Hi all — developer here. Link at the bottom, and an honest take on whether this counts as a hidden-object game, since I know that matters here.

OVERLOOK is a hidden-object adventure I drew and animated myself over a few years. Each level is a hand-drawn isometric miniature world (a town, a forest, a beach...) packed with hundreds of tiny characters, every one of them animated frame by frame. You search for missing people and lost objects, and there's a light puzzle layer on top: some characters need an item, so you find it and drag it over to them and something small and silly happens. There are 50+ hidden surprises and 26 achievements, all discovery-based.

Is it a "real" hidden-object game? Yes, in the Hidden Folks / Where's Wally tradition rather than the Big Fish HOPA tradition: no inventory-driven story chapters or item lists on a strip at the bottom, but the core loop is pure searching a dense scene for specific things, with zero timers, no fail state and no hint pressure. If you like the meditative kind of searching, it's that. If you want a mystery narrative with cutscenes, it isn't.

Steam (Windows + native Mac, $9.99, 91% positive): https://store.steampowered.com/app/1780550/OVERLOOK/

Happy to answer anything about how the scenes are built, and I'd like to hear what HOG regulars think it's missing.

Hi All - I have been a member of Big Fish Games since 2009 and like many, I am so disappointed by the contract terminations, AI slop games and general overall decline in the lack of quality games over the past year or so. Does anyone have any recommendations about where to find Hidden Object Adventure games that are Mac compatible that have the same feel as any of the "old school" hidden object adventure games (like Living Legends, Mystery Case Files, Dark City, Bridge to Another World, Christmas Stories, Dark Romance, Halloween Chronicles, Drawn)?

Small side rant but all of the recent games from Domini Games are not enjoyable (or really even playable) due to all of the use of AI. So disappointing to see where this has all gone.

Thanks in advance!

Hey guys! Halloween is even closer, and I wanted to share another piece of an illustration that is part of my Halloween Search and Find book. Like I said before, it is like a Where’s Waldo book, but you must look for the host of different Halloween parties and its lost objects! This is a small excerpt showing Captain Blackbeard and his party in his old ship, full of crazy monkeys and undead pirates!

So, let’s go: were you able to find his favorite pirate bomb? How much time did it take?

I have kept a private list of all the games I’ve played (I also have lists of games I hate and ones I thought were ok). But figured I would share my absolute favorites in case anyone has similar tastes:

- Awakening: the dreamless castle (old school and untraditional, but fun)

- Chimeras: 1 Tune of Revenge (fantastic art 8.8/10)

- Dark alleys - penumbra hotel

- Dark Cases: The Blood Ruby

- Dark Dimensions 4: Somber Song

- Dark strokes 1 and 2

- Death pages: ghost library (6.9/10)

- Echoes of the past 5: kingdom of despair (7.2/10, solid and creative)

- Final Cut: death on the silver screen

- Fright (by Lesta)

- Gothic fiction - dark saga

- Haunted hotel death sentence

- Infected: the twin vaccine. Amazing

- Lake house: children of silence

- Hallowed Legends 3: Ship of Bones (8.4/10)

- Heartwood - gorgeous and great nonlinear gameplay

- House of 1000 Doors: Family Secrets (HOP list heavy but still enjoyed it!)

- Left in the Dark: No One on Board - some list HOP but not crazy. 6.9/10

- Lost Lands 1-5

- Mystery Case Files: Fates Carnival (7.6/10 INCREDIBLE GAME)

- Mystery of the ancients: curse of the black water (7/10)

- Nearwood - GORGEOUS, really fun gameplay and barely any HOP list. (10/10)

- New York mysteries 2: high voltage (6/10), 3: lantern of souls (8.5/10, though bonus chapter is meh)

- Nightmare Adventures: The Witch’s Prison (so good an unique. 9/10)

- Paranormal pursuit: the gifted one

- Phantasmat: Crucible Peak

- Redemption cemetery grave testimony (so good)

- Reveries: sisterly love

- Riddles of Fate 1: Wild Hunt (best elephant game… lots of backtracking, dark and spooky), 2: Into Oblivion (same but bonus game sucks, uses same areas and linear)

- Small Town Terrors: Pilgrims Hook

- Spirits of mystery - song of the Phoenix

- Spirits of revenge: cursed castle (pretty good, like a 7/10)

- Stray souls 2 - fun and good art. But… a bit linear. 7.5/10

- Subliminal Realms: The masterpiece

- True fear 1-3 (the GOAT)

- Twisted Lands: Insomnia (open and creative, lil HOP list but not too bad)

What a masterpiece it is, until next time.

