Find out the truth, who is more guilty: The mayor of the town or the red-masked man who is murdering city officials? Graphics are as expected from ERS: drawn very clear and detailed! Marvellous cutscenes with very good voice-overs. As always 3 modes to choose from, 6 chapters plus bonus chapter, direction giving hint, a very useful journal with an interactive map (allowing you to jump), you may lock the inventory, so that it won?t disappear at the bottom. SG doesn?t follow your progress. And we have a camera next to the inventory. Now: Try not to use the hint-button in HOS and minigames. Take pictures of every scene! And collect all 5 hidden items for your cat!! YES: And that is new in this series: We are able to earn 11 achievements!!!! And I love that! We have our own private office, decorated with our achievements and a place for our cudy cat. Lots of HOS (list) and those (wellknown ERS-) silhouette-HOS, where you must find one item, before getting another and so on, until 1 last item remains for your inventory. Minigames are good to manage. Yes, this time, a Dark Tales Collector?s Edition is a ?must have? for me!!!! :)

Because I have the other Edgar Allen Poe games, I bought this one right away. I've been playing about two hours and really want to keep moving along. There are three modes of play: Casual, Advanced, and Hardcore. I'm using the casual mode. The Strategy Guide is readily available so you do not have to go to the menu to access it. You have a Journal that containes notes and a map. You will have a camera icon at the bottom of each scene and it is important to take a photo whenever you enter a new location. The scene will be added to your map which will transport you directly to locations. There are many achievements to earn. At the start of the game, you will visit the detectives office. You will need to click all around this scene to become familiar with awards you can receive. It also has a section on the wall, that will mention your name and reference to other Poe games you have played. The hint button, in the casual mode, works well, and will use an arrow to show you where to go next, The HO's are colorful and interactive. Type of HO is varied, which is nice. I did not find it difficult to locate items but I have a large screen. I don't think you will have difficulty finding items. The games, thus far, have not been difficult to play but are fun.They can be skipped. You will, also, be using a scale, on occasion, to weigh things. It will help you at the end of the game to determine who is the REAL villan. There are a lot of voice overs which are will done. They are skipable. However, when playing for the first time you might want to take the time to listen/read. It carries the story line forward in addition to informaing you of items you will need. There is some movement back and forth between scenes; but, so far, items are used rather quickly. I liked the features this Poe game had that were not included in the other ones. Hope this review is helpful. I highly recommend this game.

I have played all the dark tales and this one is also good. Seems like ERS is putting out lots of games lately and I have notice that they are getting to be the same. Saying that it is still good game. Graphics and voice over is good along with the music. They seem to be getting less of a challenge for me. Maybe I'm betting better. Just seems like you need less help. The HOS are good and they are also changing into interactive ones now. Hint button works good. Good game and worth the money. They just had all there games for half price, too bad is quite yesterday.

I?ve been waiting for this one since playing the beta and knew right away that this was an instant purchase. Of course I feel that way about every game that comes from the excellent team at ERS. Never have I been disappointed with one of their games. The Masque of the Red Death begins as our beloved Inspector Dupin is called in to solve a mystery and prevent the death of the town?s mayor by someone who has been killing off his advisors. As with the other Dark Tales games this one is very loosely based on an Edgar Allen Poe classic. If you are a fan of Poe, you won?t find too much in common with the original story. That being said, I always am entertained by the stories in games that come from this developer. The ERS team has a way of holding my interest while providing hours of entertainment in each tale that they spin for my enjoyment. For those of you who may have had issues in the past with the widescreen presentation in ERS games, I am happy to say that this now seems to be resolved. I know the screen presentation makes a big difference to many gamers so a big thumbs up to ERS on finally resolving this issue. The game runs very well on my Windows8 laptop and I experienced no technical issues. IMHO, ERS has listened to the comments from BFG members and is clearly on the right path towards making their CE games the TRUE CE value they should be. Masque of the Red Death is loaded with extras. Not only do we have the standards but we can replay the puzzles and HO scenes. There are many achievements to be earned throughout the game ? I think I counted fourteen. A nice touch is the camera that not only adds photos to our map but that can be saved to an album for use as wallpapers. There is a journal or diary that contains notes and important information that we gather as we move through the game, and you will find your jumpable map located on one of the diary's tabs. When I was exploring ?my office? I came across a wall that has certificates with my name ? all kudos from Dupin for assisting him wi

I'm very happy to see this game here now. The devs were very fast. The fourth Dark Tales came out in 2013 and now, two or three months later Monsieur Dupin is back! The storyline is great. There are some parts from the Edgar Allan Poe story in it, but there are different parts too. Like in all the other Dark Tales games. The game can be played in widescreen too. That's great for many players. The music is lovely. It really reminds me of beautiful landscapes and little cafes in France. A beautiful soundtrack. The sounds are good done, like in every Ers game too. There are good voiceovers and nice drawn charakters in the game. The graphics are good. Very beautiful. There are wonderful gardens and dark castle streets. So here the devs did a good mix again. The graphics are detailed too. The only thing that's not perfect in the game (for me) is, that the game is very easy to play. But the puzzles are mostly challenging and sometimes a little easier. In this game there are various types of hidden object scenes. I really like them. That's why I rate level of challenge with good. As an extra the player has his own office where you can play with your little kitty and look at your trophys. You can earn the trophys while playing the game. And you can take a photo from every scene and save the photos as pictures on your PC. That's a great idea from the devs too. So the whole game is nice done again and worth the money. Like in every Ers game there are parts for beginner players and parts for more advanced players. The atmosphere in this game is especially good done and so it's defenitly a five star game for me!

