Rhi Axtell – Writer

Alright, I’ll admit it. There was a time in my life where I was a little bit obsessed with hidden object games. And that time… was last year.

So…not too long ago. It might still be going on, actually.

But maybe obsessed is too strong a word. I had a strong preference for them over other games. They are simple. They are usually silly. And, if I want to spend money on them, they are usually very, very cheap, because who spends money on hidden object games these days when there are a bazillion free apps out there?

(Me. I do. I did. It’s me.)

Anyway, this leads me to the topic of this second blogtober post and our ‘spooky thing’ of the day:

A SPOOKY SHERLOCK GAME

Okay, the game in question is not called that. That’s merely an amusing title I use when talking about it. Ha ha ha. What fun we have here.

The actual game is titled Sherlock Holmes and the Hound of the Baskervilles – which is awkward because I’m pretty sure there is a book titled exactly the same thing.

The creators of this game, which was released in 2010 but looks like it would be more at home in the late nineties, decided that they would take one of the famous Sherlock Holmes novels, written by Arthur Conan Doyle, ignore most of the original story, give Sherlock Holmes magical powers, sprinkle in some time travel (of course) and then BAM: the perfect hidden object game would be created.

In 2023, an innocent soul called Richard Axtell would buy this game for 85p.

I actually loved this game. I’m not going to lie. It was cheesy and it was clunky and the voice acting was hilarious but it hit me exactly where it needed to when it came to fun spookiness and objects which are hidden.

Sometimes when you click on parts of the screen, there is even a little jump scare. A flash of a vicious hound, a red claw mark across the screen, a distant howl in the night… nothing to really get you screaming but enough to make you go ooh.

I do love to go ooh.

I also completed it in about four hours. This isn’t a brag (maybe it’s a little bit of a brag) but I liked that I could get the job done, feel that healthy sense of accomplishment, and then pat myself on the head ‘well done, Richard, you braved the spooky game, completed it and now you can move on with your life’.

Other ‘spooky’ or ‘horror’ games usually get about one or two hours of me going argh instead of ohh (argh is much worse) and then I never play them again.

Outlast, I’m looking at you – and then hiding under the nearest bed.

And as a final bonus, you play as Sherlock Holmes, who is very smart, so you also get to feel smart when you complete the game. It’s a second-hand smartness – like second-hand smoke, but better in every single way.

Anyway, that’s my spooky thing for today. I hope you enjoyed it, and I’ll see you again tomorrow.