I've never really been a big fan of hidden object games, but I enjoyed this one. You'll probaby figure out the mystery pretty fast, but the story's engaging and the game doesn't get too repetitive (unless you end up playing through a second time to get all the achievements because you missed the third lock by about two seconds).

It's a pretty easy game, and would be great for older kids, especially ones that like their stories a little on the creepy side. It's a bit short, but I think if it was any longer the story would drag.

Nothing revolutionary, but if you like to chill out and blow through a casual game with a decent story and easy achievements, it's fun and worth picking up especially in a bundle or super cheap sale.

It may sound weird to some, but 9 Clues: The Secret of Serpent Creek is actually the first Hidden Object Game I've ever played. And to make it immediately clear: I liked it a lot! It's stylish, cleverly designed and it has an original story.

9 Clues: The Secret of Serpent Creek was developed by Tap It Games and published by the well-known Artifex Mundi in July 2013. Some research out of my newly-found interest in this genre, has learned me that Artifex Mundi is perhaps THE prime publisher of this kind of games, and after playing a second one of their games, I can safely confirm that they stand for quality and sheer gaming pleasure.
The Secret of Serpent Creek could be defined as an adventure-light, or casual adventure game, with a touch of horror added to it. The story is quite original and entertaining and certainly proved interesting enough to keep my interest right through to the final stages. I won't spoil it here, suffice it only to tell that it is also suited for teenagers and maybe even younger children, since there is no offensive context in any way. There are also a whole bunch of helping-tools, perfectly adaptable to everyone's needs with three difficulty levels. Exactly as how it should be done in this kind of games, imo.
The actual gameplay is very much point-and-click orientated, with static screens following upon each other. Most of the times there are objects to be found to advance to the next screen, to solve a puzzle, or to be combined with each other. Thanks to the very intuitive inventory, all this can be done in a smooth manner, and thanks to the map (with fast-travel system incorporated), the amount of backtracking is limited. The shining point of the game are the famous "Hidden Object" scenes, where one has to click several named objects in order to find one story-related object. As easy as this may sound, it proved quite a lot of fun, and even challenge to a non-native English speaker as me. I made a sport out of it not to consult any dictionay, and I've certainly learned a whole bunch a new English word just by playing this game ;-). Apart from the Hidden Object-screens, there are also quite some well-designed puzzles, more of a challenge but still very well designed and easily solved with some thinking.

Since gameplay is limited to pointing, clicking and thinking, graphics and sound are very important to me in this kind of adventure (light). And in these departments 9 Clues: The Secret of Serpent Creek certainly delivers. The scenes are vividly painted, with bright coulours if needed and lots of visual clues. Sound-wise, there's not much to complain about: voice-acting is fine, only the music could have delivered more of a punch.
All in all, this was a very fine first encounter for me wtih this genre, and with the quality-products Artifex Mundi delivers. Don't hesitate if you like this kind of games, and do give it a try when you're curious about them. It's not expensive, and as icing on the cake: it comes with Trading Cards and a set of Steam Achievements that can be made into a perfect game without too much hassle.

Gameplay: 23/30
Graphics: 15/20
Sound: 7/10
Longelivety: 6/10 (decent lenght for this kind of games but not much beside that)
Technical: 9/10
Steam Integration: 10/10
Personal appreciation: 8/10

Overall: 78/100

Good hidden object point and click. But get it on sale, cause it's short.

What a nice point-and-click adventure "9 Clues: The Secret of Serpent Creek is".

The graphics are finely drawed and all characters fit together perfectly. It should be somekind of horror story with threaten poisonous snakes. But mostly just scary for children. The puzzles are challenging but sometimes too easy.

I liked the crime scene mode when she asks: "what on earth happened here?". Then you must find evidences like footsteps or fingerprints on the screen. If you are finished she tells you every detail that happened in a story stack. Great !

Unfortunately I had to playthrough several times because I missed always one of the 3 lockpicker puzzles and then you need to have a completed savefile at all ...

I'm not really into hidden object games, but this one was interesting. I liked the story and didn't find it boring. The game is short and the puzzles are not very complicated. Very good time killer. Easy and entertaining. Recommend if you are into hidden object games. You will enjoy this one.

This game is a proof that if a game is very good quality, you can enjoy it, even if you don't like the genre. I don't like games like this, but time I spent on that game wasn't wasted. Why? I think because it has NO BUGS at all. Not even smallest one. Because everything is on its place. Because whole game is developed with highest quality standards. Yeah, I think, thats why I enjoyed it.

VERDICT:
If you don't like such games, I think you may try it. There is a chance you will like it.
If you like such games, you probably played it before me and you know how good it is.

It's a decent game to play if you like hidden objects and puzzles. Being that it has a pretty specific storyline, it doesn't have much replayability--the only real difference seems to be that some of the hidden object minigames ask for different items (excluding the one item you need for the storyline), but since you do a lot of them twice, it ends up all being the same stuff.
For example:
Playthrough One - Find STORY ITEM 1, star, fish, and shovel. Later you go back and find the STORY ITEM 2, book, wrench, and ball.
Playthrough Two - Find STORY ITEM 1, fish, ball, and wrench. Later you go back and find STORY ITEM 2, shovel, book, and star.

I finished the game (completing the story + a second playthrough for the achievements I missed) in ~5hrs. It's enjoyable the first time (even if a pretty weird story). And, you may end up replaying it for any achievements you miss. I'd say look into the Trade thread and trade someone for a 50% off coupon if you don't already have it. I think it's worth $4.

