Amazing Hidden Object Games: Women of Mystery 2

Amazing Hidden Object Games: Women of Mystery 2 is a compilation of five distinct hidden object puzzle adventure games. The collection includes ‘Murder, She Wrote 2: Return to Cabot Cove’, ‘Ghost Whisperer: A Brush with Death’, ‘Ghost Whisperer: Forgotten Toys’, ‘Enigmatis: The Ghosts of Maple Creek’, and the bonus game ‘Mystery Stories: Mountains of Madness’. Players step into the shoes of various female protagonists to solve supernatural hauntings, chilling murder cases, and other enigmatic events through classic hidden object gameplay.

Amazing Hidden Object Games: Women of Mystery 2: Review

An Introduction to a Curious Compilation

In the vast and often overlooked annals of casual gaming compilations, few entries present as intriguing a historical puzzle as Amazing Hidden Object Games: Women of Mystery 2. Released by Legacy Games in the mid-2010s, this title is not a singular, cohesive game but rather a curated anthology, a digital “greatest hits” collection aimed squarely at a specific demographic. Its very existence speaks volumes about the market dynamics of the era, a time when digital storefronts were burgeoning and physical compilations offered a cost-effective gateway into genres that thrived on dedicated, passionate fanbases. This review will undertake a comprehensive, multi-faceted examination of this compilation, dissecting its constituent parts, its value proposition, its place within the broader “Amazing Hidden Object Games” series, and the peculiar historical footnote it represents due to its own confusing legacy. It is a story of two distinct boxes bearing the same name, a tale of licensed properties and original adventures bundled together under a thematic, if somewhat nebulous, banner.

The first and most critical piece of context to establish is that there are two separate entities listed on MobyGames with the identical title Amazing Hidden Object Games: Women of Mystery 2. The primary subject of this review is the 2013 release (Moby ID: 146401). However, a direct successor, also titled Amazing Hidden Object Games: Women of Mystery 2, was released in 2014 (Moby ID: 146350) with a completely different set of included games. This review will focus predominantly on the 2013 iteration, but the existence of its 2014 namesake is an essential part of understanding Legacy Games’ strategy and the compilation’s overall identity.

The Contents of the Box: A Quintet of Mysteries

The core value of any compilation lies in the quality and variety of its included titles. The 2013 version of Women of Mystery 2 packages five distinct games, presenting a cross-section of the hidden object adventure (HOA) genre as it stood in the early 2010s. The package includes three primary titles and one explicitly noted “Bonus game,” though the source material lists five titles in its description, suggesting all are part of the offering.

1. Enigmatis: The Ghosts of Maple Creek (2011)
Widely regarded as one of the standout titles in this collection, Enigmatis: The Ghosts of Maple Creek is a premium HOA from the esteemed developer Artifex Mundi. It sets a high bar for production values within the compilation. The game follows a detective who, after a car crash in a small town, finds herself investigating the disappearance of a teenage girl, only to uncover a supernatural menace rooted in the town’s past. It features the hallmarks of a top-tier HOA: a compelling, original narrative; high-quality painted artwork for its environments; a mix of hidden object scenes and traditional inventory-based puzzles; and a “Collector’s Edition” style structure with bonus chapters and collectibles. Its inclusion is a significant boon to the compilation’s overall quality, offering a robust, story-driven experience that transcends the simpler “seek-and-find” mechanics of more basic entries in the genre.

2. Murder, She Wrote 2: Return to Cabot Cove (2013)
This title represents the powerful draw of licensed intellectual property in the casual games space. Based on the long-running, beloved television series starring Angela Lansbury, Return to Cabot Cove places the player in the sensible shoes of Jessica Fletcher herself. The game leverages its source material effectively, featuring a murder mystery in the iconic coastal town, with players interacting with familiar characters and locations. The gameplay typically involves exploring scenes, interviewing suspects, and solving puzzles to piece together clues. As a licensed game released in the same year as the compilation, its inclusion was a timely and strategic move, designed to attract fans of the television series who were curious about interactive mysteries but may not have been avid gamers. It grounds the compilation in a familiar, comforting world of classic whodunit storytelling.

