Artifact Seekers

I have really enjoyed Five BN games especially their Lost Lands series. The graphics are always gorgeous, and the story lines have held my interest. Artifact Seekers is a bit different. It has ten “episodes” which is a bit like The Big Race - a different scene and task in each setting. Rather than just completing the goal and collecting the morphing and collection items, they have added some extra ways to “score” stars/points. Finding the items to access the extra games was quite difficult; however, you aren’t held back if you can’t find them. It gave me a bit more impetus to search. They are NOT obvious to find, but it cleverly allows people with various skill levels to enjoy the game. The puzzles can be tricky but I don’t get bogged down like you do in a game like Myst. I highly recommend this game and also their other offerings.

The collectibles are actually fun and challenging, not just a standard 1 morphing object and 1/2 collectibles in every scene! Game design regarding those is fantastic, and I love how there is diegetic reason for them being there. Art design and puzzle mechanics are solidly great, as is the usual for 5BN games. The big area for improvement now for this studio is storytelling, and then integration of those more compelling stories into the puzzles and the collectibles. Take Mystery Case Files: Shadow Lake as an example of how to do integration really well. The way they add intrigue and motivation to finding the morphing objects through storytelling is really a masterpiece, and heightens what is otherwise just your standard morphing object search. In regards to the overall story, your writers are pretty good at writing a setting, background flavor, lore and interesting conflicts. This whole idea of a game show is great and intriguing and made me want to write a story surrounding it. But the characters are flat. When they have interpersonal conflict, it feels awkward and forced, because all of the characters act the same until right up when you want to use them for a conflict, to move the plot forward, or as foreshadowing. Foreshadowing can work, but not when it’s so obvious. And having all character interactions be either for an immediate purpose or to foreshadow, makes it obvious as soon as it’s not the former. I’ll stop with my writerly notes there, for brevity and because there’s only so much work I’ll do for free. I’d be happy send in an application if you’d like to hire me for more detailed reviews or to be a writer.

I never played online games before and I’m in my 50’s now. I tripped over a FIVE-BN game a few years ago and it caught my attention. It looked so professional, crisp and interesting. Little did I know I would become addicted to their designs. I’ve tried the competitors designs after I played everything FIVE-BN previously designed and nothing compares to it period. To me they are a 5-star all around but now we’re asking about this new game. It’s a tougher game than most - reminds me of “The Chronicles” - (What a beast that one was). Even though this one is more difficult, it was something new with a different direction and still awesome. You might not love “every” game with a 5-Star but you can’t deny their skill and designs. Anyhow, I still liked this game and enjoy the difficulty. The best part about their games is that it never gets boring and every scene keeps you anticipating the next. Every time a new game of theirs pops up, I get very happy because I know the next few weeks are going to be another fun ride working through it. Thank you FIVE-BN for giving this ole’ man a release to relax and enjoy. You are the best and please don’t ever stop putting out masterpieces.