Cate West 2: The Velvet keys Review

Help the celebrated novelist, Cate West, find a dangerous murderer in this exciting Hidden Object game! This thrilling sequel to Cate West: The Vanishing Files, follows Cate to Damasca, where she discovers a new mystery. Gather the items required to forge the enigmatic Velvet Keys and crack the case. A cinematic atmosphere, incredible graphics and addictive gameplay await you in Cate West: The Velvet Keys!

– Big Fish Games

Now, the descendants of Magi are now up against a dangerous group of foes – the Keepers!

I loved the original Cate West: The Vanishing Files for a number of reasons. It had a fictional old-world charm, it had a well-thought out story power-packed with the most intriguing narration, and it had a quiet, almost pensive atmosphere despite the adventurous fiction. Cate West 2: The Velvet Keys is uncannily like the original in such respects, and Menara games and Gamenauts definitely deserve a standing ovation for this game!

Story: Cate West is a descendant of Caspar, one of the three Magi. The first Cate West game dealt with how she comes to term with her power and discovers the two other descendants of the other two Magi. Now, as she is out looking for her father whom she has not seen for 17 years, one of the descendants of the Magi escape for Damasca! What is going on this city of Damasca? What is this mystery about people who are neither living nor dead?

Gameplay: The player is of course, Cate West. The 12 odd chapters revolve around how Cate forges the 12 Velvet keys mentioned in the Aenigmata – the Arshtat, Erethe, Darhmer, Haptoringa, Moghidev, Parendi, Rapithwin, Satavaesa, Traosha, Uzerin, Vanant and Wayu. The story crawls along at a snail’s pace through these chapters, advancing by about one phone call or one revelation every once in a while, but seriously, the puzzles are too engrossing to notice this point. The story suddenly shakes off its dormancy and reaches the finishing line in leaps and bounds just at the last part – the Epilogue.

Each of the 12 chapters is subdivided into 5 parts, each of a different puzzle game. Firstly, you search for the parts to the Velvet Key, then you reconstruct the crime scene, then you find the lost memories of the victim, embed the victim’s memories in the key, and finally, you insert the key into the key chamber of the Lazaras Ossuary (don’t ask me what the Ossuary is, just play the game). The game can be played either in relaxed (without timer) or Normal (with timer) mode. Elaborate points system to boot; you’re marked explicitly on how many hints you use, how much time you take, your accuracy in clicking, etc. Try to get the best score, because the ending will depend on that. Not that there’ll be very serious aberrations (I hope)…..

Puzzles: And here we come to the most interesting aspect of the game – the puzzles! I have just this much to say – the puzzles are more awe inspiring than the story itself. And tough. The only reason I’ll not give this game 5 is the immense difficulty of all of the puzzles. The story can get stale, but the game will be attractive enough to be played again and again, just so that you can tax your brain. Trust me.

The puzzles are of 6 or 7 types – hidden object, sliding blocks, match the pairs, and so on. The only different puzzle is that of putting together objects. You will be given half of each object, and you’ll have to find the other half in the picture. And this, too, can get devilish, when the halves blend cleverly into the background.

Ambience: Cate West has an unhurried pace and an introvert spirit despite its fast story of magic and murder. The music has been carried over from the previous game – it is still soothing and touching, yet fitting into the stillness of the game. Only a piano tingles in the background while you play – no other instrument is audible, neither does the tempo ever go up.

The graphics are unbelievable detailed and piercing. You have about 10 or so settings in the whole of Damasca, each with intelligently camouflaged objects. Tough? You haven’t seen tough till you see the hidden objects!

Bottomline: There is this damned outstanding plot, not deep but superbly presented; and then there are these puzzles which can keep you awake hours into the night. What are you waiting for? Play this game!

Rating: 4.5 out of 5