3. Ghost Whisperer: A Brush with Death & Ghost Whisperer: Forgotten Toys
These two games are based on another popular television paranormal drama, Ghost Whisperer, which starred Jennifer Love Hewitt as Melinda Gordon, a woman who can communicate with earthbound spirits. The presence of two separate Ghost Whisperer titles indicates a concerted effort to bundle licensed content from the same franchise. While specific details on the individual plots of these two games are sparse in the source material, they logically follow the show’s formula: Melinda helps lost spirits resolve their unfinished business and cross over. This provides a different flavor of mystery from Murder, She Wrote, leaning into the supernatural and emotional, rather than the purely procedural. Their inclusion demonstrates the compiler’s intent to cater to varied tastes within the “mystery” umbrella, from criminal investigation to spiritual closure.

4. Mystery Stories: Mountains of Madness (Bonus Game)
Listed as the official “Bonus game,” this title adds another layer to the package. The name Mountains of Madness is a clear nod to H.P. Lovecraft’s classic novella, suggesting a theme of cosmic horror or arctic expedition gone wrong—a stark contrast to the small-town and domestic settings of the other games. Its designation as a bonus implies it was used as a key selling point, an “extra” value-added title to make the compilation more appealing. It also represents a different series, the Mystery Stories (or Mystery Quest) line, further expanding the stylistic range of the collection. This inclusion of a game with a more overtly horror-tinged premise shows an attempt to capture players who enjoy a slightly darker, more adventurous mystery.

Gameplay Analysis: The Core Mechanics of the Hidden Object Adventure

While each game in the compilation has its own narrative and slight mechanical variations, they all operate within the well-established framework of the HOA genre. For the uninitiated, this review will delineate the common gameplay loops that a player can expect to encounter across all five titles.

The Hidden Object Scene (HOS): This is the genre’s foundational pillar. Players are presented with a cluttered, often highly detailed screen—a desk, a garden, a dusty attic—and a list of items to find. The challenge lies in identifying these items, which are often cleverly camouflaged or integrated into the background art. These scenes serve as the primary resource-gathering mechanic, with found items sometimes being added to the player’s inventory for use in puzzles elsewhere. The quality of these scenes is paramount; good HOSs feel like logical, if messy, environments, while poor ones can feel like random assortments of objects.

Adventure Gameplay and Puzzle-Solving: Beyond the HOSs, these games are classic point-and-click adventures at heart. Players navigate between pre-rendered locations, interacting with hotspots, collecting inventory items, and combining them to solve environmental puzzles. This could involve repairing a machine, unlocking a secret compartment, or creating a distraction. The puzzles range from simple lock-and-key scenarios to more complex multi-step logic problems. The integration between the HOSs and the adventure gameplay is key; a well-designed game will make the transition feel seamless, with items found in scenes directly contributing to the progression of the story.

Story and Progression: Narrative is the driving force. Unlike pure arcade-style hidden object games, HOAs are heavily story-driven. Players advance by completing chapters or acts, with the plot unfolding through static cutscenes, character dialogue, and discovered documents like diaries or letters. The compendium’s variety is its strength here: players can experience a TV-style murder mystery (Murder, She Wrote), a supernatural detective story (Enigmatis), a spiritual drama (Ghost Whisperer), and a likely horror-tinged adventure (Mountains of Madness) all in one package.

Production Values: This is where the titles diverge most significantly. Enigmatis: The Ghosts of Maple Creek stands out with its polished visuals, professional voice acting, and cinematic soundtrack, representing the high end of the genre’s production. The licensed titles likely feature art and sound design that aim to evoke their television counterparts, potentially using likenesses of the main actors and thematic music. The overall presentation is one of static, painted 2D art, which, when done well, can be beautiful and immersive, creating a strong sense of atmosphere.

Thematic Cohesion and Target Audience

The compilation’s title, Women of Mystery 2, is its central organizing principle, albeit one applied with a broad brush. The “Women of Mystery” theme operates on two levels:

1. Female Protagonists: Every game in this collection features a female lead. From the professional detective in Enigmatis and the iconic amateur sleuth Jessica Fletcher to the spiritually gifted Melinda Gordon, the player is consistently positioned in a woman’s perspective. This was a deliberate and savvy marketing strategy, as the casual and hidden object game market has historically skewed heavily towards a female audience. The compilation offers a curated space where this demographic can find a variety of stories centered on female agency, intelligence, and problem-solving.

2. Mystery as a Genre: The “Mystery” component is interpreted widely, encompassing classic crime (Murder, She Wrote), the paranormal (Ghost Whisperer, Enigmatis), and likely adventure-horror (Mountains of Madness). This variety ensures that the compilation has something for every sub-genre enthusiast within the mystery umbrella. It avoids being monotonous by not focusing on a single type of mystery, instead offering a sampler platter of different narrative flavors.

