9: The Dark Side of Notre Dame is the sequel to the wildly popular 9: The Dark Side. While I unfortunately haven’t played the original installment, I’ve heard such good things about it that I was nearly as excited for this new release as many of the people who fell in love with the first.

In 9: The Dark Side of Notre Dame, you are a detective who has been called in to handle a kidnapping that the Paris police refuse to handle, mostly because of the stone gargoyles that came to life and committed the crime. The mystical may be too much for the police, but your reputation has preceded you, and so you find yourself investigating the beautiful cathedral of Notre Dame.

Not only are you acting as a detective, but shortly into the game, you receive a jewel that gives you the power to waken gargoyles that will help you fight for the side of good. Best of all? You get this little guy as a companion.

Like everything else in 9: The Dark Side of Notre Dame, the hidden object areas were beautiful to behold. There were also just the right amount; enough to keep things exciting without overwhelming me.

Another cute little addition were certain areas, most often a small box or something of the like, where you had to find pieces of an object to put the item together. I thought of them as little hidden object areas and really liked them. In all, I found the different hidden object areas to be entertaining if a little fussy at points. Still gorgeous, though.

I really enjoyed the variety of puzzles in 9: The Dark Side of Notre Dame. There were neat maze games, interesting variations on Chinese checkers, and others that I’ve never seen before. I never felt as though finding a puzzle was a boring experience, and often was delighted to come across one.

I did tend to spend a little extra time trying to solve them, although the extra effort did make me feel that much more awesome when I eventually succeeded.

All in all, I really enjoyed 9: The Dark Side of Notre Dame. The puzzles were challenging but manageable, the hidden object areas were lovely and not too plentiful, and the plot was entertaining.

I was a little intimidated by how much of the map I was actively using at a time, but at least I enjoyed wandering around and looking at all the different spaces. 9: The Dark Side of Notre Dame is definitely a game for people looking to challenge themselves (but also for people like me, who just love a good adventure).