Midnight Calling Anabel  (you play as Anabel)

Anabel has been living at a boarding school for 10 years ever since her father Henry, a famous explorer and archeologist, went missing while searching Midnight Castle.  Anabel has been having dreams about her father.  In these dreams, he calls out to her "Anabel, you are our only hope".  Anabel is convinced her father is still alive and decides to leave the boarding school to go search for him.

She returns to her home town of Rocksville where she meets her old friend Calum (does not appear in Midnight Castle)  who assists her in finding locating and entering Midnight Castle.

Midnight Castle is the last place where magic existed.  The magic disappeared when the Chamberlain killed the Queen and all her heirs (except one).  Before the Queen died, she made a prophecy:

Once in a decade, one fateful night magic will return to the castle. Dragons will awaken and the spirits of the past will come back to life.  At midnight, the clock's last stroke will mark the chance to redeem the sin of betrayal - magic will work again - until the rooster crows.  This is when the last living heir to the crown will return to the castle, hunt the villain down, take revenge and restore magic.

When Anabel enters the castle, she is addressed as "Your Majesty".  Turns out that she is the last living heir.  A mermaid had saved Anabel's mother when the Chamberlain tried to kill her.

Her father has apparently spent the last 10 years trapped in a vial.  After defeating the Chamberlain and releasing her father, the Wise Dragon reveals the rest of the prophecy. He tells her "If the heiress claims the throne before coming of age, a great tragedy will befall us all. I'm sorry but I can't let that happen. Now you'll forget what happened to you.  You have a great future ahead of you Anabel.  But you must wait a while."

The game ends with Anabel, her father, and Calum walking together in Rocksville and Anabel remarks that there's a dream that keeps bothering her - a dream about a magic castle dragons and an evil man.

In the bonus chapter, you play as Calum.  The dragon didn't wipe out Calum's memory but made him promise to protect the future queen.  The Chamberlain's henchmen kidnap Anabel and Calum has to rescue her.

Humorous moment.  Elephant Games has a habit of giving you an object very early in the game and having you carry it around until the very end.  In the main game, one of the very first objects Anabel picks up is a cufflink.  Right before she battles and defeats the Chamberlain, she says "Hmm, why do I keep carrying this useless thing around?"  and tosses it away.

I think I would have enjoyed this game more if I had NOT played Midnight Castle.   These events do not jive with what we are told in the free-to-play game.  And the characters in Midnight Calling don't look like the ones in Midnight Castle.                                    

 

Midnight Calling Jeronimo  (you play as Jeronimo)

The game begins with Jeronimo, an old innkeeper, telling a customer about one of his adventures.  In his youth, Jeronimo was a thief.  He was called Jeronimo the Safecracker and could open any lock in Rocksville. He grew tired of being a criminal and bought an inn, but his younger sister Ellie became sick and only a mixture of mandrake extract and merlin elixir could save her.  Only the Forest Witch had those ingredients.

Jeronimo decides to steal the ingredients from the witch and seeks the help of his friend Harry.  Harry is afraid of the witch and reminds Jeronimo that even Philidar the Trickster wasn't able to defeat the witch.  Harry gives Jeronimo his magical coin and his pet bird Feathered to help him with his task, and then returns to Rocksville.   Jeronimo arrives at the witch's cottage in time to see a red-haired woman captured by the witch's henchmen.

The Forest Witch's name is Lilian.  She comes from a long line of witches and al the women in her family practiced dark magic.  Her mother was killed by the people of Rocksville for being a witch and Lilian is seeking revenge.

Jeronimo manages to break into the witch's cottage and encounters the ghost of Philidar the Trickster guarding the way to the attic.  He fights the ghost and defeats him.  The ghost thanks Jeronimo for freeing him from the witch's curse and tells Jeronimo to free the caged bird.  When the bird is freed, it turns into the red-haired woman.  Her name is Valeria.  She thanks him for freeing her, then leaves the cottage through the window.

Jeronimo finds one of the ingredients and gives it to Feathered to bring back to his sister.  He also found a sphere that showed him a vision of the future:  the witch killing Ellie along with the rest of the residents of Rocksville.  

Jeronimo plans on going to Midnight Castle to look for the witch and get the remaining ingredient, but he is captured by the sheriff's horsemen, arrested for breaking into the witch's cottage, and taken to Fort Nocturne. He tries to warn the sheriff about the witch's plans to destroy Rocksville, but the sheriff is in cahoots with the witch.

Jeronimo breaks out of prison, meets up with Valeria, together they defeat the witch (Valeria tosses Jeronimo a magic amulet which does the trick) and find the second ingredient that will cure Ellie.

Jeronimo has fallen in love with Valeria, but she tells him they cannot be together yet and promises to return.  Many years have past, Jeronimo is now an old man, but he still hopes for her return.

The customer leaves the inn, and morphs from a black-haired man into...Valeria!

In the bonus chapter, you play as Valeria.  The chapter starts with Valeria saying "I'm glad to see you're feeling better.  Please, don't be angry.  I'll tell you everything from the beginning.  Then you'll understand".  (At the end of the chapter you find out to whom she is speaking)

Valeria's mother had been kidnapped and Valeria had searched for her for two years.  A trail led Valeria to the witch's cottage where she found her mother under a strong spell. 

A jinn appeared in a mirror and offered to help break the spell.  There was a heavy price to pay for his help.  Valeria would only be able to spend a short time with the people she loves, or they'll die.  Valeria agrees, the curse is lifted, but her mother is to weak to walk and tells Valeria to search for a teleportation scroll.

Her mother also instructs Valeria to look for an amulet.  A legend says that the amulet will be used by an innkeeper to kill the witch.  The witch's henchman returns.  Valeria's mother is able to escape using the teleportation scroll, but Valeria is captured and turned into a bird. 

She continues to tell her story about being rescued by Jeronimo and how together they killed the witch.  She has been looking for many years for a way to remove the curse, and her search has led her to... a shaman (the person she has been telling the story to), who instructs her to take the blue amulet, which presumably removes the curse.

Once again, the characters in this game did not look like their counterparts in Midnight Castle.  AN dthe voices weren't how I imagined them.

Say what moment - very near the beginning, friend Harry gives Jeronimo his lucky magical coin, which gets carried around for most of the game until it is finally used as...a screwdriver!