People love hidden objects games.  From kids pouring over Where’s Waldo to adults dumping quarters into those touchscreen games in a bar, there is something oddly satisfying to being able to locate objects “hidden” in a picture for you to find.   The ego boost is remarkable.  Zynga wants to monopolize on these desires and (of course) monetize them with their latest addition to Facebook: Hidden Chronicles.

The premise of the game is simple.  You are the only living relative of your recently deceased uncle and you inherit his estate.  Not without incident, you realize his death leaves a lot of unanswered questions. Deciding to investigate, you find out he was a “Guardian” and his passing was definitely unnatural. Getting to the bottom of this mystery means picking up where he left off his research and uncovering the truth.  Time to find clues in these artifacts (read: find hidden objects).

What I like most about this Zynga title is that you aren’t as desperate to completely overwhelm your friends with requests simply so you can play the game.  Sure, you’ll have to make requests and post to your wall, but honestly, if they didn’t force you to do that, Zynga wouldn’t really make any money.  That said, Hidden Chronicles will not inundate you with request requirements – allowing you to enjoy the simple need-fulfillment of finding objects.

There are many different facets to the game. First is the main object find game. You are given a “scene” with a list of objects to locate.  There is no set time limit, but you are certainly rewarded at the end for finishing quickly and accurately.  As you compete against yourself for your personal best score, you can also compare your score against your friends on a leaderboard.  The only downside to this leaderboard is I haven’t figured out how to view it without playing the scene first.  While you are earning individual scene scores and making comparisons, you are also collecting a summed total of your scores for that scene earning you up to five trophies.  Those trophies then will allow you to continue to explore your estate.

The estate itself is the second piece of the game.  Exploring new areas, building structures and purchasing decorations will earn you Estate Points.  Earning estate points will then open up new scenes.  This part of the game does not feel particularly fleshed out, so I just drop random stuff on to the lawn when I want to play a new scene.

The last part involves visiting your friends and playing the “Fast Find” game.  Essentially, you and your friend are each given 60 seconds to find as many objects as you can in the same scene.  The games are run asynchronously, so you can respond at your leisure to a challenge.  The game keeps track of your record with each of your friends, which I think is a great feature.  Well, except for the one friend who has now beaten me 6 times in a row.

My only real complaint with the game is how the scoring is run in the main quest scenes.  I’m thinking it’s based on how easy or difficult certain objects are to find in a particular scene, but objects can have different values.  Depending on the scene, one object may be worth 3,000 points and another may be worth 5,000 points.  This wouldn’t be a problem if not for two things: 1) you earn combo points up to x7 of the item’s value and 2) you only have 6 target items listed at a time out of 10 objects total.  So, in a way, it’s not a true competition against your friends.  For an over-explained example, let’s say you each received the same list of 10 items – 5 items worth 5,000 and 5 items worth 3,000.  If your 5-5,000 point items were front-loaded and theirs were backloaded and you both took the same amount of time, you would rank lower.  We’re talking a difference of 38,000 points.  For those of you who are competitive like I am, that’s a lot.

Overall, Hidden Chronicles is a beautiful-looking Facebook game that is mentally challenging and fun without straining every friendship you have. The game also does not rely on a lot of your time or a constant need to be vigilant over your pixelated empire.  This is an excellent distraction for anyone looking for a short diversion to their day.

Hidden Chronicles is currently available on Facebook right now.  It does not cost anything to begin playing, but does take microtransactions for the sake of convenience, speed, etc.