Gravely Silent: House of Deadlock

Gravely Silent: House of Deadlock is a casual adventure game with an intriguing story. You play Jennie, a girl who after having a premonitory dream, receives a phone call confirming her fear has come true. Her sister is dead after an accident, and your brother in law, Mr. Rainheart, tells he will be the only person attending the funeral. Unsatisfied with his attitude, you set out to the Rainheart castle, a dark place far away from the city, to look for answers.

The castle is a giant and dark place that consists of several areas, which include a cemetery. Every location you visit or door you attempt to cross is locked, so most of the time you will be searching for keys and figuring out to open ingenious mechanisms. The atmosphere is a bit frightening, gargoyles and weird statues guard the place, and as you go deeper into the castle you will learn more details about your sister life in that creepy place.

The game plays out as most of the other hidden-object games in the genre. As you explore the area with your mouse, the game will indicate by means of cursor changes or sparks when you can navigate to another location, pick up an object, or when there is a hidden-object game active. Hidden-object scenes are pretty challenging, probably because they are set in dark locations, and the items you have to find are really well concealed with the environment, to the point that more than once I had to resort to the hints. And I'm talking about the easiest game mode, casual, where, luckily, hints refill faster. Random clicks are penalized, so clicking around a HO game aimlessly will cause the cursor to freeze up and the screen will be covered with some awful tree limbs for a while.

Overall, it is a fun game that will appeal to those who like thrillers and suspense. Its story manages to keep you truly interested, and has great artwork to create a creepy environment.