KeepSake

Adventure games are my favorite kind of digital entertainment. Even though I enjoy many other genres, there is a special place in my heart for the old fashioned point and click adventures like Day of the Tentacle and Leisure Suit Larry. Maybe it is my love for fairytales, maybe it’s the puzzles or maybe it’s the fact that one can take his time and methodically enjoy the surroundings, the music and the plot. Perhaps it’s nostalgia for my childhood which was graced by games like Legend of Kyrandia and King’s Quest. Whatever the reason, I was very excited when I heard about Keepsake.

In Keepsake you play a role of a young woman named Lydia. You learn that she is from a somewhat poor family and despite being young, Lydia has seen quite a bit of life. One event from childhood that has haunted Lydia was being separated from her best friend Celeste, whose father, a wizard of some renown, was charged with being the head master at an academy of magical studies. Years have passed and Lydia’s life-long dream has come true as she was finally accepted into the academy where her friend lives with her father. She also received a very excited letter from Celeste, who is overjoyed at the chance to be reunited with Lydia at last. As the game opens, Lydia arrives at Dragonvale Academy only to find it devoid of life. She sets out to find Celeste and unravel the mystery surrounding the disappearance of her friend and all the wizards of Dragonvale.

As Lydia walks out of the woods she is greeted by a merchant with big mustache and a thick, yet fake sounding, Italian accent that instantly reminded me of chef Luigi of The Simpsons fame. He quickly lectures her on how to use the interface and on the meanings of different cursors. Any experienced gamer should be able to skip over this tutorial without suffering any consequences, but those who aren’t as familiar with adventure titles will appreciate the instruction on Keepsake’s basic mechanics.

Keepsake is more or less a standard adventure offering in the vein of The Longest Journey and The Broken Sword when it comes to controlling your character. Basically, you direct Lydia’s movement by left-clicking anywhere within an accessible area of the screen. There are different cursors for puzzles, inaccessible areas, picking stuff up, walking over to an off-screen location and initiating a dialogue that help guide you along the way.

Talking to Keepsake’s non-player characters is as simple as clicking on them at which point a conversation menu appears. You can say things in any order, but the answers to each individual question will always be the same regardless of how the conversation progresses. New conversation options will become available from time to time depending on what you may discover in your travels.

When Lydia comes across a puzzle, the camera shifts from the third-person vantage point you see as Lydia explores Keepsake’s environments to first-person. Most puzzles are solved by establishing the correct placement of objects or by carrying out actions in a certain order. For those occasions when you get stuck, there is an in-game hint system which will offer up to 3 hints per puzzle. If a trio of suggestions is not enough to prod you in the right direction, a fourth hint will simply show you the solution. This system is available outside of the puzzle screens as well. If invoked, it will tell you where to go next and even display two screenshots of the target location.

The inventory system is slightly different from the classic one that Adventure enthusiasts have come to know from games like Police Quest and Sanitarium. Keepsake’s inventory is divided into two parts: one part is items that you currently possess and another is the documents such as letters and notes. The items list simply provides a picture along with a description and is not interactive. The documents, however, are interactive in the sense that you can read them at will.

As with other adventure games, exploration is key to Keepsake. Browsing every corner will yield the knowledge of how to progress as well as an insight into the events that transpired before Lydia arrived. You will visit a number of locations within the Dragonvale Academy as well as some of the surrounding woods. From the colossal gates to the mystical study rooms, from the incredible machines to the high towers you will search for clues as you get closer and closer to uncovering the mysteries of Dragonvale.

Visuals: 5

The art of Keepsake is nothing short of brilliant. My hat is off to those incredibly talented artists who have dreamt up and created the environments of the Dragonvale Academy. Aesthetically every screen of the game is flawless, from the architecture, to the nature, to the magical effects; everything is as pleasing to the eye and the soul as could be. The game is in 2D except for the characters and looks as if the images were a combination of 3D modeling, photography and hand-dawn elements. Everything comes together perfectly art-wise… but the execution is severely flawed.

Backgrounds are JPG images and they are compressed to the point where they are all but ruined with compression artifacts showing up everywhere. To add insult to injury, there is only one resolution (1024x768) which is, in my estimation, unacceptable for 2006. Some animations, such as waterfalls, are done poorly and look like the entire animation involved merely moving one image behind another. Also, some of the videos appear to be nothing but collections of still images which have a few effects such as motion blur applied to them. Other cutscenes are a bit more cinematic, although even these suffer from the low resolution. In short, artwork would get Keepsake a near perfect Visual score, but the implementation of backgrounds and cutscenes weighs down the category.

