The Legacy: Forgotten Gates
"The Legacy: Forgotten Gates" is a hidden-object adventure game packed with mini-games and puzzles, telling a story of a journey to another world, where danger and unexpected turns of events await around every corner! It was late evening and the museum was almost empty. At the Maya artifact exhibition, one of the exhibits suddenly started to move. The sound drew the attention of a young woman named Diana, a museum employee and an expert in Mayan culture. When she came closer to the artifact she realized it looked like a portal… and suddenly some unknown power lifted her up and teleported her to an ancient temple! Now Diana has to figure out where she is, how she got there and how she's going to return home. The young woman encounters a civilization similar to the Mayan culture, but this is neither the past nor a parallel reality. It's another planet, connected to Earth centuries ago by some special gates. And now the gates have been activated again…
Game Discussion
Steam User 55
The Legacy 1: Forgotten Gates (HOPA)
SPIDER ALERT for you arachnophobes: There is one large, nasty-looking spider in the game.
Options include fully-customizable difficulty (which can be changed at any time), sync w/Steam Cloud and separate sliders for Music, Environment, Sound Effects and Voiceovers.
I would not categorize this as a Hidden Object Game, but rather as a Hidden Object Puzzle Adventure. The "hidden object" scenes are not your standard find-by-list, or even what you see, which is find-by-silhouette. These scenes are actually puzzles, where you need to use each and every item you find in the scene in order to progress. To increase the difficulty (and interest), there are multiple zoom-in areas that you need to interact with, as well.
This title is heavy on the adventuring, and items you find often need to be combined in order to become functional - sometimes more than once!
As you navigate through the game, be on the lookout for:
30 Morphing items - One per scene in the main story
42 Collectible Items - There are multiple types of collectibles, and you'll net an achievement for completing each set. 12 of these are found in the bonus chapter. *NOTE: You must complete all of the sets to unlock some of the puzzles in the Extras area.
8 Story Scrolls - Collect them all to unlock a mini-game in the Extras.
Your journal will track the story, of course, as well as info you may need in order to solve puzzles. I did not spot any spoilers in the diary.
The MAP is fully-interactive, depending on what difficulty level you have chosen. It will insta-transport regardless, but you also have the option of having it show you where active areas are and where you might have missed collectibles and morphing items.
Like other games by this developer, when something we try doesn't work, it tells us WHY it won't work. "I can't dig with my hands, the ground is too hard," for example.
Bonus Content:
21 Achievements - Puzzle achievements CAN be obtained by replaying them in the Extras section.
Integrated Strategy Guide, which is accessible from anywhere in the game. Not only a walkthrough, but also shows every collectible and puzzle solution.
Bonus Chapter
9 Wallpapers
10 Concept Art
18 re-watchable Videos
8 Music tracks
18 re-playable Mini-games
6 Mosaic puzzles (scenes from the game)
Bonus Game - A fill-the-field mini-game with 20 levels to complete.
Complete Collections - This is a GREAT bonus for the completionists and achievement-hunters. Go to Complete Collections in the Extras areas, and it will allow you to go back in-game (main and bonus) to find any collectibles you missed!
Bonus Chapter:
This is not needed to have a "complete" story, like some bonus chapters... It's simply a mini-story that is related to the main game, but could easily be a standalone. Keep an eye out for some collectibles!
The music and sound effects are very nice, and the voice-overs were pretty good, as well! I really liked the graphics, the story was entertaining and the gameplay is top-notch.
This is another high-quality offering from FIVE-BN, and one which I thoroughly enjoyed. I believe that even people who don't usually like HOG's will enjoy this. Highly recommended!
Steam User 13
This was my first time playing The Legacy series. I thoroughly enjoyed this HOG. The puzzles were quite challenging and the HOG scenes done well. I loved the Aztec theme through out the game. Music was relaxing and fitted well with the theme.
I look forward to playing the next game in this series!
Steam User 12
The Legacy: Forgotten Gates is a casual Hidden Object Game, a nice one.
The story is good and the atmosphere/ambiance where it takes place is great.
The graphics are really nice too.
For those who played the Lost Lands serie (same developper), the universe of The Legacy: Forgotten Gates is quite similar. The universe is an excellent mixture of ancient civilizations and advanced technology, with a touch of magic.. all this taking place in some kind of other world or planet.
I liked the music and the whole soundtrack, but the female characters voices (especially the young one/teenage girl, I found to be irritating and unrealistic).
The music is eclectic and really feats the story.
Although I usually don't like cutscenes, I have to admit that the videos in The Legacy: Forgotten Gates are beautiful. Some of them are truly awesome, even spectacular.
The overall art style of the game is pleasant.
As far as the gameplay is concerned it's very decent and I appreciated both my playthroughs.
Good game pace.
A map allows you to quickly travel from one location to another
Puzzles/mini-games rank from easy to average.
