Talismania packs a lot of creativity into a small bundle. We would have also preferred a digital countdown timer instead of the clock that swings from sun up to sun down with no clear indication of exactly how many seconds you’ve got left. Why you need to slog through one quarter of Talismania to discover the addicting portion of the game, we don’t know. And if you run out of time, it’s bye-bye Midas. I thought perhaps I was being punished for something.Īt that point, as soon as the lock comes off, we implore you to abandon Story Mode and scoot over to Hero Mode that’s where the game springs to life and your blood really gets pumping! Now you need to crank out those pathways quickly, knowing that you really ought to make them longer to earn high points but, if you make them too long, you’re never going to beat the clock. Until then, you just wonder why, when the game begins, the Hero Mode icon has a big lock on it. Eat your vegetables, make your bed, and always look both ways before crossing and, well, you get the idea coins are plentiful.īut what you wouldn’t know (although you do now) is that, once you get past the first two of the eight sections of the game - once you have completed building the temple - Hero Mode is unlocked. Clear the level before the bonus chest counts down to zero, more coins. Insert power-ups, like bonus blocks and lightning blocks, get even more coins. Aim to connect gold talismans rather than silver or bronze, earn more coins. Is it a challenge to accumulate the correct number of coins that will entitle you to progress to the next round? Not really. In fact, you can spend as much time as you’d like clicking and rotating, which may or may not lead to snoring. Learning the moves is a snap thanks to an extended tutorial with tips that pop up at appropriate times and can be turned off whenever you’ve had enough.īut because this is the meditative portion of the game, nothing is timed, moves aren’t counted. You do this by clicking on tiles that then rotate into position the longer the pathway, the more coins you collect. In order to accumulate the coins you need for their wages, you must connect magical talismans by building pathways between them. Your crew of builders will gladly create a lovely home for them, but not without getting paid. You play the part of King Midas who has accidentally turned his daughter into gold and must atone for his sin by earning coins to be used for good, not greed.įor example, the first goal is to rebuild a kindly old couple’s house which has been destroyed by lightning. To be fair, there’s plenty to learn and do in Story Mode before you’re ready to move on to something a little more exciting. Since then, we’ve always tried to separate our gameplaying from our meditating. After two, our meditating would regularly turn to loud snoring, probably the reason we were invited to leave. Until that point, you’re restricted to Story Mode which is where you’ll learn to play the game and spend your time in what is described as “meditative puzzle building.” We remember taking yoga lessons which always ended with five minutes of meditation in a dark room. And by far too long, we mean a good quarter of the game. It may be called Talismania but there’s far too long a wait before the “mania” portion kicks in.