This game is great! Intriguing story with outstanding visuals and sound. Are you ready to join Dupin once again as he searches for a masked stranger? Will the quest for justice be served with his capture or will he be revealed as an avenger and hero? Is the unpopular Mayor a villain or a victim? Play and find out! In true ERS style, the graphics and artwork are clear and colourful, with that somewhat washed out look that is so characteristic. The music, a combination of accordion, piano and strings, seems appropriately French and suits each moment. I found the characters and voices realistic and appealing. Finally, we have lip sync that has been done to perfection! The cutscenes and animation are superb and blend seamlessly into the gameplay. Much to my delight, I am pleased to see animals in a game such as this. The kitten in the opening scene captured my heart. Here you are amidst murder and mystery, and you take the time to feed a hungry kitten and then adopt him. As time passes, you obtain items for him for him to use and play with by a roaring fire in your warm and comfortable office. We encounter a bear who helps to shake an apple from a tree, and then there?s a dachshund whose purpose I have not yet discovered. Other reviewers have given the details of this great HOPA. I just want to add that it has everything I need for a well-crafted game and a fabulous CE! Can't wait to find out how it all turns out. Based on my enjoyment of the demo, this game is definitely on my purchase list. Very highly recommended!

Have played all "Dark Tales". This one had me interested from the start. Graphics/cutscenes are superb. Hidden object scenes are creative. The story line is very interesting. You have to work out who the real villain is the man in the red mask or the town mayor. After playing the demo I knew I had to buy it. You won't be disappointed I wasn't.

Review based on completed game (inc. bonus chapter) This was the first game by ERS in a while where it held my interest long enough to actually finish. As always, in these Edgar Allan Poe adaptations, you accompany the Dishy Dupin on the trail of yet another murderous foe. This time it's a villain knows as "The Red Masque", who is bumping off the town officials. But all is not as it seems...... The music is recognisably ERS, but not quite as "samey" as all the games that came before it - phew! The scenery is instantly recognisable as their artwork. Puzzles are not terrifically difficult - some were very easy, while others took a little more patience and thought. Hidden Object scenes were well spaced out, and were either list-style (with a few interactive items) or the type where you find one item, use it to get another, and so on. At the end of the main game you have a decision to make, and it made me stop, review my "evidence" and have a think about who the real villain here was. It was a nice touch. The bonus game didn't take a long time, but explored new areas, which I always like. And I got to see Dupin minus some of his shirt, too. I think I added about 15 minutes on to my playing time just by having a good look :) The 'extras' are the usual fare - concept art, screensavers etc., plus you can replay the HOGs and puzzles. Oh, and there's also something called "Workshop", which takes you to 30 pictures of the ERS team hard at work - or not, as the case was sometimes by the looks of it!!! My only gripe was the cat (and I'm a cat person - I have 3). I just didn't see the *point*, to be honest, beyond the "look at the cutesy cat we've got to play with outwith the game!" factor. I hope this isn't going to be a recurring theme (another recent offering had a pet dog area) because the game itself should be able to stand on its own merit without that sort of schmaltz added in. Overall, I hope ERS can continue to develop games that a

This was an absolutely awesome game!!! It was fun, adventurous without a whole lot of HOS, so if you want alot of HOS this isn't the game for you. The HOS's that were in the game were spledid, clear and not easy but also not at all difficult. Alot of beautiful, puzzles that weren't extremely mind bending but somewhat challenging and different than the same ol' same ol puzzles. The detail and the graphics were excellent, up to date with multiple places to go and with a lot to do. There were so many different places to visit and within those were even more beautiful scenes. This is not a hand holding game but it does have an effective hint button and the skip button does charge fairly quick. I was very impressed with this game and what it had to offer and is probably one of the best games I have played. BUT,...I was a little disappointed with the Bonus game. It used alot of the same scenery that was in the initial game. It still had great detail, graphics, story line and challenge. What bothered me was that the story flows and keeps your interest and then all of a sudden,...it's over,..!! This happened in both the game and the bonus game. I found it to be to abrupt of an ending for such a great game!! I do believe that this is a keeper for all times. 5 STARS Margaret

I really enjoyed the game. It was simply visually beautiful - the developers really captured the ambiance of every scene. The music matched as well, and so when I was standing in the pouring rain, I felt like I wanted to be in my office with the kitt by the roaring fire. Excellent job. The game had many little nuances like that that made it a full experience. I played the whole game and the bonus content and at the end of it all, I sat back and said "wow. Now that was a good game!" There were many acheivements, many things to collect, details to pay attention to, and it was quite twisty. I liked being able to decide who dunnit, thought that was a nice touch. I didn't expect the bonus content to be what it was - which was a very plausible continuation of the story and brought it to a satisfying close for me. It had new areas to visit and, while it was equally as stunning graphically as the main game, I did have a minor disappointment with it. As a disclaimer, I'll say that I have been having some minor compy issues, so this could very well be a problem of my very own and not the devs, however, I found the bonus game to be a bit lacking in some details that were in the main game. Example: when you go to pour water, you usually get the lifting of the pitcher, the pouring water sound, see the container fill up and then then message "you found a container of water". (I love that by the way - heh! :o) I just poured the thing, I didn't just find it! :o) In this bonus game, you expect all that detail and instead a full thing of water just pops up. Or whatever the action that you were doing. It felt a little undone and incomplete - not like it was just thrown on the end (as with some others), but like ....maybe some spots were just missed and they put the game out anyway? Well, it's a rather small matter in the face of the entire game, and like I said, it could've just been my persnickety computer. The extras were plentiful, and I always enjoy a peek behind the scenes. I like being a