A Tale of Two Kingdoms

4 Length, Detail and Challenge
The AGS engine has produced an impressive number of very exceptional adventures, but unfortunately it is rare for a gem like a Tale of Two Kingdoms to appear, offering a very detailed adventure game in its utter meaning. The magnitude of this game is astounding: There are five different endings and a dozen side quests, each offering some kind of new route to the end or simply closing some loose ends. The touches in the world content could be slightly more detailed, but even as it is there is material for many, many evenings. There is a score count which gives you a general idea on how large the game is – try solving some puzzles and see how far you still are from the end.

I dare to claim that the puzzles are challenging, or if not challenging, then not easy at least. Unfortunately some pixel hunt is required to get past some sections of the game, and you will most likely wander around wondering what the game expects from you. It is most probably impossible to reach the maximum score on your first playthrough as there are some dead-ends in relation to completing the side quests, even though these don’t prevent completing the game. There is some replay value, maybe even a lot. There will be too many loose ends in the storyline when you are finishing the game for the first time so you simply have to go back and explore those as well. This brings us to one more of the strong points in the game as your second playthrough will most likely be different – the game is highly non-linear.

Initially I found the music boring and the graphics unimpressive. This changes rather quickly into some able artistic creations, and I did spend some good time merely waiting in some room, willing to listen the gentle music while enjoying the tender landscape. Character animation isn’t too dramatically impressive, but it doesn’t stand out as bad either. Expect a bit more than your usual AGS game.

The storyline consists of some layers. Firstly, you have the main quest where our hero shines on the main stage of the play. Finishing this will bring forth the next chapter and ultimately the finale. However, under this there exists a bit different bundle of more trivial goals, sometimes appearing in unexpected places. Indeed, the game offers you a (too small) notebook for keeping some track on what you are doing as there are simply too many options, sometimes interlinking with each other. The small quests occasionally offer more insight on matters and help you solve the main mystery of the game, sometimes they give you more ways for solving puzzles at some other location and sometimes they simply add additional detail in the world. The story, albeit relatively simple in its core, has some rather realistic political plotting going on. I recently played Dragonsphere which was released for free at GOG, and after finishing it I found some similarities in how the adventures progressed.

I give this game 4 stars. It’s not perfect, but it’s close. The AGS engine is used to great potential and clearly a lot of work has gone in making sure that there are no game breaking bugs. A few bugs, mostly related to mouse becoming unresponsive or characters walking through the borders of the “walkable zone” cause a bit of disappointment. A couple of times you will find yourself frustated as you have just missed some one-time chance at solving a puzzle only because you didn’t know the game would trigger some event when you move to a specific place. The inventory is also slow to use – that’s something you will find unintuive too.

I guess it’s redundant to state that all AGS community members should play this as they most likely already have. If you want an oldschool adventure game with a long storyline, challenging puzzles and great deal of detail – search no more. You will spend at least a week playing this, so make sure you don’t have anything else in your evening schedule.