Edna & Harvey: Harvey's New Eyes

Having not played the first part, I was surprised by the dark humor here, which was pretty funny as well.

I'd give it 8/10 but unfortunately there were a couple of bugs - one of them didn't let me finish the game by normal means. It's a common issue (a shaman doesn't give you a certain item), which has started happening since some update but unfortunately Deadelic doesn't care enough to fix it. It's good enough they added some savegames available for download on their site, which is unfortunately German only but Google Translate has been around for a couple of years.

There are also a couple of minigames throughout the game and most of them are not that fun. The final one, board game, also bugged out on me once -- nothing a load couldn't fix but it was still annoying, since it's pretty long and I lost all the progresss. Luckily, each minigame can be skipped. Hell, there's even an achievement for that.

Speaking of achievements - they are also a weak part of the game. Although it's pretty easy to 100% the game if you check the guide, some of the achievements are just... grindy. Yes, I'm still talking about point and click adventure. Lots of achievements follow the route "do a certain time consuming thing 20 times". Maybe Daedalic wanted to make fun of achievement hunters, I don't know. German humor can be weird.

One more thing which made no sense. Lilli, the protagonist is bound by certain rules - for example, she can't "play with fire" or "use sharp objects". These rules are unlocked throughout the game (by solving puzzles in, uhm, her mind - nice surreal setting). However, only one restriction can be lifted at time. I don't see the reason for it - if you have already unlocked "play with fire" but have other restriction actively lifted and you click on e.g. a fireplace, you get a warning that Lilli mustn't play with fire. So you simply switch to that restriction. That's not a puzzle. Once you unlock that rule, switching to it requires zero thinking. Sadly, it's more common than you think.

Fortunately, with all the nitpicks, the core of the gameplay is really great. The puzzles are creative and simply good. However, I think that pacing was a bit odd.- I found chapter 1 to be much more difficult than the following two chapters.

But overall, keep in mind that I like to complain. The puzzles and the humor stand out so much that it's definitely worth your time if you like point and clicks and dark humor.

In this sequel to Edna & Harvey: The Breakout, you notice changes right from the moment you load the game. The game's graphics look very sharp and colourful in addition to full-screen support; unlike the original.

Sadly, Edna is no longer the lead character and has been replaced by Lilli. Luckily, Edna makes her appearance within minutes and makes it clear she is Lilli's best friend. Lilli is quite hard to like at first, because she seems quite timid. An interesting idea is that when Lilli attempts to talk, people cut her off and predict what she is about to ask, meaning she never says more than half a word throughout the entire game. Although you do warm to her as the game progresses, she is no way as likeable as Edna.

From the start, you are introduced to the narrator who in some way, acts as Lilli's thoughts and voice. He does come up with suggestions and jokes which can add personality to the game, or to provide hints towards the puzzles. Dialogue with other characters is also helpful for hints. Even when the puzzles seem obscure, you can work them out due to the hints which is exactly how these games should be, but was a major flaw of the original.

Another major improvement is the design of the locales. In the original, there was so much backtracking due to the puzzle design and was exacerbated by the room layout. In the Convent, where the game is initially set, the main areas are split via the stairwell. This allows easy access to any area that you wish to go to, and is very easy to remember the layout.

Another process that they have streamlined is the way that you interact. The verb system has been removed. Now, left-clicking interacts (picks up item, talks to person), and right-click examines. It's a simple system, and is much more intuitive. In the initial tutorial, you are told you can press the space-bar to show the 'hotspots' which is any point in the scene you can interact with. This means you shouldn't miss objects that are necessary to progress through the game, and there is no need for pixel-hunting. This feature was actually in the original game, but it wasn't stated in the game, so some players will have not noticed the feature was available.

In terms of story, the convent is run under Mother Superior's strict and overly harsh regime. She seems to hate children and calls in a therapist to recondition the children. This turns out to be Dr Marcel who has a new form of hypnotising treatment.

The original game had Harvey 'tempomorphing' Edna into a child-hood memory. It was a cool idea which fleshed out the characters but was under-utilised. In Harvey's New Eyes, there's a similar part of the game which has a larger focus, and allows Lilli to combat the effects of hypnosis.

There's usually a lot of stupidity in point-and-click adventures. I do tend to prefer them tending towards realism, with humour thrown in for good measure. Harvey's New Eyes is pretty silly and unrealistic throughout. Despite the stupidity, it's always obvious what your task is and fairly easy to work out what to do, given your situation, objects, and dialogue that you hear.

If you played the first game, you will know that the game can be deceptively dark, despite the child-friendly graphics. The sequel is no different. Lilli may have good intentions, but death seems to follow her around. Anthropomorphic potatoes referred to as gnomes cover up the crime-scenes in purple paint. I'm not sure if they are there to decrease the brutality, or just there because it is weird. Either way, they are strange but enjoyable creatures that are just a small part of the silliness within the game.

Although there's references to the previous Edna & Harvey title, I don't think there is any need to have played it to enjoy this game. Personally, I didn't enjoy the previous game anyway, so I'd recommend skipping it.

The original game had a surprising amount of dialog that can be triggered by attempting to use items on objects, even when it isn't the correct solution. In Harvey's New Eyes, this is rather limited, and usually you just get a generic comment. Another downside of the game is that once you leave the convent, the story doesn't really develop, and you end up doing several tasks without much motive.

Harvey's New Eyes is a brilliant example of where developers have researched/thought about what worked about the original game, what can be improved, what can be added, and what can be removed. It has enough in the game to remain faithful to the spirit of Edna & Harvey and drastically builds on it to make it a really enjoyable game.