reassemble the machine to uncover another clue. The added layers helped to make the scenes more interesting. But clearly the ship is falling apart if you have to keep finding pieces to broken objects!
The Emerald Maiden: Symphony of Dreams mini games were slightly less difficult than the HOS – pretty typical puzzles; rearrange pieces when multiples move, matching, mazes, etc. – nothing too remarkable though they fit in well with the theme of the game. The games are enjoyable but won’t be challenging to a more experienced player.
While I think The Emerald Maiden: Symphony of Dreams has great potential, it fell short for me.
The CE contains the usual features – interactive map, integrated strategy guide, collectibles, extras and customizable difficulty setting – but the storyline was a little too complicated to follow casually.
Although perhaps if I wasn’t trying to ensure my toddler was merely playing with her playdoh instead of eating it, I would have caught more of the key points.
Also, as a stickler for details, the eras of the story don’t seem to line up. The Emerald Maiden was supposedly created around 1957 – yet it’s decked out in all Art Deco style and the technology aboard also seems to be from the 20s rather than the 50s. Additionally, the story is to take place 25 years later which would place it in the early 80s – and there isn’t even a hint of big hair!!