Cate West: The Velvet Keys

Cate West, a writer with psychic powers, is called by police investigators to use her gift in the mystery surrounding a series of murders. As she gets more involved in the case, strange things start to happen, revealing hidden truths about her past.

Cate West: The Velvet Keys, like its predecessor, is a hidden object game with puzzles between each chapter. Most of the time, the objective is to find and click on all the items from a list at the left side of the screen, within a time limit. This time restriction can be turned off at the beginning, by selecting the relaxed mode.

The locations represent physical places and visions from the main character. She has the unique ability to see the memories of the deceased, by touching any object that belonged to the person. Sometimes the screen is split in two similar images, and the goal is to place objects on both sides until they are identical. In some places, the objective is to complete the half-cut objects scattered around the screen, by dragging and dropping their other halves on them. While inside a memory scene from one of the victims, the bottom interface shows a series of riddles, and the player has to find their corresponding objects.

Puzzles appear at the end of each chapter, as the activation trigger of an ancient device. They are mini-games that take place on a separate screen. Most are implementations of classic games, like concentration and sliding-tiles puzzles. In the sliding blocks puzzle, several pieces of stones have to dragged with the mouse, to clear the path for a key. In the circuit puzzle, a connecting cable has to be created between two electric points, by rotating pieces with a varying number of wire ends on their sides.