Unravel supernatural mystery in 'Return to Ravenhearst'

— -- Seasoned PC gamers with a nostalgic leaning toward point-and-click adventure games from the '90s — such as Myst, The 7th Guest and Day of the Tentacle— will likely enjoy clicking through Big Fish Games' Mystery Case Files: Return to Ravenhearst.

This fifth chapter — part of a popular series that has sold more than 2.5 million copies — includes some of the game-play elements found in its Mystery Case Files predecessors, yet has made considerable strides when it comes to production values and story, as well as puzzles that hark back to the classic head-scratchers from a decade ago.

In Return to Ravenhearst, you play as a detective called back to the mysterious 19th-century mansion constructed by Charles Dalimar as a token of affection for his love, Emma Ravenhearst. The queen of England, no less, asks you to once and for all solve the mystery of the now-decrepit dwelling and decipher the odd happenings inside it. At the start of the game you arrive at the gates and must find a way onto the locked property, and then figure out how to get into the mysterious mansion.

The game play is basically divided into two parts. As with past Mystery Case Files titles (which are free to try and cost about $20 to keep playing after the hour-long trial), the first kind of puzzles involve "hidden object" tasks, where you are presented with a busy scene and must find a dozen or so items listed at the bottom of the screen (curiously, the items are usually unrelated to the location or story).

Once you find the items by scouring the screen, you click on them, which crosses them off the list. Items you find will be added to your inventory, which leads to the second type of puzzles. As in the adventure games of yesteryear, you will need to use an item in order to manipulate it. Some are fairly easy tasks, such as using a crowbar to pry open a loose floorboard early in the game, but eventually you will be faced with tougher Myst-like lever, dial and number puzzles. Clues on how to solve these conundrums can usually be found in your case files notebook, accessible at anytime within the game.