The House of DaVinci: A Hot Game!

 Puzzle Game Overheats Phone and Completely Avoids Flow

This week I played The House of DaVinci for Android, ($4.99 at Google Play Store). I don't remember where I heard about it, but I was interested in the idea of a puzzle game. I used to like Professor Layton on Nintendo DS. I also really enjoyed reading Dan Brown's DaVinci Code so I thought I would like this puzzle game.

It opens with the player in an alley outside of DaVinci's studio/workshop. A guard gives you a scroll and you begin the tutorial. Your objective is to get into DaVinci's workshop and solve the various puzzles in order to find where the "Master" is now and what is going on in the town.

During the tutorial, the game directs you pretty well so that you understand what you are supposed to be doing. When you tap on different areas of the screen, hints pop up and you figure out how to get into the building.

This is where the game becomes frustrating and any sense of flow is destroyed. After what felt like several minutes of tapping, pinching and dragging, I finally got to move forward by double-tapping on the door at the end of the hall, entering the library where many puzzles awaited.

The scroll under the lamppost has a message directing you to find clues to help you get to the workshop.

Throughout the game, areas that are illuminated give  you a hint where to look for clues. The Oculi Infinitum is a tool left by DaVinci to help you see the inner workings of gadgets and  machines. In the library, you also fine the Oculi Tempus which allows you to see into the past.

While the illumination helps you find areas to explore, the objective of each puzzle is hidden. If you have been stumbling around for a few minutes, hints become available in the top left corner. The hints aren't all that helpful, especially since the game didn't respond well to swiping, tapping and pinching. My phone is three years old, which might have been why I had trouble navigating the game. However, the game was published in 2017. 

For example, in the workshop there's a desk to explore and open up using puzzles. The hint tells you that there's something special about the ribbed case protruding from the opening in the desk. It took several attempts and dragging on the screen to get to the view where you could see the special object.

Throughout the game, you earn achievements which are displayed in a gallery. I unlocked the printing press.

The other major problem with the game is that it overtaxed the CPU and GPU on my phone, causing it to run really hot. I researched this problem and found advice to remove the phone from it's case, make sure all other apps were closed, and not to try to charge the phone while playing a game. I did all these things and turned off the phone to let it cool down. Within a couple of minutes of starting the game, it was running really hot again. 

The music and graphics really create a nice, immersive atmosphere, but the problems with operating the game and not understanding what the immediate objective is were barriers to getting into a state of flow. 

I probably won't play the game again, especially since it overheats my phone.