The story
At the start of the game, you find yourself in a strange
town (Ulthar) where a boy is about to be executed for murder. Your mission: prove
the boy’s innocence before he’s burned at the stake. No pressure though.
The boy, Menes, stands accused of murdering an old couple. In this town where cats are revered, Menes supposedly set a bunch of cats on the couple to rip them (the couple, not the cats) to pieces. Sounds grisly, but the game itself is not scary or gory.
The boy, Menes, stands accused of murdering an old couple. In this town where cats are revered, Menes supposedly set a bunch of cats on the couple to rip them (the couple, not the cats) to pieces. Sounds grisly, but the game itself is not scary or gory.
The game
You then proceed to solve the mystery by exploring the town
and solving a series of puzzles and hidden-object scenarios to “find” useful
objects that will help you open the next puzzle or find the next object. The
puzzles are located in several locations throughout the town, and at first it’s
fun to just look around, solve a puzzle or two, get a couple of objects that you
don’t know what to do with…
I say “at first it’s fun” because pretty soon you’ll be
trying to keep track of half a dozen objects that may or may not be useful in
this or that lock or drawer located in this or that room in this or
that building on this or that end of town. In other words, there is a lot to
keep track of, and unless you’re smarter than She of Little Talent (which is
entirely possible), it may take you a little while to get the hang of it, and it
may be frustrating at times.
I think they call this “brain training.”
The paywall, and the verdict
At least for us, we hit the paywall (Get the full app for
$6.99!) at the exact moment we were starting to get the hang of things and really
have fun again. So naturally we paid up to keep playing because, you know,
Menes was counting on us. We did not regret that decision, as we enjoyed
getting engrossed in the game for a short while every evening.
We played in “casual” mode so we could get lots of hints
along the way, but you can play in a harder mode if you need more of a
challenge. (She of Little Talent found casual mode plenty challenging though.) There is also a guide if you want step-by-step
instructions, though old SoLT preferred to randomly peck at the screen hoping
to stumble across a new clue (just like real life!).
The graphics are really nicely done—very detailed and
hauntingly atmospheric. There is also a
bonus game at the end, which we haven’t started playing yet, but we are looking
forward to it. That sudden paywall thing was kind of annoying, but we are glad
we hit “purchase” instead of “delete.”
Ghost Towns: The Cats of Ulthar Collector’s Edition is from
Big Fish Games and is available for iOS, PC, and Mac.
Recommended!
A note on the "Paws Up" system: Miss C gives
either one or two paws up. One paw is for a good app; two paws is for a great app. She never gives three or four paws because that would require her to lie
on her back...and Miss C does
not do that!
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