I liked the H.O. Scenes. They are the dynamic kind, also known as H.O. Puzzles, where you are to interact objects between them in order to trigger other mecanisms. I find them more interesting than H.O.S. by list.
Achievements are not hard to get.
I really don't understand why so few people are reviewing or recommending this game. It's a shame because it has everything a game requires to please H.O.Games fans : a fantastic story, a great adventure, several characters, strange funny or scary critters..
It just lacks visibility, I guess. But considering the price it's worth giving it a try.
The Legacy: Forgotten Gates is well worth discovering !
Steam User 7
Game Information
"The Legacy: Forgotten Gates" Collector's Edition is a Hidden Object Puzzle Adventure game. The game was developed and published by Alawar Five-BN.
"Forgotten Gates" is the first episode of "The Legacy."
Since this is a collector's edition game, it comes with extra features that are not available in its counterpart; the standard edition.
The Game Review
Game Visuals
I want to mention that the visuals in the game are well done. The visuals can be adjusted in the game's option menu.
Game Audio
I want to mention that audio for the game is well done. Even though the audio is somewhat simplistic and repetitive. The audio can be adjusted in the game's option menu as well.
Gameplay
There are four different difficulty game modes to choose from: Casual; Advanced; Hard and Custom.
The notebook keeps track of progression in the game. Such as story events and clues.
There is an interactive map in the game. It allows the player to fast travel between each location quickly without having the need to constantly backtrack. It also indicates that there are a variety of tasks that can be completed at various locations within the game. The interactive map is not automatically given at the start of the game.
There is no padlock feature available to lock the inventory panel in place. The inventory panel is stationary.
There are some interactive items in the game. Some of the interactive items may require extra components before they can be interacted with. All interactive items are marked with a symbol in one of the corners.
The hidden object scenes consist of the following: Shadow items. Some of these hidden objects may require little or no interaction.
The puzzles are fairly easy to solve without having the need to skip any of them. Most of the puzzles can be replayed in the game's extra feature section.
There are four sets of collectibles in the game: Stone Heads; Pyramids; Decorated Skulls; Deity Statuettes; Clay Flask and Story Scrolls. They are scattered throughout the game for the player to find.
There are morphing objects (beyond objects) in the game. They are scattered throughout the game for the player to find as well.
There are twenty different achievements that can be unlocked from playing the game. Each of these achievements does come with some requirements that need to be completed before they can be unlocked.
Since this is a collector's edition game, there is a bonus chapter, but it can be accessed only after the main story is completed.
Miscellaneous
There are extra features in the game: Bonus Puzzles; Wallpapers; Concept Art; Soundtrack; Cutscenes and Game's Strategy Guide. Most of these extra features can be accessed only after the entire game is completed.
Final thoughts: I have found the game developer's method of advertising their other games is unappealing. The advertisement pops up before the actual game loads. They have already advertised their other games in the 'More Games' section.
Other than that I have found the game enjoyable to a certain extent. The replay value for the game is low. I would recommend this game, but not at the game's full price value.
Steam User 3
It's a good game and I enjoyed the artwork and complexity of puzzles for the mostpart, however it isn't perfect.
For one thing, there are no hidden object scenes per se. Instead, we get the 'domino effect' scenes, where one thing you find leads to another, and eventually you get one item from a scene - where everything you pick up is used in some way to get what you need. From a realistic perspective I can see how these sorts of scenes should be more common, but I found I missed the old mess scenes, and the game felt lacking.
The bonus chapter is home to the worst puzzle though, with concentric rings and the outer ring linked to three other separate puzzles. I ended up using the in-game guide for this as I often tried it only to end up with two pieces left over and found it too hard to swap them, as the pieces were position specific, not just colour specific.
To top off, afterwards there are 20 bonus puzzles to finish for an achievement, and some of these require some serious thought. The hexagonal grid has to be filled up completely by only using straight line moves, but each puzzle has various obstacles scattered around the grid so as to make it awkward to complete. Ultimately you can skip these, and the game will show you the solution, but you still need to finish them yourself to get the achievement.
Having just come away from fully completing the achievements, I find myself a bit drained from the experience. But even with the harder puzzles it isn't too bad and I'd still recommend it.
Steam User 23
The game was fun but very short-lived. I spent maybe 3 hours before completing it and the bonus level. I would recommend giving a timer for the hints like many other games and not allowing people to skip every puzzle so quickly. For the price, it was great.
Steam User 2
A good quality casual hidden-object game, featuring elements of Central-America indigenous cultures applied to another world where your heroine gets accidentally teleported through a portal. Game features good graphics and audio, logical HOG scenes and puzzles, plenty collectibles and bonus games; on the downside there is (again) the illogical need to travel back-and-forth across the map to apply picked items. Overall the game is a good representative of the genre, and has been succeeded by two episodes more, which are well worth adding to your collection if you enjoy these types of games.