Mystery Case Files

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Mystery Case Files (also known as MCF) is a video game series originally developed by the internal studios of Big Fish Games. New installments are currently developed by Eipix Entertainment, replacing Elephant Games who developed sequels from 2013 to 2014. The Mystery Case Files series is known for its 'Hidden Object' puzzles where, in order to progress through a game, the player plays the role of a Master Detective and must find a certain number of items hidden somewhere on a painted scene.

Big Fish Games "estimates that 100 million people have at least sampled trial versions" of the Mystery Case Files games since the initial launch of Mystery Case Files: Huntsville.

The latest installment in the series, Rewind, was released on June 21, 2018, and is the 17th game in the series.

Video Mystery Case Files

Development

There have been seventeen titles in the Mystery Case Files series to date. After Mystery Case Files: Huntsville, successive installments have added additional features including:

• Flashlights and a fictional X-ray Device by Mystery Case Files: Prime Suspects
• Rube Goldberg door puzzles by Mystery Case Files: Ravenhearst
• Word and crystal ball puzzles, hidden object scenes within hidden object scenes, interactive hidden object scenes, and morphing objects by Mystery Case Files: Madame Fate
• Cause and effect objects, adventure gameplay, and live actors by Mystery Case Files: Return to Ravenhearst
• Full motion videos by Mystery Case Files: Dire Grove
• Interactive characters by Mystery Case Files: 13th Skull
• Morphing hidden objects by Mystery Case Files: Escape From Ravenhearst
• Interactive map by Mystery Case Files: Shadow Lake
• Isis the cat, an interactive assistant by Mystery Case Files: Fate's Carnival
• Combination of inventory items by Mystery Case Files: Dire Grove, Sacred Grove
• Hidden object scenes within skipable puzzles, hidden object scenes within inventory by Mystery Case Files: Key to Ravenhearst
• 3D animations in adventure parts by Mystery Case Files: Ravenhearst Unlocked
• Zoom in of some inventory items (sheet, books) by Mystery Case Files: Broken Hour

(No live action videos have been used since Elephant and Eipix took over production of the games, beginning respectively with Fate's Carnival and Key to Ravenhearst.)

Normally, the series release a new game by years around the American Thanksgiving on the Big Fish Games site.

Stories

Storyline and characters have played an increasingly important part in the development of the series, especially from the third game onwards. The game Ravenhearst begins a story-arc that continues on into the next two games after it, Madame Fate and Return to Ravenhearst, however the storyline was introduced in Prime Suspects at the ending, with a letter saying the Queen requested your assistance on an urgent matter, which is later confirmed to be the Ravenhearst case via phone call in Madame Fate. The following game, Dire Grove, follows on from the previous game, but does not lead directly into the same story. The seventh and ninth installments, 13th Skull and Shadow Lake returns the series to a standalone story format, while the eighth installment, Escape from Ravenhearst returned to the Ravenhearst story-arc.

With the release of the tenth game, Fate's Carnival, the series returns to the story featured in the fourth game, Madame Fate which confirms ties between the Madame Fate and Ravenhearst storylines, something that has only been hinted at in previous games in the series. Completing a certain bonus level in Fate's Carnival hints at returning the player to the story of Dire Grove in a next game. The story of Dire Grove, Sacred Grove is not related to the sixth game and the bonus chapter make a connection with the Ravenhearst games and Fate's Carnival.

The games Key to Ravenhearst and Ravenhearst Unlocked put a true end on the Ravenhearst storyline, with the game Broken Hour, the series return to an original story since 2012. The game The Black Veil is set in a town in Scotland and show the return of a character of the first Dire Grove, with The Revenant's Hunt the series return on the USA for one game. Rewind reintroduce the Ravenhearst storyline in adding characters of previous games like Huntsville, Madame Fate, Dire Grove and the recents Eipix games.

