Grind Holds this Hidden Object Puzzle Back from Greatness
Chronicles of Albian 3: The Vanishing Village Collector’s Edition (which we’ll shorten to Chronicles of Albian 3 from now on) has made me realise that I’ve been searching for the perfect hidden object game. When each game in the genre comes out, I latch onto it hoping that it can avoid the usual pitfalls of campy, overwrought writing; unnecessary minigames; and a determination to crowbar in some grind. No game has gotten particularly close, which is why I have this Quixotic need for one that does.
Chronicles of Albian 3 is a very good punt at making that game. Greatness is in reach. If this is the third in the series (parts 1 and 2 haven’t graced the Xbox) I wonder whether Chronicles of Albian 4 might be the one to achieve it.
A Hidden Object Miracle
There’s a feeling of craft and quality as soon as you boot up Chronicles of Albian 3. The dialogue is clever and cute in a way that no hidden object game ever is. More often than not in the genre, I’m giggling at a mistranslation or some incredibly overblown voice-acting. That’s not the case here.
Chronicles of Albian 3 dodges these issues by ditching character animations. That means it can focus on some lovely hand-drawn characters who wouldn’t be out of place in a top-drawer visual novel. And the writing gets to breathe: the characters get to have incidental conversations with each other for the purpose of building personalities rather than projecting forward to some world-ending ritual.
It’s unexpectedly funny, too. I don’t think I’ve ever laughed at anything intentional in a hidden object game – it’s always been a goofball animation or dialogue delivery that gets me giggling – but Chronicles of Albian 3 had me chuckling multiple times. It’s not uproarious – just gentle humour that feels warm and well earned.
Where Did You Last Put the Village?
The simple premise of a village being magicked out of existence allows for a decent progression method. You’re bringing the village back, building after building, which means you get the satisfaction of seeing your handiwork rewarded. Coins are gained from hidden object puzzles, and those coins can bring back the mayor’s office, bakery and more. In the Bonus Episode (the reason the Collector’s Edition suffix is there) is even better at this: you even get to hop into the newly restored buildings to do a spot of hidden objecting.
The hidden object scenes are clear as crystal, which is the baseline that all hidden object games should operate by (you’d be surprised how many don’t). They’re also lovely and artful, genuinely well made and not at all AI-aligned. By locating all of the scenes in the castle (and in the village in the Bonus Episode), they can feel a little samey in a ‘medieval room with bricks and wood’ way, but we’re being nitpicky.
Chronicles of Albian 3 has made me realise that I am feather-blind and map-blind. For whatever reason, these are the two items that I always find last in a hidden object scene. I just can’t pick them out. But otherwise the items are all easy to spot, but not in a ‘different art style’ way. Too often, hidden object games make the items easy to spot by lifting them off the backdrop in an unnatural manner. It can feel like too much of a hint. The closest Chronicles of Albian 3 comes to this is a faint glimmer on items that have been unfound for too long.
A Repetition or Two Too Far
All of this is spot on, and I was ready to dish out a very rare hidden-object 4 out of 5. But Chronicles of Albian 3 has a myopia that lets it down. I wonder if its origins are in free-to-play (and there are clues, like currencies that you never get to see or gain), because it wants you to play for a long time, and that means diluting a lot of what makes it worthwhile.
To unlock new scenes, you need gems, and those are found in the scenes. To return the vanishing village, you need coins, and those too are gained by completing scenes. But you need a lot of gold and a lot of gems, particularly as the game progresses, which means a sizable degree of grind. You are playing each scene four or five times, and that began to test my patience. It was never unenjoyable – there seems to be some magic in the algorithm that means that the hidden items required are rarely duplicated – but it was tiresome.
You also don’t get to choose which scenes you repeat. I’m not sure why Chronicles of Albian 3 made that decision. Perhaps it’s to stop players farming the easy/familiar scenes for gold and gems. But what it means is that you don’t get to ‘learn’ levels, which I would have enjoyed more. And some of the levels that come late on are less repeated than early levels. I wanted to play one level more than two times, but the game had finished and the Bonus Episode wouldn’t truly let me back.
To Minigame or Not to Minigame
I’m also on-the-fence about some minigames that crop up between levels. They’re supremely familiar – including the Holy Trinity of jigsaws, sudoku and pipe puzzles – which made me question what the point of including them was. But they’re skewed to being very, very easy and the controls are excellent. So excellent, in fact, that they’re better than most games that are dedicated to those puzzles. So, while I sighed inwardly whenever they cropped up, they never blocked me from progressing.
I mentioned ‘the perfect hidden object game’ at the start of the review because it felt like Chronicles of Albian 3 was heading that way. Initially, when the grind wasn’t clear and the minigames hadn’t ground me down, it seemed like all the right decisions were being made. The visual novel presentation and the crisp hidden object puzzles were nigh-perfect. But an unhealthy need to keep the player playing, perhaps thanks to some free-to-play origins, does let matters down somewhat. I didn’t need to replay levels as much as Chronicles of Albian 3 wanted me to.
So Good, But So Long
As a four or five hour game, Chronicles of Albian 3 would have been sensational – a kick up the butt for other hidden object makers. As a ten or twelve hour game, it’s been lengthened too long on the rack. Chronicles of Albian 3 is a map to making a much better hidden object game, and hopefully someone will find it and reach treasure.
Now, if only I could actually spot maps in the hidden object scenes.
Important Links
Chronicles Of Albian 3: The Vanishing Village Collector’s Edition Casts A Hidden-Object Spell On Xbox – https://www.thexboxhub.com/chronicles-of-albian-3-the-vanishing-village-collectors-edition-casts-a-hidden-object-spell-on-xbox/
Buy on Xbox – https://www.xbox.com/en-GB/games/store/chronicles-of-albian-3-the-vanishing-village-collectors-edition/9MX8B77WT8NC/0010
