The Raven Legacy of a Master Thief Review

The Raven: Legacy of a Principal Thief, Affiliate 1 Review

And and so there was fun.

And And then There Were None, Death on the Nile, Murder on the Orient Express; these correspond some of the literary globe'south most spectacular and memorable mysteries. With its fantastic first chapter, King Fine art's The Raven: Legacy of a Master Thief, receives such a great setup that it thus far feels worthy of comparison to both those timeless stories and the all-time of the betoken-and-click adventure genre.

Chapter 1: The Eye of the Sphinx has all the elements of a great mystery story: a dastardly criminal offense by an imposing villain, an unlikely protagonist, a serial of exotic settings, and a cast of eccentric suspects. The characters are its primary force: From the start, Swiss Constable Anton Zellner's hands are full convincing a world-weary French investigator he'south needed to track down the infamous jewel thief known as The Raven; afterwards that, his social skills are taxed by a precocious child with a penchant for toy pistols, a baroness who uses haughtiness to hibernate a drinking problem, a penniless musician with a taste for the finer things, and a self-captivated physician with mysterious motives for moving his exercise.

Those characters are brought to life with a hitting blend of realism and caricature. Their solid, rounded look and heavy, stylized movements build on King Art'south signature aesthetic (established in The Book of Unwritten Tales series) and make fifty-fifty the least pleasant characters visually highly-seasoned. A few odd lip-sync animations mar what would otherwise be surprisingly lifelike models – notably, there's a young boy who talks similar a toothless quondam man. All the same, nigh of the graphic symbol work is strong, bolstered past universally bang-up voice acting and a script that uses distinct speech patterns to convey each character's unique personality. Add to those a soundtrack that channels the jazzy feel of a Henry Mancini film score, and you lot have a bandage of characters worthy of a archetype '60s mystery movie.This affiliate'south second forcefulness is its plot. Good mysteries keep you guessing, and Eye of the Sphinx's sinuous structure expertly manipulates expectation as suspicion falls start on ane grapheme and then another. The setting – a train passing through the Swiss Alps – is a pressure cooker, and the tension builds every bit our detectives and suspects wait for the thief to strike again. Stress like that makes people practice strange things, and every time Zellner thinks he'due south got someone'south number, they say or do something that dramatically alters their ranking on the suspect list.

Pursuit of The Raven involves the usual gathering of clues, interviewing of suspects, and picking of locks. As key things are discovered, yous earn "adventure points" which are used for two things: to reveal interactive areas during the chapter, and to determine your detective rating at the stop of information technology. While the latter might not matter that much, the former is highly useful since it minimizes the pixel-hunting. Also helpful are the hot spots themselves, which incorporate descriptive hint text that on occasion tips its hand by being a bit too explicit, but more than ofttimes is just plenty to go along you from getting stuck.

Its third major asset is, of grade, in its puzzles. In general, they're decidedly practical, asking y'all to overcome obstacles like retrieving an inaccessible object or gaining entrance to a locked room. Considering the realistic setting, this makes perfect stylistic sense. The best ones involved discoveries that made me experience as sly as a real detective, forced me to have chances to obtain prove, and challenged me to aid Zellner escape imminent death. Admittedly, 1 or ii puzzles do exhibit some annoying gamey contrivances (such as making a small-scale object un-takeable and forcing another kind of interaction with it) simply near are intuitive, sensible, and based on existent-world logic.

The Eye of the Sphinx is a fantastic start chapter in what will eventually become a three part series. At roughly three hours, it presents a fully realized, well-paced story arc with multiple peaks and valleys that does what many episodic games fail to do – wrap things up while leaving the door open for subsequent chapters. Despite a few animation bug and game-y contrivances, this cogent example of witty dialog, intricate plot construction, and unique visual style not only confirms, just enhances King Fine art's growing reputation as a maker of A-level adventures.

amazing

This beginning chapter's characters, art, puzzles, and mystery get The Raven risk trilogy off to an amazing start.

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Source: https://www.ign.com/articles/2013/07/30/the-raven-legacy-of-a-master-thief-chapter-1-review

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