Shivers II: Harvest of Souls

I got to tell you, when I was a boy this game was THE BEST! The music and atmosphere really gave me a good "your in a cursed town vibe" I wholeheartedly suggest that you lot play it!

It's important to note that this game has practically nothing to do with the original Shivers game, so any hopes for returning characters or what have you is pretty much out the window immediately. That being said, I really loved playing this game, even if I'm terrible at the puzzles. Not all the puzzles are great, of course, since they're mostly bizarre logic puzzles that the main villain set up to test you. Honestly, I feel like for the level of importance these totems have and the kind of supposed threat we're facing, you'd think you'd be getting tests that are far more intense than just sitting there rolling an egg a set number of spaces so it'll drop down a hole safely without breaking. The back story is probably the most interesting part of this game, as you're witnessing an entire town of backstabbing dirt-bags try to get one over each other, as innocent people get killed. The motivation for the villain is pretty solid for doing all this, though the amount of time and effort being put into his plot to destroy this small little down in the middle of sunbaked Arizona is probably a little over dramatic. Also, the villain's costume is kind of silly, even with the altered voice. The best part of the game is probably the music by the fictional band Trip Cyclone (a very cheesy 90's band name, yeah). The music itself is pretty great in general, adding to the mood of the game. Some places feel rather tense thanks to it. As an aside, some of the music videos shown in the game are actually meant to be clues to solve certain puzzles. The physical game actually had a music CD that came with it, which I enjoyed listening to a great deal as a kid. The fact they added in a 360-degree panoramic view for navigation was neat -at the time-, but the novelty of wears of pretty quickly. Graphically, the renders are a decent upgrade, and the attempt to have animated elements in the background can add a creepy effect. 4 out of 5 for quality/nostalgia.

I find there are two kinds of point n' click adventures out there. Games where you go somewhere *to* solve a puzzle, and games where you go somewhere *then* solve a puzzle. Think Myst with it's puzzles that involved exploration and interaction with the world itself vs. something like The 7th Guest, where the game is mostly a matter of moving from one self-contained logic puzzle to another. Shivers 2 is more the latter, but while the obviously contrived puzzles can be somewhat immersion-breaking, this game manages to provide a continuous sense of ominous mystery that motivated me to keep playing. The main story involves a quest to rescue your friends from a masked madman who stalks you throughout the abandoned Arizona town, often calling to taunt or threaten you. As you explore the town, reading letters and listening to answering machines, a much deeper story unfolds as you realize almost everyone in town was up to *something*. The way this is all carried out manages to keep you on edge even when you know that there is no threat in gameplay terms. However, damage does come into play with each "key" you find requiring you to locate its resting place while malicious spirits slowly drain your health. If you know what you are doing, this isn't a massive problem, and the way the spirits are contained to one area makes them considerably less annoying than those in the previous game, but it is still a tedious aspect of an otherwise enjoyable puzzle adventure. That said, fans of YouTuber MetalJesusRocks will find another motivator to see this game to the end. Multiple puzzle solutions in game tie to a series of music videos by the aforementioned in-universe band, Trip Cyclone. The tracks themselves are fun, 90's grunge fare, but the videos notably feature MJ himself (who was working Sierra QA at the time) as one of the band members. If you can't become The Warrior, a whole series of Hidden Gems videos goes unreleased. And we can't let that happen.

It's just ordinary quest, one from many from 90's But music... Its fantastic, but this great music and songs worth to be published as album is made by developers... just for game.