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Pardon the dust! This page includes some jargon that hasn't been added to the site's glossary yet. I'll be around to fix this later, but sorry for the inconvenience in the meantime. |
Review: Glass Masquerade
At a Glance
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How to Save and Pause:Whenever you leave a puzzle, your progress is automatically saved. Thus, you can partially complete a puzzle, quit, and later return to finish it. Time needed per session:While you can poke at this game whenever you want, I'd suggest playing for at least ten minutes at a time, as you'll get a better experience if you take it slow.
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Does this game pose issues for Christian players?
 | No - this is a great game for Christians This is a very clean game, with the only concern being what's depicted on a few specific images. These include eastern dragons, a Hindu goddess, and a woman wearing a showy outfit. Note that all of the pictures are done in an art deco style, which limits how much detail they can show. |
Screenshots
![[view screenshot]](../images/screenshots/glass_masquerade_0.jpg)
![[view screenshot]](../images/screenshots/glass_masquerade_1.jpg)
![[view screenshot]](../images/screenshots/glass_masquerade_2.jpg)
Game Overview
Glass Masquerade is what you'd get if you were to somehow cross an art gallery and a jigsaw puzzle. In this game, you travel across the world, viewing "exhibits". Each exhibit is a stained glass clock done in an art deco style, though the stained glass has been taken out and scattered around. Your task is to re-assemble the artwork.
It's a simple premise, and it's one that works. If you're a fan of the art deco designs, jigsaws, or quiet puzzle games, this will definitely be a great addition to your Steam library.
It's a simple premise, and it's one that works. If you're a fan of the art deco designs, jigsaws, or quiet puzzle games, this will definitely be a great addition to your Steam library.
Points of Interest
26 Beautiful levels
Your adventure starts in France, but after that you travel the globe with each puzzle representing a different country. Most of the puzzles are themed after the country they are located in, though there are a few exceptions. Each clock also has a unique shape, giving each picture a unique personality.
No pressure
In this game, you're only competition is yourself. Your best time is recorded for each puzzle, but there's no penalty for taking too long nor any award for solving the puzzle quickly. Thus, you can take your time and relax. If you don't like how long a level took, just do it again when you're ready.
One way to make assembling the clocks easier is to enable the hint feature. This causes some of the pieces to glow red and have a golden ring attached to them. These pieces always go on the outside edge of the clock's face, and the rings will attach to an identical ring on the clock itself. There's no penalty for using this feature, so it's up to you whether or not to use it.
One way to make assembling the clocks easier is to enable the hint feature. This causes some of the pieces to glow red and have a golden ring attached to them. These pieces always go on the outside edge of the clock's face, and the rings will attach to an identical ring on the clock itself. There's no penalty for using this feature, so it's up to you whether or not to use it.
Steam community features
Just in case you need an extra incentive to assemble all of the clocks, there are a number of Steam achievements that you can earn and a set of Steam trading cards if you're interested in collecting those. Most of the achievements are earned by finishing specific puzzles, but there is also an achievement for completing the entire game.
Surprisingly hard to run on older computers
This game runs perfectly fine on my gaming rig, aka Thaddeus
. However, when I tried to run it on Martha, the older ex-office machine I have, it had some trouble. Turning off graphical effects did help, but I can still see the frame rate drop when moving pieces around. Mind you, it's not unplayable on Martha, but this suggests that you might want something better than a laptop or decade old hand-me-down system.
. However, when I tried to run it on Martha, the older ex-office machine I have, it had some trouble. Turning off graphical effects did help, but I can still see the frame rate drop when moving pieces around. Mind you, it's not unplayable on Martha, but this suggests that you might want something better than a laptop or decade old hand-me-down system.
Fairly short
Despite there being over two dozen puzzles, there is only enough content to cover about 4-6 hours of gameplay. This assumes that you're not playing the puzzles more than once, but even if you do, it's disappointingly short. On the plus side, it's not tremendously expensive and there's talk of adding more content as either DLC or a possible sequel.
Concerns and Issues
Some of the images may be a concern
Since each puzzle is based on a different country, several of them depict elements of their culture that may be an issue for stricter parents. For example, the clock from China depicts Eastern dragons, and the clock from India features the Hindu goddess Ganesha.
None of the clocks depict anything violent, overly sexual, or above a PG rating, so if you need a simple comparison, this game is less concerning than Disney's Fantasia.
None of the clocks depict anything violent, overly sexual, or above a PG rating, so if you need a simple comparison, this game is less concerning than Disney's Fantasia.