The target audience is therefore clear: primarily women who enjoy story-driven puzzle games, with a secondary appeal to fans of the specific licensed television shows included. The compilation acts as a low-risk introduction to the genre and its various sub-genres, allowing players to discover new favorite series or developers they might not have tried otherwise.

Value Proposition and Market Context

Released on July 15, 2013, for Windows, the compilation was positioned as a budget-friendly physical product in an increasingly digital marketplace. With an initial price point of around $14.95 for a new copy, the value was substantial. Considering that individual HOA titles, especially “Collector’s Editions,” often retailed for $19.99 or more upon release, getting five full games for the price of one was a compelling offer.

The publisher, Legacy Games, built an entire business model around such compilations. The “Amazing Hidden Object Games” series is extensive, with numerous themed entries like Men Of Mystery, Moonlight Mysteries, and Unsolved Mysteries. Women of Mystery 2 sits squarely within this ecosystem. Its existence is a testament to a specific period in PC gaming where brick-and-mortar stores still had significant shelf space dedicated to such budget compilations, aimed at shoppers who preferred a physical disc to a digital download.

The ESRB rating of “Teen” provides insight into the content. The descriptors—”Alcohol Reference, Mild Blood, Mild Suggestive Themes, Tobacco Reference, Violence”—are standard for the mystery genre. They suggest narratives that deal with mature themes like murder and the supernatural but present them in a stylized, non-graphic manner suitable for a broad audience. There is no intense gore or explicit content, keeping the experience accessible and focused on puzzle-solving and story.

The 2014 Conundrum: A Tale of Two Compilations

The historical record on MobyGames reveals a fascinating complication: the release of a different game with the exact same title in 2014 (Moby ID: 146350). This second Women of Mystery 2 contains a completely different lineup: Annabel (2009), Nancy Drew Dossier: Resorting to Danger! (2009), The Emerald Maiden: Symphony of Dreams (Collector’s Edition), Lost Souls: Timeless Fables (2014), and Ghost Whisperer (2011) as an unmarked bonus.

This creates a significant point of confusion for historians and collectors. It appears Legacy Games reused the title for a new, unrelated compilation a year later. This practice, while potentially confusing, was not uncommon for budget publishers who prioritized recognizable branding over unique titling. For a reviewer, this means it is impossible to discuss Women of Mystery 2 without specifying the 2013 version. The 2014 iteration is, for all intents and purposes, a separate product that shares only a name and a publisher with its predecessor. This review has focused on the 2013 version due to the provided source material’s emphasis, but the 2014 version’s existence is a crucial asterisk in the game’s history.

Critical Conclusion: A Time Capsule of Casual Gaming

Amazing Hidden Object Games: Women of Mystery 2 (2013) is not a landmark title that redefined a genre. It is, however, an exceptionally competent and well-curated example of its kind. It succeeds precisely because it understands its audience and delivers a product tailored to their interests. The inclusion of a high-quality original title like Enigmatis: The Ghosts of Maple Creek elevates the entire package, providing a genuine gem amongst the licensed offerings. The licensed games, Murder, She Wrote and Ghost Whisperer, serve as effective audience hooks, leveraging familiar brands to draw in new players. The bonus game, Mystery Stories: Mountains of Madness, adds welcome variety and extends the playtime significantly.

As a historical artifact, it represents a specific moment in the PC gaming landscape—the era of the budget physical compilation. It showcases the commercial strategy of publishers like Legacy Games and the enduring popularity of the hidden object adventure genre. For players who purchased it at the time, it offered dozens, if not hundreds, of hours of engaging, story-driven puzzle entertainment at an unbeatable price.

Its weaknesses are the inherent weaknesses of the compilation format: a lack of graphical or mechanical unity between the titles, and the variable quality that comes from bundling games from different developers. Furthermore, the subsequent release of a different compilation under the same name has muddied its legacy.

In final assessment, Amazing Hidden Object Games: Women of Mystery 2 (2013) is a solid, thoughtfully assembled collection that delivers excellent value and a diverse range of mysteries. It is a worthy, if not essential, entry in the library of any hidden object aficionado and a perfect snapshot of a bygone era in casual game distribution. It accomplished its goal with efficiency and a clear understanding of its niche, securing its place as a noteworthy, if somewhat obscure, piece of gaming history.