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App Army Assemble: Rusty Lake Paradise - A point and click puzzler worth clicking on?

It's time to let our community have their say

App Army Assemble: Rusty Lake Paradise - A point and click puzzler worth clicking on?

Rusty Lake Paradise is the third premium title in Rusty Lake's point and click collection. With darker themes, the occasional disturbing scene, and some truly excellent puzzles waiting to be solved, this time around you've got to help Jacob lift the ten plagues from his home village.

As you'd expect from this type of game, there's a lot of elements to discover and at times you've really got to think outside the box to find your solution.

But, is it any good? We've summoned our App Army to help answer that question and here's what they have to say.

Lalol Hernández Gómez

I have played some of the Rusty Lake games before and on every game of them you can be sure of two things: there are creepy things everywhere and you’ll have a great time playing for short or long periods of time.

Some puzzles are good and clever, and on some of them I couldn't quite find the logic behind it, but they increase in difficulty. The coolest part of the games is that the atmosphere is very well crafted since the thematic is weird and interesting and this is not exception.

A cool detail is that if you're stuck, on settings you'll find a link to a walkthrough video of that part of the game.

Zulhilmi Mohd Nor

After playing the game for a few hours, I decided that this game is not for me. It is an interesting point and click puzzle game and I'd say it is something along the lines those escape room series - where stage by stage you try to solve puzzles to get to the next level.

But, what makes this one interesting is that it has a story going on and the voice actors did a very good job. I like the idea, but as I go through the game I find that some of the images and concepts are very disturbing, and I don't really feel comfortable with it.

Quincy Jones

I don't know what I expecting when I started playing having never tried the others in the series, but it's actually not a bad game. It seems well suited for touchscreens and puzzle fans will find lots to be happy about as the difficulty does increase as you progress.

There's a creepy vibe that's set early on in the game, but surprisingly that and the art style only adds to its charm. I'm not a huge puzzle fan but there was still a lot that I enjoyed while playing.

Mark Abukoff

Rusty Lake Paradise is like most hidden object games, as far as the simple mechanics: find your way to certain objects and gather them up to progress through the game. This game doesn't make it really easy on you. If, like me, you need help early on, there is a link to a walkthrough on YouTube.

What sets Rusty Lake Paradise apart for me is the creepy, quiet, and minimalist atmosphere. It is unapologetic and uncompromising. If you're a fan of creepy horror games, and enjoy a bit of puzzle solving, you'll like this. I've played a few hidden object games and this one is a standout.

Oksana Ryan

This is a very intriguing game. At first you think it is a simple point and click but it definitely has hidden depths. The levels consist of plagues such as frogs and lice, and gathering them involves puzzles. The little island has some of the strangest inhabitants and after seeing a leech come out of someone's nose, I wondered what else the game had in store, finding myself compelled to see what weirdness lurked ahead and I wasn't disappointed.

The music and mechanics of the game are good and even the creepy voices lend to the general atmosphere. If you like puzzles and a heap of grossness then I highly recommend this game.

Ed Davis

Other than squeezing leeches in a statue of an owls mouth to fill it with blood to retrieve a key, I would like to say this is a normal game.

After first booting it up my first impression was that this is some weird game, but actually it's quite fun too. The puzzles are engaging and the gameplay is smooth and felt quite pacey if you knew how to complete the puzzles. It leaves you with that sense of wonder about what will happen next.

The game feels almost unique whilst there are many other like it out there. The art style is fantastic and the character animations are simple, but give you a real sense of what this place you are actually in is like.

Steve Clarke

There's a certain macabre genius to puzzles in this game. I really enjoyed them, but one requiring you to kill a bunny might be a bit too much for more squeamish players.

Each level is loosely based around the ten plagues of Egypt, so I can only assume the protagonists family has done something especially naughty. The art is well done, suiting the game well, and the voice acting for the most part is fitting and professional.

