Dark Romance: Hunchback of Notre-Dame – Review

The Dark Romance franchise continues into its tenth installment with Dark Romance: Hunchback of Notre-Dame. Cardinal Frollo has summoned Captain Frederic de Bone to the city of Paris after the news that the dangerous criminal Quasimodo is on the loose. The beautiful street dancer, Esmeralda is believed to be this criminal’s next target. Can you bring her to safety and discover the twisty history between the Cardinal and Quasimodo?

Dark Romance: Hunchback of Notre-Dame sticks to the two-perspectives storytelling that has become the signature attribute of this successful series. This allows the game to establish two three-dimensional lead characters and get the player more engaged in the game. It also helps that the main storyline in this sequel is quite interesting and the supposed “villain” actually has a distinct personality for once.

Gameplay wise, Dark Romance: Hunchback of Notre-Dame is not much different from other games in Domini’s portfolio. The game is well-balanced between hidden object scenes and puzzles – both elements are neatly-designed, but nothing surprising or inventive. Similarly, there is nothing majorly wrong with the adventure gameplay – it just feels like we have all been through this process hundred times before.

Despite all its flaws, Dark Romance: Hunchback of Notre-Dame is definitely a gorgeous game. Both indoor and outdoor scenes are marvelously drawn and adorned with breathtaking details. Although the saturated purple hue that remains a constant throughout the game might be overwhelming at first, it is actually not that distracting once you get used to it. Still, One minor criticism is that the quality of the cutscenes can be inconsistent. The switch between high-budget animations and 2D drawings is not always the smoothest and can be a little jarring.

Dark Romance: Hunchback of Notre-Dame has a decent length, coming in at around the four and half hours mark. The bonus is a continuation of the main storyline and provides an additional hour of on-par gameplay. The Collector’s Edition also includes a strategy guide, wallpapers, concept art, videos, soundtracks, repayable hidden object scenes, replayable puzzles, achievements, collectibles, morphing objects, and a Boudoir.

Dark Romance: Hunchback of Notre-Dame benefits from a fantastic production and a gripping storyline, which offset its rather basic gameplay.

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