Tibetan Quest: Beyond the World's Edge

An OK hidden-object game all in all, but suffers from sloppy game design, and so I can't recommend it to fans of the genre.

The graphics and design are impressive. The hidden-object scenes are easy but plentiful.

The big disappointment, however, is the point-and-click adventuring: it's illogical and even idiotic. At one point I had to melt ice and was carrying a magical staff that could melt it ... but, no, I was not allowed to use this staff and had to find a magnifying glass instead. At another point, I tried to take one item, and got a message telling me that I shouldn't take it before finding out if it belongs to someone. Uhm, taking stuff is exactly what what I've been doing the whole game until then! A hermit asks me for a "rare plant" that I immediately see growing right outside his house. Early on I think I found 5 axes in a row, and kept using them only to find new ones to use again. Can't our protagonist just keep the axe? Or how about thinking of a puzzle that requires a new kind of item? Too many puzzles involve an item being stuck and you have to pry it out. One of the hidden objects—I kid you not—is a "reset icon." Etc. etc. It's just insulting.

Finally, the story: the Tibetan flavor seems to be window dressing only. The legend of Shangri-La seems quite Westernized, the main and even most side characters are all Western, and in any case nothing of the history and religion of Tibet gets involved. I even think one of the puzzles involved Meso-American runes!

So, though the gameplay is generally OK, I'm going to have to give it a thumbs down. You hired excellent graphic artists, why not hire some capable writers, too? Or at least insist that they don't smoke up while on the job?

Still, thank you, devs, for supporting Linux!