Maps Mystery Case Files

Games

Main Series

Spin Off Games

Agent X

Mystery Case Files: Agent X was released on April 14, 2008 and is the first title in the Mystery Case Files franchise to be released for a portable device. Mystery Case Files: Agent X is only usable by Glu Mobile capable cell-phones.

MillionHeir

Mystery Case Files: MillionHeir was released on September 8, 2008 and is the second game in the Mystery Case Files franchise to be released for a portable device. Mystery Case Files: MillionHeir requires a Nintendo DS system and was published by Nintendo.

The Malgrave Incident

Mystery Case Files: The Malgrave Incident was released on June 27, 2011 and is the second game in the Mystery Case Files franchise to be published by Nintendo. Mystery Case Files: The Malgrave Incident is playable for the Wii.

Spirits of Blackpool

Mystery Case Files: Spirits of Blackpool was released on October 24, 2013 and is the first title in the Mystery Case Files franchise to be published for iOS. It was first released on the Canadian App Store and is playable for the Apple iPad.

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Novel series

A four novel mini series of books was announced by Big Fish Games to be distributed by Harlequin. All four novels are written by Jordan Gray.

Stolen

Stolen is the first novel in the series and was released in August 2010. It follows a young couple, Molly and Michael Graham, as they move to Blackpool for a simple way of life. That ideal is shattered when a blood-curdling scream outside an old theater leads to a murder victim, a woman whose past in Blackpool is linked to a seventy-year-old train wreck, a lost child and a cache of valuable paintings smuggled out of London during World War II.

Vanished

Vanished is the second novel and was released in November 2010. The story starts out with a bang - or more accurately, a boom - as a pirate ship sails into Blackpool harbor, accidentally firing off its canon. Suddenly everyone is talking about pirate curses and stolen Gypsy gold. It's all fun and games, until someone is stabbed to death. As Molly and Michael Graham dig into the mystery, they find that more than one person had reason to want the man dead. Not only that, but the Grahams' investigation is making them some powerful enemies.

Submerged

Submerged is the third novel and was released in February 2011. A preservation grant brings a massive restoration project to the marina, throwing the town into political turmoil. As Molly wades into the fray, a young woman is kidnapped, a thug turns up dead and a shipwreck is discovered in the harbor. Molly and Michael are, yet again, plunged into a legacy of smuggling operations, betrayal and murder . . . and delve even deeper into the heart of Blackpool's most shocking and long-buried truths.

Unearthed

Unearthed is the fourth and final book and was released in May 2011. Behind the colorful charm and vibrant history of the English seaside town of Blackpool is a legacy of secrets. Secrets that people have killed to keep hidden. For Michael and Molly Graham, though, finding the truth has become personal; their friend clings to life in a hospital--shot to keep him quiet--and the couple is driven to uncover what he would risk his life for . . . and what someone would murder for.

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Cameos and references in other games

The developers of the series add references of the series in there others games. In the fourth game of the Hidden Expedition series the developping by Big Fish Studios, called Hidden Expedition: Devil's Triangle there's in the underground a grave with the accronyme of Mystery Case Files (MCF) suppossing that the 2 series are in the same universe.

In the bonus chapter of the thirteenth episode of the Grim Tales called Grim Tales: The White Lady made by Elephant Games, Alister Dalimar (character created by Elephant Games for there Mystery Case Files games) appear to be one of the founders of a sorcerer school in the kind of Hogwart in the Harry Potter novel series.

In many series created by Eipix, there's references of the games and series they developed by making posters, advertisements and images of the games like a theater pieces, a movie, a novel, a Tv show or like in the real life a video game. But the more obvious reference of the series in an Eipix game, is in Dead Reckoning: Lethal Knowledges where a Mystery Case Files pinball puzzle appear in a Frat House.

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Merchandise

The jigsaw puzzle company Ceaco released some puzzles based on Key to Ravenhearst.

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References

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External links

• Official website
• Steam Bundle

Source of article : Wikipedia