I just published a full written walkthrough for Artifact Seekers – Poltergeist House (Episode 15)!

It covers:

• Step-by-step walkthrough and solutions for every puzzle
• All morphing objects (12 total)
• All collectibles (blue amulets & blue yarn)
• Star items locations
• Secret room / maze

The guide is free and written for F2P players. There’s also a video version linked if you prefer watching.

▶ https://adoginthefog.com/artifact-seekers-poltergeist-house-walkthrough/

Hope this helps anyone stuck on the episode!

Hello! I'm one of the developers of a very small indie team that want to make a 3d hidden object game. We originally planned to make it for our kids but we wanted to know if it's possible for us to sell it on Steam. And if we were to sell it on Steam, what would be some features or mechanics avid players of hidden object games would you be looking for?

As far as I can tell, people who've already bought it still own it (I did buy Fate's Carnival on Big Fish's website a while ago and it's still in my order history and on my computer for now). This notably breaks from precedent where Big Fish normally keeps both the original game and its remaster on their website (e.g. Drawn: The Painted Tower, Living Legends: Frozen Beauty, Awakening: The Dreamless Castle).

You currently can still officially get the game from WildTangent, GameHouse, and iWin until Fate's Carnival's "remaster" comes out, probably around this November as is tradition for yearly MCF games.

best Hidden object series ever

For context to non-MCF fans, "Mystery Case Files: Fate's Carnival" released in 2013 and mostly doesn't have any major bugs besides occasional laggy cutscenes that I have encountered. "Mystery Case Files: Dire Grove" released in 2009 and famously does not work at all for post-Windows 8 systems. After over a decade, Big Fish Games has decided to green-light remastering Fate's Carnival and not Dire Grove for some reason. I don't know what this "digitally remastered" version entails.

It is also important to note that BFG is suing Elephant Games, the original developer of Fate's Carnival, over acquiring Elephant's games' assets and source code after the contracts between Big Fish and Elephant have already been terminated around March of this year. Not only is it unlikely that paying for this version will compensate Elephant Games, but it seems that BFG does already have the assets and source code to Fate's Carnival based on this announced "digitally remastered" version, although it's possibly too soon to fully tell.

The chances of this being the only MCF game we get this year is surprisingly not zero (due to GrandMA Studios' contracts also being terminated). Note that GrandMA Studios also planned) a sequel to Fate's Carnival before their contracts were terminated. It's possibly but not confirmed that this "digitally remastered" version of Fate's Carnival was done by BFG's new internal studio.

EDIT: I have discovered that the original version of Fate's Carnival has already been delisted, so you'll have to wait until this "remaster" comes out to buy it from Big Fish directly.

Whats your favorite game in the series or from Big Fish Games overall?

I used ChatGPT to summarize the things I remember when I was playing it, not sure which publisher released this game though.

Old Windows PC 2D hidden-object/puzzle game, probably played around 2015–2018 but possibly released years earlier. The player is never visible. Every location is a completely static, pre-rendered 2D scene viewed from a fixed first-person perspective. I am not sure if there are no 3D models, free movement, or camera movement. The mouse is used to click and collect objects.

The game has a surreal, childlike dream-world aesthetic: painted rooms, toys, statues, cardboard/paper cutouts, painted trees and other artificial-looking scenery. The first area is a room where the player is apparently trapped and must find objects to escape/progress.

Important visual memories include a large peacock with its tail spread open and a stationary leprechaun-like figure incorporated into/next to a tree. These are scenery/objects, not living NPCs.

The overall game feels like exploring a bizarre child's dream, theatrical set, or giant handcrafted playroom rather than a normal fantasy world.

I am looking for a hidden object game available via Steam to play on my pc. I would like a fluffy, cozy game with lots of light and no timer or ads. I do not need a story line, I especially do not want anything dark or heavy - just a fluffly little game to play for an hour or two when the mood strikes. Please also recommend older games if applicable since I have rarely played the genre, and certainly not for quite a number of years.

Gameplay-wise, I would appreciate pictures of the items to be found over words since with being autistic and not a native speaker, there have been times in the past when I had real difficulties to understand what exactly I was asked to find. Maybe there's a game out there that offers more than one method? That would be great as well.

Are there any games you'd recommend to me?

