Keepsake

The Good
Rarely do I encounter such immersing games like Keepsake. I’m a big fan of roleplaying and adventure games, but lately it seems to me all good ideas are worn out, and most games are mass produced for “fast-food” youth generation, to be short lived entertainment and then discarded away. Keepsake is not one of those games… I admire games that become a wholesome experience while you play them, and then stick with you for a long, long time after. Which is exactly how I feel for this great adventure before you dear reader.

To hold on with the praises, Keepsake is not a perfect game, but I’ll try to describe why I feel it’s perfectly flawed in its own way. This is a fully adventure oriented game, with interesting plot and numerous challenging logical puzzles to be solved. To start with the good sides – I’ll say that the game looks downright beautiful. I really dislike the overzealous “colorful-messy” style that most games nowadays take and I’m happy that Keepsake is quite the opposite. The graphics are crisp, clean and most of the times impressive so some scenes will really take your breath away. Since our plot takes place inside a magical academy mostly, you will see some fantastic vision of architecture, from cold, terrific looking marble and jaw dropping statues to intricate details of tapestries and many various emblems and finally lush and vivid gardens and plants. I really can’t emphasize visual experience enough and the hard work that was input in that department. The camera angles are fantastic, often moving with you in different directions and changing seamlessly between different perspectives – for example that bird perspective when you walk in the academy entrance is fantastic in illustrating the size and monumentality of the building itself. Top notch job of designers and programmers, really.

The game interface is simple, intuitive with nice distinction between usable items and papers, books and general clues to solving some riddles. They each have their little image which is fuzzy before you discover them, but it’s great since it kind of offers both incentive to find them and also a hint where they might be. Sound stage is pretty good and voice acting is mostly excellent, if not the top tier. Story is intriguing with just the perfect balance of mystery that keeps you going further. There are just a few characters in whole game, but they are all expertly done with much background story to make them more realistic. As a really big plus I’d like to mention the really inventive hint system that gives you hints and advices and ultimately solves a puzzle if you can’t handle it on your own. This way even beginners in adventure games will be able to finish the game, because some parts are pretty hard. And puzzles are mostly thoughtful and well-executed offering plenty of challenge even to experienced players. The whole story, characters, general atmosphere of the game adds much to addictive gameplay and unique experience. Really, I couldn’t put down this game until I finished it in several days.

The Bad
Are there any bad sides? Naturally, nothing is perfect. First of all – the game suffers some minor bugs, even when you have 1.6 version of patch (don’t think of playing without it) installed. It crashed once or twice for me so nothing serious, but there seems to be problem with dialogue volume in some cases – at one moment it’s just too loud and then suddenly shifts to quiet. Also in few dialogues the audio was missing entirely even though game correctly displayed subtitles. But these are minor technical nitpicks and almost don’t affect the gameplay at all. Along with technical stuff - one option that is missing here is loading save games directly from a running game (you have to quit and then load at startup) but I think this was an intentional decisions of the authors to prevent solving some puzzles with “load-try-load again” abuse - which is fine by me.

If you like classic adventures with loads of items in your inventory to combine and play with, and loads of NPC’s to talk to then you might be little disappointed with the gameplay system of this game. You can’t use items wherever you want and whenever you want, they are actually automatically used when you do something right or find a correct spot at correct moment. It all comes down to expectations - if you are prepared that Keepsake is an highly atmospheric game with little characters and Myst-like logical puzzles then you will enjoy it greatly. Some of the puzzles are really hard (but not mind-crushing like some in the Myst sequels) but since there is excellent hint system – you can surely solve them. Even though Keepsake is a pretty solitary game, your sidekick Zak helps you a lot with adventuring and keeps you company most of the game. A few more characters wouldn’t hurt though.

All the minor nitpicks aside, I’d like to mention one problem that from my experience brings the game down a notch from perfect. Even though you almost have full freedom to explore various parts of the academy, it’s a pretty linear and little too scripted experience when it comes to puzzle solving. Meaning: certain actions and certain puzzles need to be solved in exact sequence. If you are like me and avoid using hints before you try out everything yourself, you might find yourself stuck soon enough. For example, I spent a half day solving a puzzle and even had the correct solution to it – before I realized that some other action was needed before this puzzle should be solved. Basically there will be a lot of running around, to trigger certain events on one spot so you can solve a problem on the completely other side of the academy. That makes the game all the more difficult and possibly a little frustrating, but again, the grand hint system jumps in to direct you visually where to go. One thing is certain – you need to have required an amount of patience for adventure games, a will to overcome challenges and ability to immerse yourself in the story to fully enjoy it. If that’s your type of thing – then you will love Keepsake.

