Trace Memory is a mystery game that would do well on a PC. It is full of pointing and clicking and picking up things to examine them. In some ways, it follows the format of such old hits as Myst and Riven. The pacing is slow, the mood is thoughtful, and, while there are eerie moments and moments that will give you a little jolt, the undertaking is mostly safe and friendly. Nobody leaps out of the shadows with a knife. You may be a little frightened, but you won't get killed.

Whether this strikes you as a good thing will depend on what sort of player you are. If you are Hardcore, you will find Trace Memory dull and unchallenging. You will want monsters with knives to jump out at you, and you will want them to try to stab you. Simply gathering clues and following them in search of more clues makes Hardcore players yawn. They like being thrown off track. They like being assaulted. They relish spending hours and hours and hours playing a single title. They do not finish a game; they beat it.

Hardcore players hated Myst, but Myst found an audience all the same. It turned out that there were players who liked their puzzly adventures with more peace and less stress. If you are one of those people, Trace Memory will make you very happy.

The game follows a girl named Ashley Robbins on the day before her fourteenth birthday. She is an orphan, or rather she thought she was an orphan until a note from her father arrived, inviting her to join him on a place called Blood Edward Island.

Ashley is not at all put off by the name, although she does bristle at the news that the aunt who raised her knew all along about the not-dead father. She wants answers, and no mere island, no matter how creepily Canadian its name, is going to stop her. So she boards a boat with her aunt, and the two set off for the reunion.

There is no one to greet them at the dock. The aunt goes out to search for the long-missing father and does not come back. And then, because she is a plucky and curious girl, Ashley herself decides to investigate. At this point we take over. On the bottom screen, we move Ashley by dragging the DS stylus. The top screen, meanwhile, shows us a series of still pictures, showcasing all the interesting features of wherever we happen to be. If something especially interesting is nearby, a little magnifying-glass icon lights up; tapping it will bring the still picture down onto the bottom screen, where we can explore it further by tapping individual items and objects.

This is how we gather clues and learn how to move from one area to another. In the early going we come to a great mansion and find nearly all the doors locked. But by wandering from room to room and meticulously examining every item on every desk and in every bookshelf, we find keys and charms that unlock doors and open secret passages. It is a lot like the puzzle-solving in Silent Hill or Resident Evil, except that there are no zombies or monsters with pyramid-shaped heads trying to kill us.

Instead, there is a friendly ghost named "D." He was a boy when he died more than 50 years ago, and he remembers nothing of his life, and he's desperate to get his past back. It's the only thing he's got, what with being dead and all. He follows Ashley through the mansion and sometimes gives her advice, and occasionally one of her discoveries will jar one of his memories loose. These moments are touching, in a way that video-game moments almost never are. Yes, we're eager to help Ashley find her Dad. But this sad little grey floating boy, who wants nothing but to remember his own childhood: he's the emotional centre of it all. He makes the search worthwhile.