Today Zynga launched Hidden Chronicles, a new Facebook game all about discovering hidden objects in an abandoned estate. It’s sort of like “Where’s Waldo?” in that users click on an image still over and over again until they finally find the objects within. Perhaps not-too-surprisingly, Hidden Chronicles is Zynga’s first foray into the world of hidden-object games, and it’s strikingly similar to Playdom’s Gardens of Time, which was the number one Facebook game in 2011 based on both number of users and highest recommendations.
Zynga is trying to win the top five Facebook apps, especially the first one. So it’s no wonder that Hidden Chronicles and Gardens of Time look and feel so similar. Both games begin in the same way: You arrive in another world and are asked to uncover hidden objects. The only real difference is that Hidden Chronicles has more of a Beauty and the Beast feel to it – you end up in your deceased Uncle Geoffrey’s mysterious estate, and an assistant helps guide you through object-finding. In Gardens of Time, there’s a bigger task at hand: You must travel through time to find objects that have been misplaced. In both hidden-object games, should you complete your mission, the society will be at peace.
Zynga’s Creative Director Cara Ely, who has a strong background in hidden-object game development, told the blog Games.com that Hidden Chronicles is similar to the The Da Vinci Code. “There’s this thread line of a mystery throughout,” she says. “I think the storyline is certainly a bit more sophisticated.” Hidden Chronicles is a departure from popular Zynga games like FarmVille and Words With Friends, which were played lots over the holiday break.
Hidden Chronicles is available in 15 languages: English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Portugese, Turkish, Swedish, Dutch, Norwegian, Danish, Thai, Traditional Chinese, Japanese and Korean.
For now, the game is only available on the Web-version of Facebook. Ely says that as of right now, there are no plans to bring Hidden Chronicles to Android or iOS.
Zynga went public at the end of last year, and is continuing to expand its game offerings.
Will adding this new hidden-object game help bolster its rankings, eventually overtaking rival game Gardens of Time? Tell us what you think in the comments.
