Review: The Raven: Legacy of a Master Thief - Ancestry of Lies

Note: The score at the bottom applies only to this chapter of the game. You can read the review of Chapter One of The Raven here.

Publisher: Nordic Games
Developer: King Art Games
Release Date: Out Now
Format: PC

Trains, a boat ride, jewel thieves. Following on from its first instalment, The Raven – Legacy of a Masterthief puts you back in the shoes of Constable Anton Jakob Zellner as he continues his investigation on the famous thief and the mysterious disappearance of The Eye of the Sphinx, a precious ancient ruby.

The second chapter, Ancestry of Lies, jumps immediately back into the action from the offset, with the opening scene being a direct continuation from Chapter One’s surprising cliff-hanger ending. Unfortunately, this doesn’t make for a smooth transition, and with the timeframe of a whole month since the previous chapter’s release, it’s possible that players may well have forgotten crucially important details, which could be slightly confusing if not played in succession. Where the game has opened up without a recap of previous events, players are expected to be able to catch up to the previous chapter through clicking their way through an excessive amount of dialogue. This takes a painstaking length of time and seems somewhat tedious, which in turn is enough to make you want to skip past the conversations instead. However, on a more positive note, the game does get more interesting as the story advances, and the game style, humour, and mechanics from the previous chapter remain intact.

In Ancestry of Lies, players take on a whole new role from a different perspective, this time seeing the events unfold through the eyes of a thief. With this new dynamic, the storyline deepens further still as many of the unanswered questions finally start to get an explanation and new and exciting plot twists keep the player guessing.

Unfortunately, Chapter Two is not short of disappointments. The whole chapter seems a bit of a let-down, with it coming to a head as soon as the plot starts to get somewhere. Puzzles are far and few between, and it’s almost as though solutions are practically thrown at you, making it effortless and removing all of the excitement of a challenge. There seems to be very little interaction between characters, with the exception of Constable Oliver, which also feels pointless and disjointed. The third leg of the game, in which players take on the role of the thief, seems rushed and uneventful. Although this is a great concept, and an interesting means to answer questions and unravel plot theories, it felt as though there was too much emphasis on the same events from the previous chapter, and very little advancement in the plot. Overall, the chapter was far too brief, and it doesn’t make sense as to why the developer’s have released it in this manner. It may have worked better had the game been released in two longer parts instead.

Regardless of how unsatisfactory the second chapter was, it still has piqued our interest enough to be excited for “Chapter 3: A Murder of Ravens” which releases on September 24^th, 2013. It’s just a shame we have to wait so long before uncovering the mystery of The Raven.

Pros