The Bottom Line
I can’t recommend Keepsake enough to any adventure hungry player out there. It offers breathtaking visuals, a simple and effective interface, an immersive story, challenging puzzles and a really enjoying experience overall. Some minor technical nitpicks and some mishaps in the puzzle-solving system might reminds us that nothing is perfect - but will never deter from savoring the game like a glass of good wine. Sit back, relax, prepare your brain cells for some work and challenge and enjoy this beautiful game as much as you can…

The Good
+ Not bad visuals for a 2005 game (but could be better)

The Bad
- Lack of interesting characters, which comes with a lack of interesting dialogues (in fact, there were almost none NPCs till the moment I stopped playing) - No ability to use collected items (everything is used automatically, which is strange for a point'n'click game) - Interesting location at first glance (it's some kind of Hogwarts after all) which quickly hits us with huge, empty and plain boring sublocations - Really hard puzzles that are overly complicated and sometimes not even working (no wonder the authors gave us an option to skip them) - Walking from point A to B is often a long chore, which makes backtracking common and annoying - Unintuitive map

The Bottom Line
I must say, Keepsake is probably the worst and most boring point'n'click game that I have ever played up till now (I played a lot of these). It's not about aging, because need I remind you about a masterpiece called The Longest Journey from 1999, which was so captivating in every aspect? Keepsake simply cannot make me intersted enough to keep going with its bland plot, characters and locations. Don't try this game unless you are a really, REALLY patient gamer that won't get bored with anything easily.

The Good
I really enjoyed Keepsake. Here are some of the highlights:

• 3rd-Person Perspective
• An Intriguingly Captivating Story
• Imaginative, Breathtaking Graphics
• Mood Enhancing Music & Atmospheric Sound Effects
• Crisp, Clean & Simple Interface
• Challenging and interesting puzzles
• Lengthy Gameplay
• In-Game Hint System with Puzzle Auto Solve
• Innovative Inventory System
• Viewable Maps

**The Bad**
Wicked Studios should be applauded for such a wonderful first game. But, there are a few things worth commenting on that take points off of a perfect score.

• Lengthy Installation (20-30 minutes)
• "Visions" Graphics aren't up to par with the rest of the game
• No "Load Game" while playing (you can only load an old game with a restart)
• No naming of saved games
• System Freezes in Windows XP (fixed with patch 1.6)
• Voice volume inconsistency (possibly fixed with Language Pack patch)

**The Bottom Line**
There have been so many mediocre adventure games released during the past few years, but fans of the genre are insatiable. They gobble up everything that comes along hoping for one that will satisfy in all categories - story, graphics and gameplay. Enter Wicked Studios, a brand new company on the scene, and surprise! ... Keepsake, their initial offering to the world, gives adventure lovers something to sink their teeth into. All that is different is the same .. or IS it?
Searching a deserted locale, attempting to solve obscure puzzles to figure out what is going on - this premise is nothing new. Neither are beautiful graphics, digitally mastered music or well-integrated, varied puzzles. Keepsake contains all of these things plus the most important element in any adventure - a solid story line with a conclusive ending. Conversations between Lydia and her sidekick, Zak, form the backbone of the tale. As the game progresses, players learn about Lydia's background through that interaction - her life, her history and her feelings for her lost friend, Celeste. We all know it is rare and difficult to invoke player emotions within a game. Well, in the end, players may find that they actually care about Lydia and what has happened to her friend. Several other aspects make this game shine above other 2006 releases. Keepsake brings some new innovations to the table that make gameplay a pleasure. For one thing, objects placed in inventory are used automatically - mentioned when necessary in conversations and applied to appropriate puzzles. While viewing your inventory you can see vague, faded-out versions of the objects you have yet to find. This provides incite and clues. Another intuitive feature is the in-game hint system. During gameplay, click on the "?" icon and you will be shown your next objective (what you should do and where). While inside the puzzle-solve window, you can receive 3 hints .. and decide to "auto solve" (something I admit having to do on several of them). It's a major plus when a game containing all of the key elements also works well. Unfortunately, some companies simply ignore problems and move on to the next project. Wicked Studios didn't hide or abandon their customers. They showed us their integrity by facing the challenges head-on and promptly releasing patches. To summarize - Beauty is not skin-deep here. Treats for your eyes, ears, imagination, your mind, and your emotions await you in Keepsake. Although there are a few things that knocked off points towards a perfect score, I think you'll find, like I did, that the good far outweighs the bad. By the way, the ending concludes this particular story very well - but it also leaves us wondering about Lydia's future at Dragonvale Academy. Is a sequel planned, perhaps? I'll be watching .. and hoping!