The Secret Society™ – Hidden Mystery (out now, FREE) by G5 is a freemium game catering to hidden object lovers. Like many such games, The Secret Society comes with a bit of story, though it’s nothing hugely interesting or exciting.
Your uncle Richard has disappeared under mysterious circumstances, and as his heir, you are called to his mansion to figure out what befell him. Soon, you hear about a secret group your uncle was part of: the Order of the Seekers. These Seekers possess the special skill of entering magic photos, and you too have this ability. You are tasked with searching for clues from several photos your uncle left on his desk.
It sounds as if this could be the start of a mysterious adventure, however, your uncle’s butler and his secretary waste no time in bogging you down with irrelevant quests that include searching for a series of lost coins. Worse, you have to keep going back into the same pictures to find these items. None of these initial quests bring you any closer to finding Uncle Richard. Anyhow, by finding objects, you’ll be awarded stars and coins, which you’ll need to unlock more picture locations.
Apart from hunting for objects, you’ll also have to solve mini puzzles that include piecing together torn pictures, block sliding, connecting pipes, and a memory matching game. There are also several hidden-object game modes: searching by item name, silhouette, and morph. In morph mode, you’ll have to look out for items that transform into something else. All this makes the overall game a little more varied, but it doesn’t make up for the tedium of visiting the same locations over and over again.
Coins and diamonds form the in-game currency, which you can use to buy talismans, tools, etc. Since this is a freemium game, however, it’s designed to try and provoke players into purchasing coins and diamonds with real-world money. Entering photos and playing the mini games saps energy, which takes time to replenish. Buying items, such as coffee, can help recharge your energy. If you’re the patient sort though, you can always put the game down and wait for your energy to fill up without spending a penny.
Verdict
Since The Secret Society™ – Hidden Mystery is free it won’t hurt to try it. Ardent hidden object fans may well enjoy this, though where such games are concerned, there are more entertaining paid titles out there. Aside from the drawback of having to wait for your energy to refill or pay to speed up the process, The Secret Society feels repetitive because you’re made to revisit the same locations too many times and to find a long series of mundane objects that help little in solving any mysteries.