Maze: Sinister Play – Review

A fun weekend road trip with your best friends turned into an insidious nightmare when your friends were kidnapped by a pair of ghostly children and you woke up alone in an abandoned school. Can you find your way out from this creepy maze in Sinister Play, a new thrilling installment in Mad Head Games‘ Maze series.

The first Maze game, Maze: Subject 360 blew us all away with its creativity and singular vision. While the many sequels that followed were not able to reach this same status, they were well-made horror-tinged adventures in their own right. Maze: Sinister Play is the latest chapter in this best-selling hidden object series and it might be the most daring and original one since the original masterpiece.

The storyline in Maze: Sinister Play is layered, but not unnecessarily convoluted. It is divided into three different parts with three separate stories that culminate together in the concluding chapter, which keeps the game fresh and exciting at all times. In a similar fashion to games like Bonfire Stories and Campfire Legends, this game utilizes the concept of creepy campfire folklores to further captivate the player by adding a sheen of mythical quality.

Maze: Sinister Play also has a neatly-done gameplay. Regardless of not including the most groundbreaking ideas, the gameplay here is more than just another cookie-cutter effort. The pacing is on-point, the challenge level is perfect, and most importantly, it is totally in sync with the storytelling. The hidden object scenes and the puzzles are also sophisticated and align with other elements in the game in terms of mood and style.

Mad Head Games knows how to deliver a visually stimulating game and Maze: Sinister Play is just another proof of that. From the details of the artwork to the quality of the cutscenes, every visual component in this game is top-notch. Given the game’s mainly dark color palette, it never feels stale as it experiments quite heavily with different shadows and shades. Not only that, but the game’s audio also helps enhance the horror aspect of the game – making it a genuinely immersive experience.

Another good news for HOPA fans is that Maze: Sinister Play has a relatively long length. The main game should take you a good 4.5 hours to complete and the bonus chapter adds another hour to that. Moreover, the Collector’s Edition consists of all the expected extras; a strategy guide, wallpapers, concept art, soundtracks, character gallery, replayable hidden object scenes, jigsaw puzzle, achievements, collectibles, and morphing objects.

Maze: Sinister Play has a satisfyingly creepy storyline, an amazing production, and an engaging gameplay – what more could you want from a hidden object adventure game?