Finished "Crowns and Pawns: Kingdom of Deceit" in 7 hours!

This background has some pretty groovy crowd movements.

I'm actually surprised I already finished it, because I was expecting a bit more puzzling in the end... So last time I travelled to Belarus to hijack a hockey game. After that I travelled to Italy for a plot twist. I finally got my hands on the second key after a Full Throttle style action sequence. Then I went back to Vilnius to finally gain access to the location of the last key - turns out I could've spent hours trying to get in there earlier in the game and it would never have worked.

Told you. So where are the Polecats when you need them...

After a little bit of comparing notes, which in my opinion is very underused in this game, I found my way to the finale. First I had to traverse a cave system in pretty much the same way one particular pirate wannabe finds his way in one particular island forest. Then what looked like the puzzle of all puzzles welcomed me at the final showdown, only... I didn't have to do anything. I got some kind of Indy and Elsa, Gabriel and Malia moment but that was it. I assume it has to do with the profession I chose at the start of the game (the photographer) and that this choice influences the puzzles you get. Perhaps one of the other professions really does have to do more in this finale, I don't know. I hope so, otherwise, that entire room seems like too much needless work from the art department.

How come there are never any secrets to dig up in the churches I visit for real?!

Anyway, I did enjoy this game very much. There were some tricky puzzles, not that traditional, but nothing all too hard. The only thing that really set me back somewhat was one small instance of pixel hunting. I had to look up where exactly to find one particular item I needed. Turns out it was in plain sight, I just didn't see it and Milda hadn't made a comment about it before. In my view you could only be led there by an assumption. All the regular puzzles were pretty much on the light side, and the game ended too sudden in my view, but it was very funny and certainly enjoyable! And who knows, some day I might play it again, choosing a different profession that time... 

In any case, now the wait can begin for the further development and release of the sequel, which I hope will be an adventure of the same quality, but perhaps a bit longer. I for one have already wishlisted Crowns and Pawns: Amber Road!

You can find Kingdom of Deceit on Steam and on GOG!

And you can find the upcoming sequel Amber Road on Steam and GOG as well!

Busy hunting for keys in "Crowns and Pawns: Kingdom of Deceit"!

On my way to Belarus! I actually know some people in real life there, so I'm curious to see what the country looks like in this game.

When I started playing Crowns and Pawns: Kingdom of Deceit, it didn't take me long to realize this was going to be my kind of game! I'm five hours into it now I've encountered some doozies of puzzles, like trying to get my hands on a librarian's password, catching a cat, juggling metal cubes, and finally a good use of the in-game notes system to find three particular churches in the city of Vilnius, Lithuania.

A maddening puzzle in this room that took me way longer than it should have. It almost made me nuts...

To continue my quest, I need to locate three keys. I already got one of them. I know the location of the second, but I can't enter it yet. And I know who has the third one, but I can't get to them either. So instead, I'm pretending to be a hockey fan and travelling to Belarus to meet a guy named Vlad who should be able to help me. I'm not sure if I'm actually supposed to go to him at this time in the game, but it feels like there's some kind of hidden linearity to it all so I'm just taking it as healthy progress, and all other obstacles will be met in due time.

I love librarians... Especially redheads.

So far, this game keeps living up to my expectations. It feels like there's still loads to do, so I'm hoping for a longer playing session soon! Milda is a great main character as well, and in my view fits perfectly with other female adventure game protagonists like April Ryan, Sam Everett, Nina Kalenkov, Erica Reed and Nico Collard. I'm really looking forward to her further adventures!

No good adventure game without a good inventory!

You can find the Crowns and Pawns: Kingdom of Deceit on Steam and on GOG!

And you can find the upcoming sequel Amber Road on Steam and GOG as well!