Drawn: Trail of Shadows
By Chad Sapieha,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
Pretty game melds hidden object, adventure, and puzzle play.
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Drawn: Trail of Shadows
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What’s It About?
Players journey through the pages of a storybook while exploring a rich fantasy world composed of beautiful paintings in DRAWN: TRAIL OF SHADOWS. Their goal is to find an evil wizard who is after a boy possessed of the power to turn pictures into portals. Strange creatures such as fawns and talking shrubs offer riddles that force players to examine their environments for clues and hidden objects. Some of these objects are necessary to solve certain puzzles, many of which involve coloring or painting in clever ways. Many of the puzzles are set in a picture book filled with moving elements with which players interact by pulling paper tabs. Hints are provided via optional text clues, and typically provide useful guidance without spoiling the puzzles.
Is It Any Good?
Drawn: Trail of Shadows expertly melds several types of traditional casual game activities, including seek-and-find scenes, adventure-style investigative tasks, and clever puzzles that require a bit of thought. The pastel colored pictures are beautiful and often highly interactive, and the puzzles, while challenging, are fair and rewarding. One of our favorites involves selecting stencils to create layers of color on eggs in an effort to identically reproduce complex pictures. Such conundrums require both creativity and reasoning skills and prove quite engaging.
Note, though, that while the fantasy characters and storybook settings may seem geared for young children, the game’s difficulty makes it an experience better suited for slightly older kids and grownups. They may not always be easy, but solving these puzzles can make for a highly satisfying gaming experience. This is a perfect game for a parent and child to explore together.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the importance of perseverance and the rewards it offers. Do you appreciate something more if you have to work hard for it? Do you feel a greater level of satisfaction if the obstacles you overcome are truly challenging?
Families can also discuss the appeal of fantasy games. The notion of being able to step into a painting is patently silly, and yet it sets our minds to wondering at the possibilities. Why do we like to imagine such far-fetched things? Do you think this is something you’ll ever outgrow?
Game Details
- Platforms: Mac, Windows
- Subjects: Language & Reading: reading comprehension, Math: geometry, patterns
- Skills: Thinking & Reasoning: analyzing evidence, deduction, solving puzzles, Self-Direction: work to achieve goals
- Available online?: Available online
- Publisher: Big Fish Games
- Release date: October 1, 2011
- Genre: Puzzle
- Topics: Magic and Fantasy, Fairy Tales
- ESRB rating: NR for NA
- Last updated: August 29, 2016
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