Madorica Real Estate Review Switch

Game: Madorica Real Estate
System: Nintendo Switch
Developer: Gift 10 Industry
Publisher: Gift 10 Industry
Age Rating: 3+ (UK & EU) | E (US)
Price: £ 11.69| €12,99| $14.99
Release Date: 11 October 2018

Overall Feeling: I like it a lot!

Review Code kindly provided by Gift 10 Industry

Now this was a surprising new entry on the Switch. Madorica Real Estate is a puzzler, and I know there are a lot of puzzlers on the Switch already. But Madorica Real Estate is of the logical puzzles sort. Some do-able, some feel to me as if they are frying my brain. But when the Eureka moment hits….the best kind of feeling!

The background to the puzzles dished out

In the game, you start out in your new job at real estate agency “Madorica Real Estate”. Apparently this town has only haunted houses. Madorica is the only real estate agency in town providing houses which are not haunted and are safe to stay in. Not your average real estate job then, after all, a town full of haunted houses?

The president of the agency orders you to exorcise evil spirits with magic in order to make the houses sellable. The hints to beat the evil spirits have been hidden in those haunted houses. To help you on your way, the president, who is a rather shadowy figure that stays in the background,  gives you floor plans.

With the plan in hand you enter the house or office. Time to give those grey cells some training!

Not your average scary kind of ghosts either

Entering the game you find 20 houses for you to exorcise. The first three are tutorials, allowing you to get a feel for the kind of puzzles.

I had thought to find scary ghosts, and was preparing myself for some action when finally fighting them. None of that though. At the last stage of each house you do indeed encounter the haunted soul, but fighting it is all about typing the right spell. And if you do, the ghost is vanquished. They aren’t scary either, More like a kids drawing with swirls of colors.

There are several ways to find clues in the rooms you are in. Sometimes just looking about and combining things is the way to go. Zooming in can reveal clues as well. Finding a certain spell that gives you XRay vision is helpful too.

 

My gaming notebook is getting some action

The clues aren’t always on the walls. They can be on the ceiling or the floor too. They don’t have to be in the same room either. That’s why the floor plans come in handy. You have to jot down everything you see, even the slightest detail. On the other hand, the rooms are devoid of other distractions. No random furniture or paintings left behind by the former owners.

If you are thinking of doing this without any paper I’d say it’s a lost battle. You really need the printed maps as they contain vital additional clues. You can also resort to the mobile app MadoPaper: it shows the maps you need on screen. Just like with pen and paper, you can then scribble on the screen if needed. But, there’s no way you can do this when it comes down to folding and taping things together in some of the puzzles.

Once you have deduced the correct spell to type in to progress to the next room, or to vanquish the ghost, you “close your eyes” by pressing L or R and then typing the code. When you hear the little pings you know you were right. If not, 10 seconds are deducted for your failure.

I made a clip showing you one of the first cases and how it works out on the iPad-screen. Not to give the clues away, just to show how you will need to jot down everything when exploring the rooms.

Some are easier than others

I haven’t finished all the puzzles yet, lucky for me. Because I want to prolong this feeling of accomplishment when I crack another one. I do find that some are easier than others. Luckily, you don’t have to finish one to get access to new ones. They unlock themselves in batches. Otherwise I’d really be in a pickle, as I can’t crack the Forgotten Museum, puzzle number 6.

If you manage to solve the puzzle within the time-frame you get coins, but I haven’t found any use for them yet. I’m guessing they are there to make you feel good when you manage to accumulate a lot of them. I do see that the later puzzles give you more coins.

Every puzzle has a time frame. To be honest, I could have done without that. I don’t like being rushed, it takes away a bit of the fun. But I have found that by pressing “+” you can pause the game, giving you time to spend on your notes.

The game gives you some hints if you want to by pressing the “-” button, but they are sparse. And if you are really stuck, you can look for the solution on the website of Gift Ten Industries. However, you can see the spells you need to do, but not the why as it’s not in English.

Conclusion

I love this game because I love logical puzzles. The background story that was added is interesting, closing your eyes by using the Switches’ L and R buttons is a fun idea. And including pen and paper outside of the game is a golden idea.

The background music is relaxing and even gives me a feeling like I’m in a hip lounge. The translations to English in the game leave a lot to be desired unfortunately. And the English on the website isn’t great either. I spoke to the developer though, and an update to correct that is in the works.

Not being able to solve a puzzle is infuriating and keeps me thinking about it. Much like in the early Layton days, when I thought about the solution to a particularly hard one during my working day (that is, whenever I had the time).

I played the game solo and in handheld. I can well imagine playing it on a Saturday night with a group of like-minded friends is great fun.

If you like logical puzzles and, like me, are into the quirky kind of games, then you really should check this out. I give it an I Like it a Lot.

I like it a lot!

 

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