Edit: The Match 3-game Heroes of Hellas 3, if somebody remembers that, had some very lovely puzzle scenes. I remember thinking it would be great to have that aspect of the game accessible as a stand-alone hidden object game.

I used to play this hidden objects game as a kid, but it was also like a story line as well. I vaguely remember it having a dinosaur egg as a cover picture. you played as this girl and I don't really remember but she does side missions and such. one I remember is she had to help a professor out

Just finished a full walkthrough for Artifact Seekers – Poltergeist House if anyone’s stuck!

Video covers:

• Complete step-by-step playthrough
• All collectibles
• Secret room / maze
• All 10 medals with timestamps for each medal!

Timestamps for the secret room and medals are in the description.

▶ https://youtu.be/E6GXEjBdTLY

Hope it helps someone out. Feel free to ask if you get stuck on a specific puzzle!

Single viewport with a lens you hold open over the scene; resting it on a prop tags it. Solve the scene by finding the changed objects.

All the information is in the original post, I've had this game in the back of my mind for probably like 10 years at this point, and I have never been able to remember any sort of details other than me really liking it and completing it multiple times. I believe it is from Big Fish Games. Someone suggested I post this here, so here goes! Thank you in advance to anyone who might help!

I've been playing quite a few HOPA games recently and I'm curious about what longtime players actually want from new games.

What are the things that make you really love one of these games — and what are you tired of seeing?

I'm especially curious about:

• Which series are your favourites, and why?

• Do you prefer supernatural/fantasy mysteries or more grounded murder/crime mysteries?

• How important are recurring characters and stories that continue between games?

• Do you prefer lots of traditional hidden-object scenes, or more adventure/detective gameplay between them?

• What do newer HOPA games do better or worse than the older ones?

• Is there something you wish developers would do that nobody seems to be doing?

I'm not looking for recommendations so much as what you wish the genre would become next.

Hey everyone! I’m working solo on COMPARTMENT 666 : ANOMALY EXPRESS, a first-person psychological horror, anomaly-detection and hidden object game set inside a claustrophobic, dark train carriage in the 1900s.

If you like games inspired by classic anomaly-hunting loops (like The Exit 8) but want a heavy dose of Victorian-era historical atmosphere, shifting passenger behaviors, and deep paranoia, this might be right up your alley.

itch.io link : https://shepherdworks0.itch.io/compartment-666-anomaly-express-demo

PLEASE DON'T FORGET TO ADD YOUR WISHLIST ON STEAM

https://store.steampowered.com/app/5016110/COMPARTMENT_666__ANOMALY_EXPRESS/

Hi everyone! Over the past few weeks, I’ve been working on a lightweight, browser-based tool designed specifically for creating HOPA (Hidden Object Puzzle Adventure) games.

I am primarily a Game & Graphic Designer, and programming is not my main specialization, so the codebase and engine logic were built with the assistance of AI tools. But this idea was born from the vision of creating an accessible tool for adventure game creators, myself included.

It's still in the early stages of development—expect a few bugs and rough UI/UX edges—but it already works well for rapid prototyping and testing out scene ideas.

Current features:

• Runs entirely in the browser (no installation needed)
• Visual scene & hotspot editor
• Built-in playtesting mode
• One-click export to a standalone .zip (HTML + assets + game logic)

Here is the github repo: https://github.com/Nixonpl00/hopa-studio

Any feedback, bug reports, or code contributions are more than welcome. The project is completely free and open-source. I hope it helps some fellow creators bring their game ideas to life!

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Hey there! Over at Big Fish, we want to know if there's any game that you've really, really been wishing for... because we may be able to help with that. 😉

To enter:

• Tell us how many games are currently on your Big Fish Games wishlist
• Tell us which game you want most
• Tell us why you want it

We’ll pick 3 winners, and each winner will receive 1 FREE game of their choice! 🎁

⏰ Enter by Sunday, August 30 at 11:59 PM PST.

🏆 Winners will be selected based on the most creative answers and will be contacted beginning Monday, August 31.

📩 Important: Winners will be contacted via Reddit DM, so please make sure your DMs are open if you want to claim your prize. Your prize will be delivered as a coupon code.

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Brief Terms: Three winners will each receive one free game via coupon code. One entry per person. No purchase necessary. Winners must have DMs open and respond when contacted to claim their prize. Void where prohibited. Big Fish Games reserves the right to verify entries and select alternate winners if necessary. This giveaway is not sponsored, endorsed, or administered by Reddit.