Introduction

At the beginning of the year I had the pleasure of playing Remedy,
a delightful mystery adventure from the husband and wife team of
Mikeal and Eleen Nyqvist from Norrkoping, Sweden. Only ten months
have passed and the Nyqvists have already released the sequel, Hope
Springs Eternal.

If you haven’t already, you should go back and read my review of
Remedy. Hope
Springs Eternal picks up where Remedy left off and continues
without skipping a beat. If you read that review first, then I won’t
have to repeat myself here. But don’t worry, you don’t have to play
Remedy first. The two games stand well on their own.

HSE is a pleasant little adventure game. There is no adrenaline
pumping action scene. There are no angst producing ethical dilemmas.
There are no hair pulling puzzles which prevent you from continuing.
You cannot die and I’m not sure if you can even get stuck. It is
laid back and charming. It is a peaceful game which you would play
with your little sister or nephew just to see the pretty pictures,
solve the simple puzzles and find the little objects tucked in corners
and cabinets.

Story

You play the part of Carol Reed, a sort of British Nancy Drew, fresh
out of college who has decided to run a detective business in a small
Swedish town. Not much happens here, most of your business involves
finding lost cats (thankfully, not part of the game). But every now
and then a real crime is committed and the police may need just a
little help to point them in the right direction.

The story is just as straight forward and believable as it was in
Remedy, although you have now graduated from kidnapping to murder.
Your friend’s mother calls you over to ask you to find out what happen
to the local school teacher who has been missing for several days.
You soon find that the teacher has helped a convicted murderer escape
and they are now both missing. Was the prisoner framed? Or has the
teacher been conned? You are the only person interested in finding
the truth.

The authors even removed the small plot hole from Remedy and this
time you get to go to the police as soon as you have solid evidence.
Such deft story telling is rare and I award it a full A, not for
doing anything new or clever, but for doing it right.

Navigation

Same as before. Classic 2D slideshow. While there was still a bit
of disorientation while moving in and around the castle, most of
it had been cleaned up and it was a definite improvement over the
first game. So I give it an improved grade of B-.

Puzzles

Most of the puzzles are
of the “inventory” variety.
You still have to go all around town to find what you need, but at
least you don’t have to steal anything more valuable than a pencil.
Another plot hole plugged from the original game.

There are also six logical puzzles. They are quite easy for the
experienced adventure gamer and should prove to be no problem for
even the novice. But should you find any of them to be a bother,
there is a ByPass button in the lower right-hand corner which instantly
solves the puzzle and allows you to continue the game. The only penalty
for using the ByPass is that you will lose one of the gold stars
you can get at the end. No big deal.

I will also mention that one of the logical puzzles is my favorite
type of puzzle, the Slider! Now, before you groan and whine your
way to the ByPass button, let me point out that once you know how
to slide the blocks, there is no difference between a Slider and
a Jig Saw puzzle. Except that the Slider has all the pieces right
side up and in the correct orientation. The only frustration comes
from not knowing how to get your pieces to where you know they must
go. For that, just go to my Walkthrough
For Sliders and it will explain
how to solve them every time.

With the removal of petty larceny, I increment the puzzle score
to B+.

Graphics

The same clever technique which the Nyqvists introduced in Remedy is continued in HSE. I gave it an A back then for innovation. But
what should I give it now since it has now been done before? With
the understanding that all the praise which I heaped on it the first
time is still valid, I give it a solid B+. Still excellent, but no
longer an innovation.

Also, the models are still
real people and not poster children for the Anorexia Society. Real,
that is with the possible exception of
the gentleman pictured who begs the question, “At what point
do body piercing cease to be art and actually become obsessive self
mutilation?” Gooooood question.

Sound

Same as before. Good quality. Good voice acting. Very real. A solid
B.

Playability

Again, very consistent with the first work. No frustrations from
not knowing what to do next. Even if you aren’t sure, you can quickly
go to every place on your map. There is never more than a dozen and
you will be told if there is no reason to go there.

No frustrations with not being able to solve a puzzle since you
can always press the ByPass button. The only problem would be the
classic missed inventory item. But if you are careful to examine
every screen and look in every direction, you shouldn’t miss any.
Just take it easy and don’t rush things.

Again, a solid B.

Conclusion

Hope Springs Eternal is a worthy successor to Remedy. It retained
all that was good and even improved on the few rough spots.

HSE also has quite a few Easter Eggs in it. Can you find where a
certain Mr. Sluganski is mentioned?

While this game will not be considered a genre defining milestone
and playing it will not be a date to go down in history, it will be like a pleasant picnic lunch in the park with your loved ones.
Playing it will be a time fondly remembered and an experience which
everyone should have.

Final Grade: B+
(find out more about our
grading system)

System Requirements:

• Pentium 800MHz
• Windows 98/2000/XP
• 64MB RAM
• 8MB videocard
• 500MB hard drive space
• Game runs in 1024×768
  resolution