As if preparing for your wedding isn’t stressful enough, Whispered Secrets: Into the Beyond adds a poisoned mother-in-law and a missing fiancé to the drama. On the night before your wedding, your mother-in-law opens a package left anonymously on your door step and inhales poison gas. 

Luckily, your fiancé, Tim, is a scientist and can figure out how to cure her ailment. Tim sends you to get his best friend, the police officer, as he goes to his lab to work on the antidote.  While you’re out, Tim is kidnapped by a mad scientist and taken to an alternate dimension. As you frantically search for your fiancé to save your wedding day, you discover your true love has been keeping a lot of secrets!

Whispered Secrets: Into the Beyond includes well done hand-drawn graphics and animation. It’s always my pet peeve when the animation doesn’t match the voice-overs, but it’s a very minor part of the game so I didn't let it bother me too much. The background music and special effects are unobtrusive and help set the tone for the game. 

I really enjoyed the winter scenery, since snowmen are pretty scarce here in Florida! All of the usual elements of a Collector’s Edition are present including a diary to track progress, integrated strategy guide, bonus material, achievements and collectibles. The collectibles in this edition are pretty cool – little roving eyes called observers that turn into spiders or bats when you find them. The game moves quickly, and, even in the most challenging setting, it’s not overly difficult. 

The hidden object scenes scattered throughout Whispered Secrets: Into the Beyond are well done – somewhat cluttered scenes, but the objects are easy enough to find. Those that require interaction are clearly indicated and don’t really take any extra time to find. 

As I’ve found in several recent games, you also have the option to swap the HOS for a Match 3 game, a new feature I love!  Though I have to admit, I liked these HOS and never opted for the Match 3 instead. The HOS are repeated, sometimes too quickly for my taste, but that contributes to the quick pace of the game.

Whispered Secrets: Into the Beyond mini-games are similar to the HOS – pretty typical of the Hidden Object genre but well themed to the game’s storyline. 

There are matching games, puzzles, sorting, and ordering most of which are very easy with a few challenges. Playing in casual mode (which you can switch at any point during the game) the skip feature generates pretty quickly if you’d rather get back to the game.

Overall, Whispered Secrets: Into the Beyond was enjoyable, if less than challenging. If you’re looking for a quick, easy game to while away the afternoon, I recommend it!