In Mystery Heritage: Sign of the Spirit you must unravel a death that may or may not be ghostly in origin. Legend says a witch put a curse on the Williams family and the death of Ronald Williams, the eldest male, seems to fit the bill. Now ordinary townsfolk have started dying, and the new heir to the Williams family has called you in to solve the mystery before whatever befell his uncle happens to him, too. With the town on the brink of hysteria, it is your task to discover the truth: is this a curse? Or murder?
It was a dark and stormy night. No, I mean it. There’s a storm a-brewing out there, and what does that kind of weather require? That’s right, a good murder-mystery. So I went flipping through potential games when BAM! There’s Mystery Heritage: Sign of the Spirit. Ghosts and mystery? Sign me up!
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If I’m going to be completely honest, I was prepared for Mystery Heritage: Sign of the Spirit to be the b-movie version of the murder-mystery variety. But boy was I in for a surprise! First off, look at those graphics. Just look at them. The artistry is just gorgeous, with lovely rich colors and inspired settings.
And the character design is just as snappy! I even enjoyed the voice acting, most of which was dripping with snooty. But it worked, because many of the characters looked like they should be snooty. One of the characters that we see quite often is the witch ghost, and I thought her design was subtly creepy (which I love). Just this unassuming blond woman, who happens to be floating around as a ghost (have I mentioned her creepy Stepford-like smile?).
The only problem I had with her was how she was animated. Whenever you happen upon the witch she kind of… floats around the screen. Which I don’t have an issue with; it’s driving the "ghost" thing home.
What bothers me, though, is HOW she moves. Her bottom half is sort of a foggy trailing mist, and as she floats around the screen that mist kind of bobs… really, it makes her look like an octopus. Like Ursula from The Little Mermaid. It was just strange. Maybe she was a sea witch? (Get it?)
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As I mentioned, a really big highlight of this game for me was how visually appealing Mystery Heritage: Sign of the Spirit is. I was really impressed with all the details, and that carried over to the hidden object games.
The scenes were just so interesting that I occasionally got distracted just looking at them. I did find, however, that they were a bit challenging, even on the "casual" setting. I’m not the kind of person who is good at picking out a single item in a giant pile of junk to begin with, so add in a busy backdrop and dim lighting, and I’m in over my head. I can tell you right now I’m never going to find that button in the hearse on my own. Never gonna happen.
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Beyond that, I was also occasionally annoyed by the silliness of a hidden object area. For example, the one in the trunk of the missing lawyer’s car. I understand why you would choose to put a hidden object area there, it makes total sense. But why on earth would you fill it with dead rats and nooses? And dynamite? Really? It doesn’t make a lick of sense and that kind of thing irks me, epically when 99% of them make at least a little sense. Still, the trunk looked terrific, as did they all. Here’s one of my favorites. Can you see why I love them?
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Another area I struggled with was the puzzles. Normally, I’m pretty ok at figuring out how to complete a puzzle, but there were a few in Mystery Heritage: Sign of the Spirit that I just couldn’t figure out.
I would give it my best, but over time that "skip" owl was looking better and better. Probably one out of every three puzzles I struggled with, so it wasn't enough to put me off the game, and mostly I could understand the concept; I just couldn't make it happen. And after a while, you just get sick of swapping skulls, you know what I mean?
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In all though, I adored Mystery Heritage: Sign of the Spirit. The atmosphere was perfect for my very own Dark and Stormy Night, with just enough mystery and murder to keep me wonderfully on edge.
I was captivated by the plot, and had a real desire to get to the bottom of things. I was also strangely delighted to be a skeptic, meaning that in this ghostly story it's pretty obvious from the beginning that the origin of this mystery is likely human. So I got to stomp through town, gathering clues, determined to show these folks that there was nothing supernatural going on, no curse. Just old fashioned murder.
I haven’t gotten to the very end yet, but I have a feeling someone is going to be telling me they would have gotten away with it if it weren't for that pesky detective. I definitely recommend this to anyone who is looking for a fun way to spend a stormy night (or maybe just a spooky one).
