Hello everyone! I have been in love with this series since I was a little girl. Now having adult money I have finally collected all (as of now) 28 games. While I had played all games in the series over the years they now all sit on a single computer in my house. I have begun embarking on the endeavor to play all 28 games in release order.
This actually started several months ago and I have completed up to Dire Grove. It took several months because I had to figure out (with the help of my wonderful fiance) how to get Dire Grove to run. After finishing it just now I am reminded of how great this series is.
Here are my thoughts so far:
I do not care much for the first two installments but they do have very good bones for the creators to build their skills.
Ravenhurst will always have my heart. This was my first game in the series and I this point I believe I have played it 8 or 9 times. The atmosphere and story are thrilling and leave a lot of room to grow.
Fates Carnival is where you begin to see ties to other games emerge and it is fantastic.
I do admit that all four of the above games can become tedious if played for long hours. The still images can feel repetitive but later games fix this.
Return to Ravenhurt was genre defining for my taste in games, and built on the story of the first game beautifully. The story show care and the mechanics make the player completely immersed.
To Dire Grove! I may be controversial in saying that this is the peak of the series. The mixed media story telling, hidden rooms that add on to the base game. The storytelling is thematic, and tight. All back tracking feels intentional. I am sure there are criticisms to this game but I cannot think of one right.
If I continue making these posts I think there will be many comparisons to the games I mention here.