In this hectic world we live in, many times work and appointments must come before the fun and joys in our lives, including that of getting to play videogames whenever we want. Gone are the days when we could fire up a game of our choice and spend hours toiling away – now we seem to game in stolen moments here and there. With that in mind, perhaps it is no wonder that casual games have become such a popular gaming choice (especially with women who make up the vast majority of casual game players), as casual games allow us to either jump in and get those quick fixes of gaming bliss or either play them for as long as we want when we do have the time. In honor of the casual game, we'll be bringing you a new Casual Game of the Week every Monday to help you find that fix you might be needing in your life, and this week we have: Dream Chronicles 2: The Eternal Maze

One of the first games we reviewed in the Casual Game of the Week feature – if memory serves me correct – was the original Dream Chronicles, which was a stunningly beautiful game mixed with some brain-teasing puzzles and showed just why the point-and-click adventure isn’t dead yet…it’s just that companies aren’t doing them as well as they once was. Given that we were quite surprised and thrilled when Dream Chronicles 2: The Eternal Maze (Dream Chronicles 2 from now on) was released, and found ourselves once again diving into this magical and mystical world.

Dream Chronicles 2 takes place after the original game, though it’s not necessary to have played that one first in order to enjoy this one. The story of Dream Chronicles 2 once again puts you into the role of the loving wife, trying desperately to find your lost husband, who was stolen away by the fairy queen Lilith. You, however, have been dispatched and hidden away, and now you must make your way through the Eternal Maze and hopefully find and save your husband in the process. The game isn’t too story driven – therefore why it’s not necessary to have played the first game first – but there are story elements that help explain your adventure, and that ultimately will lead to an end game narrative. The real draw that will have you advancing from beginning to end though is the beauty and puzzles themselves.

The game is a point-and-click adventure game mixed with a few elements of the hide-and-seek casual game genre as well. Each level is presented as a screen, though there are some puzzles – unlike the first game – where you’ll actually have to maneuver through several screens in some cases to complete a puzzle. The general idea though is that each screen contains a puzzle, which often starts with objects disappearing and you needing to find them. As you start to find these pieces, you’ll then have to find ways to combine these pieces into the level for you to progress. For example, one puzzle has several pieces of a gramophone disappearing, and you needing to find them scattered about and then piece them together. Once the gramophone is pieced together you’ll then usually have another puzzle to solve and then off you go to your next scenery change and new puzzle.

The puzzles range from the “jeez that was easy” to the “OMG where in the heck is that stupid piece of the puzzle!” I love it when the game hits that sweet spot that provides just the right amount of challenge without being frustrating, however, there are puzzles that will leave you confused and annoyed. The most challenging puzzles are often the hide-and-seek portions, as sometimes the objects are just barely visible, and sometimes I was only able to solve them by clicking like mad on the level until I eventually lucked up and clicked on the proper place; thankfully the game doesn’t penalize you for such last chance tactics.

Scattered throughout the levels are jewelry pieces and crystals that fit into them, and once you’ve completed one fully you’ll be given the chance to earn a hint, but of course being a puzzle game, even those hints don’t come easy. In order to unlock a hint you’ll be given a question of sorts, and then you’ll need to use a stack of single works and properly place them in order so a coherent sentence is created…only then will you earn the hint to help you out. The sentence puzzles are almost the most difficult part of the game, because sometimes what you think is the right sentence isn’t, and then sometimes you don’t even have a clue as to what the developers are shooting for in terms of what sentence they want you to make.

The game levels are beautiful, and though they are often static, there are moments of environmental action that help make the world even more engrossing. The levels are very fantastical, featuring quaint houses you’ll work through, filled with random scientific junk and weirdly designed musical instruments, to lush gardens and everything in-between. The game also has a mystical musical quality as well, as some of the puzzles not only involve music and different audio tones, but the tranquil sound effect of the environments and the background music tracks are also very soothing and out of this world, sounding like the best tracks from any fantasy film. In terms of visuals and audio Dream Chronicles 2 is a treat.

Dream Chronicles 2: The Eternal Maze is a really great game, featuring both great gameplay and technical aspects as well. If you miss point-and-click adventure games you definitely owe it to yourself to experience Dream Chronicles 2. Dream Chronicles 2 won’t necessarily be for everyone out there, but for those into the genre and who can look past the occasional hard puzzle, you’ll find a really wonderful game in Dream Chronicles 2: The Eternal Maze.

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