Scarlett Mysteries: Cursed Child from Artifex Mundi places you in the role of the titular character who has a very special ability. Learn more in our Scarlett Mysteries: Cursed Child review!
Scarlett Mysteries: Cursed Child from Artifex Mundi sees you take on the role of the titular Scarlett, a woman who has a very special gift: she has a psychic power that allows her to see where her father has been, as she travels into the past. Since her father is missing, she’s set out to use this very particular skill to try and track him down. The clues you find will take you down to explore Steameyer mansion, but once you get there, you will end up finding an even bigger mystery to solve. Do you have what it takes?
As for the game’s controls, you will move a cursor on the screen with the left analog stick, using the right one to move it a bit slower so that you can find the different points you need to interact with by pressing the X button. You will find a large variety of objects during your adventure, which you can check in your inventory by pressing the R2 button. All of these objects will be used to solve the many puzzles you will find, but some of the items will need to be combined with others. There are items that will need to be checked in your inventory so that you can take a closer look to find what you need.
If you’re stuck, you can press up on the D-Pad to get a hint. When playing in the Casual difficulty setting, hints will charge faster, so that you can make quick progress whenever you can’t find what the next step will be. If, on the other hand, you play in the Expert difficulty setting, hints will charge at a slower pace. When playing in Expert, you will also be missing any indications on the map, which you can put to good use when playing in the Casual difficulty by pressing right on the D-Pad. Press left, and you will get to check your dairy.
To use Scarlett’s power during specific sequences, you will need to press down on the D-Pad. You will know when it’s time to use her psychic skill since the ability will be flashing on the lower left part of the screen. Once you press down on the D-Pad, you will need to use the left analog stick to select the different sections of a vision set in the past, as you use the L2 and R2 buttons to rotate each piece so that you can put back together the full image. Rotate all of the pieces until they’re facing in the right direction, and you’ll be able to continue with your adventure.
There are going to be almost thirty collectibles you will need to find in each of the areas you visit if you want to 100% the game. They are called “Father Traces,” and are basically objects that, for some reason, Scarlett’s father has left behind. These objects will be popping in and out of the screen, so you will not only need to look for them but also look for them at the right moment so that you can quickly move the cursor on top of it and press the X button to collect it before it disappears again.
On that note, as is to be expected, finding all of these Father Traces will be one of the requirements you will have to complete to unlock three of the trophies for Scarlett Mysteries: Cursed Child. As has been the case for other Artifex Mundi releases on PlayStation 4, Scarlett Mysteries: Cursed Child has a full trophy list with a Platinum trophy for you to unlock at the end of the journey. As a heads-up, if you’re aiming to get all of the trophies during a single playthrough, there are some things you need to keep in mind. There are some trophies you need to be aware of so that you don’t end up having to replay the whole game – or at least big chunks of it.
One of these trophies is for completing a hidden object puzzle in less than a minute, another one is for completing a hidden object puzzle with less than four mistakes, another one requires that you find three hidden objects within a 3-second wind, while another one is for completing all of the hidden object puzzles without ever using a hint, which should not be as hard as it sounds. You also need to complete all of the minigames without skipping a single one. Do all of this, and you can have a new Platinum in a handful of hours – less if you use a guide.
If you’re a fan of point and click adventure games with a dash of hidden-object puzzles, and if you’re a fan of Artifex Mundi on PlayStation, then you should definitely check out Scarlett Mysteries: Cursed Child. It features the great art style we’ve come to expect from Artifex Mundi – and the voice acting that is a bit over the top – now out on PlayStation 4.
Disclaimer
This Scarlett Mysteries: Cursed Child review is based on a PlayStation 4 copy provided by Artifex Mundi.
