Tales from the Dragon Mountain 2: The Lair

The great evil once defeated in Tales from the Dragon Mountain: The Strix comes back to life again to terrorize mankind. Tales from the Dragon Mountain 2: The Lair is a direct sequel by Cateia Games where the battle between good and evil starts all over again. Even with a great deal of visual improvements, the sequel may not offer much intensity in its story, but the new puzzles that have been introduced will keep gamers attached till its end.

Tales from the Dragon Mountain 2: The Lair is the story of Mina Lockheart who has been given the responsibility of defeating Lord Strix by her ancestors. Mina senses the return of the great evil who she once crushed, and she sets her path to confront it again. With her fairy companion Malik, she travels to a village where the portal to Lord Strix’s castle exists. During the game Mina travels through four major sequences, and each offers several puzzles to decipher. In most cases, she doesn’t get to solve the puzzles straightaway. Before reaching each puzzle she must gather the pieces together; mostly those hidden around the screen. As Mina, players can move from one screen to another, and there’s an inventory where they can store all the pieces found. Not every object is there for solving puzzles though; some are used to reach certain objects and others as a piece of a puzzle itself. Furthermore, several objects may need to be combined to make another object. In each scene not all of the objects are necessarily kept hidden. Sometimes players can clearly see some objects waiting to be picked up, but it wouldn’t be fun if the game lets you do so, would it? You must wisely combine or crack several riddle pieces to collect objects and reveal the grand enigma.

The game offers several difficult modes. In easy or casual mode, players are given hints as to the location of most objects from each scene. Even so, there will be hidden objects and it’s not very easy to figure out their locations. There’s also a button that shows the locations where players must check for the objects or puzzles. The hint system of Tales from the Dragon Mountain 2: The Lair is an improvement from the original that guides players towards the scene in a more corrective manner. For instance, if you’re stuck looking for the final piece of a puzzle, the hint button will guide you even towards its location. The button takes time to recharge after it’s been used, so, if you’re here for the puzzles, don’t get used to it. To really have fun with the puzzles, the adventure mode is the answer. There aren’t too many hints in this mode, plus the challenges are tougher. If not all, few of the puzzles do require brain power and solving them gives a fair bit of satisfaction.

There are many puzzles that can be found in Tales from the Dragon Mountain 2: The Lair: construction puzzles, stick puzzles, tiling puzzles, jigsaw puzzles, lock puzzles, combination puzzles, rubix puzzles, mechanical puzzles and more. You name it, the game has it. Some of the puzzles are easier to crack and some will make players have an episode of Déjà vu. Unbreakable or not, presentation of each and every puzzle is remarkable. Credit goes to the visual designers for such a priceless effort. Those who are familiar with the original will immediately notice the improved voice acting. The visuals, however, will surprise them the most. It’s not only the puzzles that have good visuals, each scene in the game is presented with a noteworthy atmosphere. Perhaps this is what makes finding objects difficult because they blend so well into the scenes. The scenarios are portrayed with solid sharpness and look very realistic.

Sadly, Tales from the Dragon Mountain 2: The Lair isn’t a game where players can enjoy a good story. From beginning to end, the game mostly features a variety of puzzles. While the gameplay lasts for only four hours, there are more than enough puzzles to keep anyone occupied through the end. This, however, doesn’t mean the game can’t have a more intense story, where players feel the urge to explore, not only for more puzzles but the story itself. The game really does a poor job making its story worth remembering. Lacking a captivating story, the game isn't worth playing more than once, unless players want to try out the different difficulty modes. If the game had offered a section only for puzzles unlocked by playing the whole campaign, players might have a reason to go back to it. Otherwise, when finished with the adventure mode, there’s nothing further the game can offer.

 

Tales from the Dragon Mountain 2: The Lair does bring a lot of head scratching moments to the player, and casual adventure fans will love playing it. Cateia Games has been delivering puzzle games for since 2007 and perhaps they should consider reaching for a more advanced audience who take puzzle adventures more seriously. Currently available on Steam, its $9.99 price tag is a bit steep as more intensive games are available for cheap. If price isn’t an issue, then Tales from the Dragon Mountain 2: The Lair can be a fun game to play, with tons of puzzles to crack.

Sarwar Ron, NoobFeed
Twitter | +SarwarRon