A butterfly--that is what sets off <em>Mansion of Hidden Souls</em> on the Sega CD. What starts as an innocent romp through a grassy field turns into a nightmare rather quickly for siblings Samantha and Johnathan. Samantha cannot contain herself and begins to pursue the beautiful butterfly; Johnathan calls after his sister, but she ignores his calls for her to come back. Samantha faintly hears Johnathan calling after her repeating their grandma’s warnings about ghosts turning people into butterflies. As fate would have it, the butterfly leads Samantha into the creepy old mansion and now she is trapped. Guess what Johnathan has to do, with your help of course?
<em>Mansion of Hidden Souls</em> is a point and click adventure title that makes use of pre-rendered animations. This is often referred to as “full motion video” and has a rather limited interactivity level (you can only go where the designer made available). Most people complain about the repeat of animation in full motion video games as being a problem. In <em>Mansion of Hidden Souls</em>, though, you are going to see certain areas quite often as you explore the mansion.
Much like <em>D</em> (a 32-bit pre-rendered point and click adventure game), <em>Mansion of Hidden Souls</em> is more than a little creepy, if short. While you won’t see 30+ hours of game play in this Vic Tokai adventure, it is worth revisiting on a rainy afternoon or around Halloween.
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Fans of creepy point and click adventures will want to check out this game. If you enjoyed other classics like the aforementioned <em>D</em>, <em>The 7<sup>th</sup> Guest</em>, or even <em>Phantasmagoria</em> 1 and <em>2</em> then you will want to check out this Sega CD classic.
<em>Mansion of Hidden Souls</em> has not seen a digital re-release, so <a href="http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-53200-19255-0/1?icep_ff3=9&pub=5575120518&toolid=10001&campid=5337974651&customid=&icep_uq=Mansion+of+Hidden+Souls&icep_sellerId=&icep_ex_kw=&icep_sortBy=12&icep_catId=&icep_minPrice=&icep_maxPrice=&ipn=psmain&icep_vectorid=229466&kwid=902099&mtid=824&kw=lg" target="_blank" rel="noopener">eBay</a><img style="text-decoration: none; border: 0; padding: 0; margin: 0;" src="http://rover.ebay.com/roverimp/1/711-53200-19255-0/1?ff3=9&pub=5575120518&toolid=10001&campid=5337974651&customid=&uq=Mansion+of+Hidden+Souls&mpt=[CACHEBUSTER]" /> is your only option to grab a copy.
We have featured this game in these articles:
<a href="http://retrogamingmagazine.com/2016/10/18/sega-cd-atmospheric-gaming-forgot/">Sega CD Atmospheric Gaming You Forgot About</a>
Originally published on [Retro Gaming Magazine](http://retrogamingmagazine.com/2016/12/09/mansion-of-hidden-souls-opens-for-business-on-sega-cd-today-in-retro-gaming-december-9th-1993/)