This was the first of the Redemption Cemetery series I’ve tried, and based on the positive reviews on previous installments it seemed like a good bet. However, while the storyline was intriguing, I think this chapter fell short of living up to the reputation of its predecessors. There wasn’t anything in particular I disliked about the game, it just left me feeling indifferent.

Redemption Cemetery: Salvation of the Lost follows the protagonist on a subway ride home – however, the train makes only one stop, at a creepy cemetery. When the doors open, your dog bounds off after his runaway ball, forcing you to exit the train in pursuit. While searching for his ball, your pup is captured by Hina, who holds him ransom in exchange for your cooperation in freeing the lost souls of the cemetery.

Now, you must work your way through mini-games and hidden object scenes to help three restless souls find peace before Hina will release your dog and allow you to return home (in case you were thinking of cutting your losses and ditching the dog).

Redemption Cemetery: Salvation of the Lost has a traditional set up with three play modes ranging from casual to expert with varying degrees of help and hints available. In casual mode, the hints recharge quickly and on-screen guidance will assist you with locating play areas and next moves. The graphics were well-done but not as crisp and clear as I would expect. The music and sounds are also average – well done enough but nothing outstanding.

As a fan of hidden object games, the HO scenes are usually the part of the game I look forward to the most. I played over 30 minutes (maybe I’m just slow?) before I stumbled across my first Redemption Cemetery: Salvation of the Lost HO scene.

I had already done a lot of running around collecting things and completed 2 mini games before I finally found an HO scene. Knowing that many people will judge the game based on the demo, and potentially only the first half hour or so, I felt the HO scene should have come much closer to the beginning to give players a real feel for the game.

The scenes are not overly cluttered or difficult, even the objects that require interaction didn’t give me much trouble. Hints are readily available if you get stuck or impatient, but I got through pretty quickly without them.

The highlight of Redemption Cemetery: Salvation of the Lost for me was the mini-games, which I truly enjoyed. They were unique and challenging but fell short of frustrating, and I was never tempted to use the skip feature.

The directions were not always clear and took a few readings and some trial and error at times, but I found the experimentation fun and quickly caught on to the object of each game. I could have done without the repeated games to recharge the raven, it was redundant and didn’t add to the story.

I was hoping for a game that would live up to the hype of previous editions of Redemption Cemetery: Salvation of the Lost, but I was somewhat disappointed. It was not poorly done, but some aspects seemed to fall short and suggest it was produced too quickly. While Salvation of the Lost wasn’t for me, I would try this franchise again – it had great potential!