The first casual adventure game that I've played on my own (played the Midnight Mysteries games with my wife). Really not bad. It's a short game and it's not difficult at all, but still it's entertaining to play it. It has some hidden object scenes in it, but they are balanced with other puzzles and a good amount of easy adventuring.

8 € is a bit much for 2-3 hours of gameplay, but I can recommend it in a sale or from a bundle for sure.

At this point with a few reviews already under my belt, I've somewhat run out of things to say about hidden object games (or HOGs). With how many there are and the near identical formula used as their base, unless it's appalling or extraordinary I find myself scratching my head for something more elaborate and articulated to say than "it's good for fans of the genre". Artifex Mundi's games however are something of an exception to that rule, as more than most casual developers they've shown a desire to strive to better their games with each release, reusing the same basic template but refining it along the way.

9 Clues: The Secret of Serpent Creek so far as I've explored their catalog is the best example of Artifex taking criticism to heart and using it to turn out a more enjoyable, polished experience. The narrative is a fairly predicable Scooby Doo-esq mystery, in a mysterious town full of odd people that seem just a little too obsessed with snakes. It didn't surprise me, nor is it especially well written, but there's a very typical Artifex charm in the way the story plays out as if they know it's derivative but it's the best they can do so they're still going to give it their all to make it entertaining. The voice acting is a significant step up from what they've managed in the past, perhaps thanks to the fact that the characters presented are so strange that any stilted exchange or bizarre inflection becomes a part of the character instead of sounding like an intern was pulled in at the last moment to record a few lines.

The hidden object scenes themselves, though as usual something of a treat on the side to the main casual adventure game meal, feel more logical in how they're placed and presented. Gone are the random cascades of junk shoved into random corners of the environment, replaced with a handful of scenes that make sense in the narrative (though it's still a little hard to believe anywhere in the world is quite so cluttered with pieces of machinery scattered all throughout the town). And perhaps most worthy of note is the addition of fast travel at long last, which eliminates the tedious back tracking which is already thankfully minimized do to the shorter, but much tighter experience.

So yes, it would be easy to simply say 9 Clues is a great HOG and you should certainly give it a chance whether you're already a fan of the genre of not, but I think it's worth pointing out the areas Artifex Mundi has put in the effort to improve their game in a genre so lacking in inspiration or often considered to be of a high quality. It's going to be hard to go back to their older games I've yet to play, but it also has me excited moving forward seeing how dedicated they are to making their games as excellent as they can be. HOG developers of the world, take note!

I love Artifex Mundi games and this game was not disappointing. A lot of fun with just the right mix of HO scenes and puzzles. I will definitely play this again.

An interesting game, with some pretty simple hidden object, and puzzle games. Great for children, and adults who like to do puzzles.
Not a extremely great story line, but it isn't bad either.
Definatly worth a shot if you like puzzles.

This Hidden Object game is fairly short and the puzzles aren't particularly difficult. Still, the story is so much fun. You're exploring a creepy town and running into large snakes on a regular basis. Most of the townsfolk seem zombie-ish and the rest are highly suspicious. Your friend sent you a distress call from this location so it's up to you to find her and figure out what the heck is going on. Secret of Serpent Creek was so enjoyable that I played it a couple times in a row. And I'm sure I'll play it again at some point. If you find this game on sale and you enjoy hidden object games, puzzles, or SNAKES (I love snakes :p), then I definitely recommend this game.

this is a decent game, but it seems to fall short of some of their other games in a few places:

*it seemed to be shorter overall compared to many of their other games

*hard to get excited for the puzzles when the same simple puzzle pops up on three different occasions in the game

*the game as a whole seemed too easy this time around

in the end, i enjoyed it enough as i played my way through it, but there are quite a few other artifex mundi titles i have enjoyed more... 6/10

What on earth happened here?

Very simple, but fun, puzzle adventure.
took less then 3 hours for a complete playthrough.

it got some hidden item puzzles which arent very hard, that counts for all the puzzles.
story is simplistisch but enough entertaining

if you like puzzle adventures and want one where you can relax: buy this title, otherwise look for other games

Took about 6.5 hours to fully complete to 100%. I enjoyed the game although a little easy. Good time passer though.

This is the first time I play a hidden objects game (I have just bought a bundle with lots of them).
The graphics are fine, and, to me, this game looks like a thriller movie : you have to go through a story with almost no difficulty and enjoy the scenario, even though there is nothing surprising, but that is still fine.
Just play the game to unlock achievements, it is easy, 3 hours should be enough for a "100% achievement" !

Overall fun/interesting hidden object game. 8/10

9 Clues: The Secret of Serpent Creek is a great hidden-object puzzle-adventure, point and click game! Nice story and sound.

Score 8/10

I got this game in a bundle and decided to give it a shot. It is not a bad game - you play as a reporter who investigates the disappearance of her friend. There are multiple objectives at any given point in the game and to achieve those you need to go from one place in the town to the next, looking for clues. The puzzles are not difficult at all which incidentally also makes this a fun game to play. There is a fair variety in the puzzles so you dont exactly get bored. I especially liked the puzzles with jigsaw pictures and picking locks. I finished the game in under 3 hours (not in one sitting) and also completed 17 of the 19 achievements at the same time. Unfortunately, there is not much replayability value in this one. You may want to do but only if you wish to unlock all the achievements. The story is mostly linear though you have to go to and fro to solve some puzzles. There is not much originality to the story, but even so the game is pretty enjoyable. The puzzles are decent and you can easily spend a weekend playing this one. If you find it under $5, you have a good deal.