Presentation: 7

Keepsake comes on three CDs and is easy to install. In my particular case, the installation progress bar that normally fills will blue to indicate the percentage complete was black throughout the install and did not show progress. I don’t know if this effect was intentional or not. After the installation I was able to run the game without any problems, but this seeming anomaly had me concerned nonetheless. (Also, after having to baby-sit three CDs through an installation, I would like to take this opportunity to remind game publishers that a DVD format is now available.)

All of the game’s menus are simple, intuitive and easy to reach. The only options you are able to control are the volumes of sound, speech and music as well as the brightness. A configuration file inside the game’s folder offers more control through direct editing, but this is something only advanced users should access.

Gameplay: 8

I really enjoyed playing Keepsake. It is beautiful, sad and inspiring at the same time. It really touched me in a way in which a good story told by a fireplace would. The characters, the plot and the puzzles are believable and the switch between third- and first-person views seems natural. Additionally, the flow of the events is smooth and there is enough of the game to keep you occupied for quite a while.

The controls are easy to master and the camera angles don’t leave you scratching your head. When it comes to the interface, everything is done in a traditional way (for adventure games) as well as with taste and style. You can save the game at any time except for when a cinematic is playing or an action is being carried out. The delay between loading the next screen is just right to give you an impression of actually walking over to the location you’re trying to reach.

The best part was being able to play a good old fashioned adventure game again. Discovering hidden places, listening to intriguing descriptions, solving puzzles and of course collecting curious items will make you wonder why this type of game seems to be slowly disappearing from store shelves. Gamers who feel the same way as I do about the genre will appreciate the finer moments of adventuring that this title generously offers us.

Audio: 4

As with graphics, the audio in this game suffers from extremely poor implementation. The music is pleasant and conducive to establishing the mood and the voice acting is generally adequate and well recorded, but the way you are presented with these sounds is nothing short of tragic.

It appears as if there was an attempt to create positional 3D sound and boy-oh-boy did it backfire. Most of the time sounds are misplaced in regard to what you seen on screen and when they do play, volume is a huge issue. A lot of times individual sounds are too quiet, sometimes they are too loud and every now and again they are utterly inaudible. For example, you see three characters standing in line from left to right and you would be able to hear the left one and the right one but not the middle one.

Also, because of the volume inconsistency, whatever you do, don’t put on your headphones. There is nothing quite like turning up the volume because you can’t hear a thing and then suddenly losing your hearing to a one-million decibel sound of ruffling paper. It’s a shame that such an important element of the gaming experience suffers from such a dramatic lack of polish.

Challenge: 6

The puzzles, while not impossible to solve, are enough to give an average brain a workout. At the same time Keepsake kindly provides the hint system in case you get stuck. This is great for trying to solve a puzzle at 2 in the morning, but it also has a darker side to it: a shameful attempt to cover for the lack of clear direction. Every so often after completing a goal, you are left wondering what you have to do now or where you need to go. One is left no choice but to visit every screen in Dragonvale (and there are a lot) to see if something has miraculously changed without as much as a tiny in-game clue. In my opinion, this was quite a shortcoming.

On the bright side, the game doesn’t force you to use any of the hints. If you feel up to the challenge, you can try and best the puzzles yourself. When you do find the solution unaided, the satisfaction is your reward - as well as the progression, of course.

Multiplayer: n/a

Keepsake doesn’t contain a multiplayer component; therefore this criterion is not rated.

Real World Results: 70

If you are into adventure games or if you like great storytelling, Keepsake is for you. As a gamer I do have my gripes about this title, but not for a second do I regret going to the store and spending $30. The hours of good-natured entertainment that I received as a return on my investment were worth every penny. The mood that Keepsake manages to create despite all of its shortcomings is truly unforgettable.

Granted, you must be willing to look past the mutilated sound/graphics and into the art underneath, but to me that was not a problem. The things that were done well were in fact done so well that for me they easily overshadow the blunders. Overall, I was impressed and I am excited to see what the developers at Wicked Studios come up with next.

Real Good

   • Involving story
   • Spectacular art
   • Classic adventuring experience
   • Poetically tragic mood
   • Ease of use

Real Bad

   • Poor implementation of otherwise great graphics
   • Atrocious volume consistency
   • Feeling “abandoned” at some points

Saying 'I could care less' is improper.

The correct way is 'I couldn't care less'.