Stray Souls: Dollhouse Story - Collector's Edition HD

I recently bought one of those game discs from Walmart, the ones that have like several games in one? I didn’t know they still made those. Pretty neat! Anyways, this collection was called Dangers From Dreamland, from Legacy Games, and it has a bunch of hidden object games on it. I loved those types of games as a kid, and I decided to give it a try.

I started with Stray Souls. Not sure why I did, but that’s just how I felt.

It was pretty alright! I thought it had an amazing atmosphere. The actual hidden object scenes were well-done, I thought, and carried a distinctly dark yet nostalgic tone to them that I haven’t seen anywhere else. You know when you eat a sweet you haven’t had since you were a kid as an adult, and now, it distinctly tastes off? Maybe it’s stale, or maybe it has a weird artificial aftertaste now? That’s the sort of feeling I got. The attention to detail was also impressive, and I wasn't expecting it.

I thought the map was quite useful as well, and actually enjoyed the feeling of having to trudge everywhere. I think the lack of QoL adds to the sort of ambience the game set.

The music was pretty nice, and I thought it matched the atmosphere pretty well. Same for the sound effects.

I also liked the post-game concept art gallery and wallpapers and such. It was pretty neat!

Now, onto the... less good. The plot.

I don’t play hidden object games for the plot. I was expecting nearly nothing. I was still somehow baffled by how rushed the plot actually felt. I wished they gave the writers a few more days to bang it out, because that’s mostly what brought my score down. If it weren’t for the plot being as poorly done as it was, it’d easily be a 4.5/5.

The other aspect bringing it down is the clunk. Older games will always have a bit of clunk, but this one in particular is especially clunky. This isn’t always a bad thing, but I found I had to do a fair amount of pixel hunting to finish puzzles, moreso than usual.

That said, if you need to kill a few hours, it’s far from the worst way to spend it. Just don’t think too hard about the plot. I don’t regret playing this, and still enjoyed it despite the plot, though, so I guess there’s that?

Overall Rating: 3.5/5 Donuts