I suspect I would have completed Rusty Lake Paradise had it not been for one particularly obtuse problem involving a snowman for which I could find no clues, but that aside this is a puzzle game with mostly logical solutions. I’d recommend it to any fan of the genre besides, perhaps, the very young and the faint-hearted.

Adrian Claudiu Nicu

Never played any of their games before, and I rarely play point and click puzzles. But, boy, did I have a nice first chapter! Between a few leeches and some blood, I've enjoyed some perfectly balanced introductory puzzles that get the player accustomed to what they should expect in further chapters.

It's a great design as levels split in a few areas, letting you go back and forth between the different views in order to acquire the objects necessary to unlock what's next. What makes it so good is its pace as you want to waste as little time as possible and uncover more oddities.

The music fits right in and, although I would have liked for the voice overs to have a higher quality, I appreciate in the end that it was done for storage purposes and am left to say only that the acting is above average.

If you are big fan of puzzle clickers, mysteries or just odd stories in general, this one will make you feel at home.

Paul Manchester

What a breath of fresh air this game is. Even though the areas are small and the puzzles can be solved simply through trial and error, it's still fascinating to meet the bizarre characters and watch their unique interactions.

I really like the graphical style, this coupled with ominous musical pieces and voice acting really gives a great atmosphere to the game.

Overall: Strange, twisted, somewhat grotesque in places,....love it.

Funem

I have never played the Rusty Lake games before and although I liked the art style, I didn't really know what they were like.

When it all boils down to it, the game is a point and click with some standard-type puzzles thrown in. The game gets you crushing leeches, getting people/animals blood drinks, and gathering frogs to make a stew to feed someone else to make them sick so as to retrieve a key. There is no hand-holding, no cues as to what you do next, it just comes naturally as the game progresses - you just have to pay attention.

It's a good game, but I found it overall a bit simplistic as the areas to investigate for each level were quite small, so options were limited as to what to do next. I can see people enjoying it, but ultimately I don't feel it's for me.

Steve Titchener

Just finished first two chapters out of what I believe are ten. I haven't played any of the others in the series, but that didn't seem to be a problem.

The puzzles increase in difficulty as the game progresses which is typical of this genre I believe. To sum up I would say if this is your type of game then I don't think you will be disappointed.

Harry Birnbaum

It's almost 5 AM I just played the first chapter, and so far the game is very interesting and the graphics are better than I thought they'd be, and the game runs smoothly on my iPhone X.

There's an area where you can click to see more secrets that you might've missed on your play through, but I'm not sure if it just takes you back to the chapter you finished to play it again, or restarts your game and I have no idea how many chapters there are.

If the rest of the game is as good as what I've already played almost likely be getting more games in the series.

Jim Linford

I found the game to be easy at first. It's very intuitive, the interface is easy to understand, and I love the art style and feel of the game. It does get trickier after the first chapter, but so far it's more a trial and error, restart if you mess up type situation.

The game has a good style of internal logic. If you like point and click games you will like this. I haven't had much time with the game to look into other aspects but I'm liking it so far.

Erik Von Hesse

Rusty Lake Paradise is a point and click adventure with puzzles and a unique art style. While unique, it doesn't necessarily mean that I particularly like it. Others might, but it's a matter of taste.

The storytelling is very basic. It's quite entertaining, but wont become my favorite. Overall it's fun to play and likely excellent for people who love to play point and click games, and
for me, who prefers strategy and puzzlers, it's still worth playing.

What is the App Army? The App Army is Pocket Gamer's very own community of mobile game experts. Each week, we provide them with a bunch of free codes and early access to the hottest upcoming games so they can provide their thoughts in features like this. We also host regular community-driven events with them in mind like tournaments, giveaways, and multiplayer evenings. To join, simply follow this link to the page on Facebook and request access. We'll get you in right away!
Emily Sowden
Emily Sowden
Emily is Pocket Gamer's News Editor and writes about all kinds of game-related things. She needs coffee to function and begrudgingly loves her Switch more than she lets on.