Haunted Domains is a maddening time management game. The basic premise is that Sheila Sullivan is called to manage a haunted hotel. Each of her supernatural guests has different needs that must be met. Think Ranch Rush or Diner Dash with ghosts and goblins.
The object is to meet everyone’s needs and earn big tips. Each level has a normal goal and an expert goal. I consistently hit the expert goal until I got to level nine.
At level nine, I spent hours trying to achieve the normal goal. I found this particularly frustrating. The difficulty level shouldn’t spike suddenly in a game, especially when there is no "boss level" in games like this.
The format of the game doesn’t change much. While it’s true that each level introduces new elements like more demanding clients and even a helpful, albeit slow, assistant named Igor, the game play doesn’t change much. It’s all about setting up combos and collecting objects and delivering them in the fastest way possible.
When you successfully complete a level you collect Mystic Stars, which can be used to upgrade the hotel’s garden. Using the money collected in a level, you can upgrade rooms and the interior of the hotel so that you collect more Mystic Stars, or move faster or can carry more things at one time. Some upgrades make the clients more patient or likely to tip higher. I like all of that. It adds a level of interest to what is a fairly repetitive game.
The Mystic Stars, however, take a long time to collect, which means upgrading the garden takes an annoyingly long time. I say that because this isn’t the kind of game that makes you fall into the world. It’s not the kind of game you commit hours of your day too. It’s more the kind of game you play while you’re commuting on public transportation, which clearly the developers know since they’re releasing it soon for the iPad and iPhone.
I would expect the average player to spend no more than thirty minutes to an hour a day on this game. Between the repetitive music and being stuck inside the hotel trying to get past level nine, I found my interest waning a bit.
I also muted the sound to protect my sanity. The music is pleasant enough at first, but it gets old quick.
This is saying something, because I’m good at this kind of game, and I’ve finished all the ones I’ve played. I don’t see finishing this one, which is too bad because I’d like to finish.
I’d like to unlock those mysterious items that appear to be available after you finish the initial restoration of the garden, unfortunately that doesn’t seem likely because I have other things to do, as will most people that buy this game.
On the other hand, if you’re a master of time management games and are always looking for something to really challenge you, then Haunted Domains is your game. It’s got more playing fields than the average time management game and plenty of levels to tax your management skills.
The game is available for the PC, Mac, iPhone and iPad for an extremely reasonable price from Alawar at their website, which is: www.alawar.com