Princess Isabella: A Witch’s Curse PC review

In this hidden object adventure, you play as Princess Isabella and you’re about to marry the man of your dreams, Prince Adam.

However, on returning to the castle after going riding, you find that things aren’t as you left them. In your absence, an evil witch got into the castle under the pretence of bringing wedding gifts, and cursed its inhabitants. Luckily, as you were out, this didn’t include you. On further investigation, you find that your servants and mother and father have been trapped inside mirrors, which have been smashed. The pieces are secreted throughout the sprawling castle. Prince Adam is nowhere to be seen.

Far from being the damsel in distress, you’re ready to tackle this problem head on, lift the witch’s curse and get married as planned. It’s not all plain sailing, though. There is much for you to do. As well as removing the dreaded curse from each room, you must solve numerous puzzles, find dozens of hidden objects and put those all-important mirrors back together.

Luckily, you have help. Your little fairy friend (who looks just like Tinkerbell) managed to hide when she saw the witch arrive, and therefore escaped the curse. She’ll be your companion, on hand to give hints and tips and even smash things… yes, that’s right. This fairy is not just a pretty face. She has special abilities, most of which are earned as you progress through the castle that will help you along the way.

Time to enter the castle. You’re immediately presented with excellent graphics and tough puzzles to get your grey matter working. As you’d expect, the castle is huge; but luckily, you have a map to hand which means you can click unlocked areas of the map to visit them if you don’t want the trouble of walking there. You probably think this is pretty lazy, but if you decide to play the game, you’ll be grateful for it. The map also comes in handy because it indicates the status of a room. There are four: cursed, uncursed, incomplete and complete. This is because you must remove the curse from each room as well as solving their multiple mysteries. All of this makes for an exciting and mind-boggling adventure.

Happily for me, the hidden object searches are a minor part of the game (I’m not a fan), and they actually have a purpose. For example, you may be searching for ingredients for a potion which will lift the curse from that particular room, or objects to help you unlock the door to the next section.

With the exception of the ‘potion-making’ puzzle, which has you ‘mixing’ the potion by matching coloured bubbles in the least amount of moves, there’s very little repetition. Puzzle masters will probably breeze through some of these, but I found some more difficult than others and was relieved to find that, when you’ve tried for a certain amount of time, the fairy will solve it for you. Phew!

Overall, I really enjoyed this game. My least favourite part was the ending, where you must win a hidden object-finding race to win. But hidden object lovers will probably revel in this part. The game is a little bit short, but the spooky atmosphere, lovely graphics and enthralling storyline will ensure that you enjoy every minute of it.