The Raven: Legacy of a Master Thief

No, The Raven is not an atmospheric retelling of the Edgar Allen Poe poem; it's a painfully cliched murder mystery with a dash of international thievery. The Raven: Legacy of a Master Thief could have been an exciting episodic series, but is marred by...

Nordic Games has just released their newest point and click adventure game in The Raven: Legacy of a Master Thief. Part one of a three part story, The Raven: Legacy of a Master Thief takes much of its inspiration from novels by Agatha Christie – even...

The Eye of the Sphinx is a fantastic first 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.

Legacy of a Master Thief is just the first chapter in what will ultimately be a three-part story, so there's still hope for this to evolve into a gripping mystery that actually makes you feel like an active participant in deducing its solution, but it's off to an inauspicious start.

The first episode of “The Raven” stumbles out of the gate slightly due to its archaic design and somewhat weak puzzles. Fortunately, it manages to compose itself and stands tall thanks to its strong story and an interesting cast of characters.

The Raven: Legacy of the Master Thief is an easy experience to recommend. The mystery is well-written and expertly delivered. At times, it feels as if gameplay is a support to narrative instead of the other way around, but it remains cleverly crafted and fun.

Because of this, it's hard to say I'm excited about the second episode. With only half an episode left to end the mystery (episode 2's second half, along with episode 3, has you play the same story again from The Raven's perspective), it's strange that...

However, its desire to be bridge the gap of interactive cinema, keeping point-and-click adventure as the sole outlet for gameplay makes much of The Raven feel shallow and disconnected and crucially, its lack of ambition is clear for all to see.