Tracy knew I’d be seriously stoked (do people still say "stoked?") when I heard that a new offering in the Secrets of the Dark series had been released. As far as I’m concerned, Secrets of the Dark: Eclipse Mountain is probably the game against which all others are judged. The graphics are a cut above, and the game developer’s tactic of changing the lighting to transform the entire room makes the entire experience double fun (I’m pretty sure nobody but me says “double fun”).

Perhaps Secrets of the Dark: Eclipse Mountain set the bar a bit high with the exotic Thai locale, because while I enjoyed Secrets of the Dark: Mystery of the Ancestral Estate, it wasn’t the same unparalleled experience of the former offering.

In this Secrets of the Dark, you are asked to travel to an ancient family estate (supposedly in Greece) to assist a young woman with mysterious goings-on there. The woman (Dayona — yeah, stripper name again) greets you upon your arrival and confides that she feels the problems may be emanating from the family crypt.

Now, mind you, during this entire speech, the crypt is glowing nuclear green and shaking like Jerry Lee Lewis playing an encore of Great Balls of Fire. Gee, Dayona, do you really want to go out on a limb and designate that the problem might be in that spot? That’s a little like Ellen Burstyn’s character in The Exorcist hypothesizing that she might have a wee bit of trouble in her daughter's bedroom due to the demonic voices, spinning bed and projectile vomiting. You could have something there.

While the root of the trouble resides in the crypt, you’ll explore the whole mansion to help solve the mystery and reveal the secrets of the family estate.

The graphics are up to Secrets of the Dark standard: rich, beautiful, and detailed. The changing light captivates me in every available room. Sometimes I just want to lurk around, peering in every corner. Guess that’s the point, eh?

The mini games are plentiful, probably two to one vs. HOAs, and the instructions are clear and easy to follow.

They also have the variant HOAs where you return items to the scene, which is a nice twist. Happily there isn’t a lot of what I call “to-ing and fro-ing,” fetching one item on one side of the mansion and the running all the way to the other end of the property to get another.

I heartily recommend Secrets of the Dark: Mystery of the Ancestral Estate to anyone who has played and enjoyed the other Secrets of the Dark offerings, as well as for newbie gamers. But a word of warning: These games will spoil you for 90 percent of the other stuff out there. And, that’s no secret.