Age of Enigma: The Secret of the Sixth Ghost puts you in the role of Ashley, a young woman who has been having unsettling dreams about an old house. Then one day, she gets a letter that leads her to the house from her dreams. Here you are greeted by a shadowy figure named Nathan, who tells you that you are a medium and that you must help the six ghosts trapped in the house find peace and redemption.
You can help these ghosts by completing tasks for them in the house or finding lost items for them. Once they trust you, you will travel to a location in their past and learn what sins they need to atone for. The ghosts may have committed terrible crimes for which they must repent, or they may have prideful and allowed innocents to suffer as a result. It is up to you to help them see their mistakes and help them find peace.
The first thing to note about Age of Enigma is that it is not a hidden object game; it is a point-and-click adventure game. There are no scenes of objects to search for, everything you need is scattered around the rooms of the house. Remember that the first rule of any adventure game is to pick up everything that’s not nailed down.
You will be solving numerous inventory puzzles on your adventure along with a surprising array of traditional puzzles. Several of the puzzles in Age of Enigma are quite unique, putting new spins on standard puzzles.
There are two modes of gameplay to choose from, casual and adventure. Adventure mode allows you to move freely through the game, without a lot of hand holding. In casual mode, you may not be allowed to enter certain areas until you’ve completed tasks in another area. The adventure mode also promises additional dialogue and more challenging puzzles.
If you become stuck on a puzzle you have the two options. When you click on the skip button you can choose to either use a Joker and have the difficulty of the puzzle decreased, or you can choose to skip the puzzle completely. You can use up to two Jokers on any puzzle and at any time. There is no recharging of hints or the skip button, and you are free to use these options as much or as little as you’d like.
Another nice feature of the game is the built-in guide. For a game that is not a Collector’s Edition, this is a very nice feature. If you become stuck, you can open the guide and it will list a series of questions that are related to where you are in the game. Clicking on the question will give you a hint about what to do next. This is additionally nice because it allows you to get specific hints, without spoiling other parts of the game.
Age of Enigma is not without its faults though. While there are many puzzles to solve, there are several points in the game where the same puzzle is used over and over again, to the point that it feels like a game lengthening tactic.
Depending on your experience with more traditional adventure games, you may find Age of Enigma to be quite short. Even if you don’t skip any puzzles, a seasoned adventurer could find themselves finished in less than two hours. However, if you are less familiar with the genre, this is an excellent introduction to it.
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