I’m going to kill Tracy. 

She asked me on a Friday if I wanted to play a new game – being Friday I didn’t pay much attention to the title, and I certainly didn’t read the description before agreeing to do so. I just thought "hey, it’s the weekend, and I can play a game!"

If you will note the first two words above – GIANT SNAKES are the villain of House of 1,000 Doors: Serpent Flame.  As Tracy is well aware, I have a deathly fear of normal sized snakes, much less ginormous serpents that rise from the ground and destroy sky scrapers. I nearly had a panic attack watching the opening cut scene. Alas, I conquered my fear long enough to give the game a good try, but I’m still mad at Tracy.

The world is under attack by oversized snakes that have lain dormant for ages, waiting their time to arise. The House of 1,000 Doors has ascended above and is spared the death and destruction befalling the land below. Now the inhabitants must work to destroy the evil serpents and save the world. 

House of 1,000 Doors: Serpent Flame is the first of the series I have played, but I was able to catch on to the storyline as it stands on its own. There was little to no back story on the characters, so I do feel I was missing some context there, but not to the extent it took away from the game.

The graphics are crisp and clear and what I saw of the cut scenes through my hands was well done animation. The game is relatively short at 6 chapters but the Collector’s Edition includes a bonus chapter for extended play.  Slightly ominous music sets the tone, but it’s not overpowering even on the highest setting, so I hardly noticed most of the time. The voiceovers are borderline cheesy acting but thankfully are kept short and sweet.

I was happily surprised to encounter two different types of Hidden Object Scenes in House of 1,000 Doors: Serpent Flame. The traditional scenes aren’t overly cluttered or contain obscure objects, so they are easy to complete. All objects are in plain sight or easily found with interaction.

The game also includes reverse scenes, which require you to place objects rather than pick them up. I found those a little more challenging in that I couldn’t always identify the pieces in the scene, but the objects are identified when you hover the mouse overtop, which can help place them (and explain that gray rock is actually a hammer head). If you get impatient, hints are readily available and recharge quickly - between 30 and 60 seconds depending on Casual or Expert play mode.

House of 1,000 Doors: Serpent Flame also requires completion of mini games to uncover objects or advance to the next scene. Most of the games are variations of the typical HOS mini-games and are fairly simple with some forethought. If you are easily frustrated, a Skip button pops up quickly so you can move on. I tended to linger partially because I’m stubborn and can’t admit defeat and partially because I really, really didn’t want to see any more snakes.  Ew.

House of 1,000 Doors: Serpent Flame is a well done game with excellent graphics and interesting story. As long as you don’t have a severe case of ophidiophobia, it’s an enjoyable game to play!