Twisted Lands: Insomniac Collector's Edition

Twisted Lands: Insomniac is the second title in the Twisted Lands series, a casual adventure game from Alawar/Stargaze.

The game doesn't exactly start where Shadow Town left, but following the same line, the story is set in the mysterious island and is now told from Angel's point of view.

As Angel, Mark's wife, you wake up in a mental hospital where you are locked up as a dangerous patient and about to undergo a lobotomy. Having lost your memory and moving between sanity and hallucinations, you will need to explore the place and solve a variety of puzzles to find a way out and find your lost husband. As in the previous game, you won't be solving one HOG scene after another to get useful objects, there is also a lot of interaction with the environment. Objects can be hidden in areas where you don't usually expect to find them; you may need to move an object you casually found in your way or look inside drawers or cases. There is a lot of backtracking too, which forces you to walk all the way back to the starting scene more than once. Making use of the tools and elements in your inventory, you advance through the clinic facilities while children ghosts show up and particular objects trigger new memories to rebuild your story.

The game has two modes, expert and regular; in the latter hints will load faster and interactive scenes will be highlighted. If you get stuck, the safest thing to do is walk a few scenes back; chances are that there is a new hidden-object scene active somewhere. It is also a good idea to check the journal and to-do list once in a while, as you may get some hints on how to proceed. An interactive map would really help to deal with the constant confusion or at least a sign telling you there is nothing else to do in a certain location. In a way the hint system makes up for that; hints will indicate you with an arrow the right way to go, but using them can make the game terribly easy.

The story starts really well, with an engaging plot that keeps you playing more than half of the game without questioning anything. But having played the game for a while, you realize there are lots of questions and almost not a single, concrete clue as to what is going on in the island.

Visually, Insomniac is remarkably beautiful, probably one of the most detailed and sharpest games I've seen lately. The atmospheric music helps a lot in setting the right mood too. Although the storyline is a bit confusing and takes a turn I don't particularly like, the game offers the right doses of suspense and creepy moments to keep you busy for a few hours.