Keepsake

List Price: $29.99 Discount Price: $5.22

Features:

• Uncover an elaborate mystery in this epic fantasy adventure game
• Learn to cast spells, overcome daring trials, and encounter many NPCs
• 3rd-person gameplay powered by state-of-the-art graphic engine
• Explore stunning environments designed in intricate detail
• Easy-to-use interface that evolves as new features become available

Accessories:
PC Gamer (1-year)	Games for Windows: The Official Magazine

Customer Reviews:

Better than I expected.. [Posted on 2007-12-26]
I know all reviews are subjective, but the wide disparity in opinions about this game made me reluctant to buy it. Well, I got it as an xmas gift and I have to say it really is a 'game of two halves'. If you don't persevere through the first section of the game, which is really an exercise in memorising locations more than anything else (only a dozen or so objects to find and use, and it will take you probably 4 hours to do this)then you miss out on the MUCH better second part of the story where there are a ton of puzzles to solve, although still not that many items to use.

The people who made this are obviously big fans of two games in particular - there are floating islands, teleportation devices and lots of strange levers to pull like in Myst (the teleportation devices use EXACTLY the same sound effect as used in Myst); the main character is supposed to be like April Ryan from The Longest Journey, her sidekick Zak is Crow from the same game. There's even a talking tree just like er, The Longest Journey!

Once things started picking up in the second part I really wanted to finish the game to see how things were resolved and I didn't find it cheesy or corny at all, in fact I was quite moved by the ending. It actually showed some quite deep psychlogical insight into the nature of grief and how to get over it.

Just to deal with the negative points of the other reviews -

1. The voice acting - really only the Merchant is irritating and you don't interact with him very much so who cares?

2. Character graphics - I don't know what people are looking at or why they concentrate so much attention on the length of the characters arms, the character graphics are perfectly ok.

3. Somebody mentioned the 'controls are horrible'.. but all you use is the mouse,theres absolutely no manual dexterity required to solve any of the puzzles so which 'controls' are these exactly?

4. Strange camera angles..all that happens is that you occassionally see the characters from a ceiling viewpoint, this is so that you get a panoramic view of the room you're in, it doesn't get in the way of playing the game at all..just point and click to where you want to go.

5. Lots of tedious walking/trotting around..yes, I'm afraid this does happen a lot in the first part of the game. I can see how the designers wanted you to move around a lot so that you would find all the rooms and be able to memorise their locations, but not having anything interesting to do once you got there doesn't make for a fun time.

The pros for this game are -

The in-built hint system - I can't believe somebody wrote that they had to go on-line to get help for puzzles, the game has its own walkthrough included! Any puzzles I felt I could get past in 20 minutes or so I gave a good shot at solving, the ones that I knew would take hours I just auto-solved. (Even then, one puzzle took the computer ten minutes to play through, that would have taken me days to work out.)

Puzzles that are actually integrated into the flow of the game, not some random events that have nothing to do with the environment you're in.

Very, very simple interface - there's absolutely nothing that can go wrong here, inventory items are used automatically in the areas you need them, you don't even need to use the right mouse button for anything..brilliant!

Graphics are excellent, but mainly static. Cut scene graphics are I think intentionally 'grainy' so I wil cut them some slack there.

The game is plenty long enough, I finished it in about 16 hours, but that was bypassing the tougher puzzles and using the Help function a lot to point me to the next correct location. If you play this 'properly' you could be looking at 30 hours easily.

If you have got this far I would just like to sum up by saying that Keepsake isn't the greatest adventure game out there, but its far from the worst. If you can pick it up cheap or borrow it from someone its definitely worth playing, but ultimately leaves you a bit flat when its finished.

I loved it! [Posted on 2008-01-07]
I'm going to try not to repeat too much of what's already been said. I am an avid fan of adventure games. I've played all of the games which have been praised in these reviews. I would probably consider Syberia to be my favorite of all time.

Nonetheless, I loved this game! It had its annoyances (just like almost every other game I have played): the acting was sometimes pretty awful; the riddle puzzles were annoyingly nebulous; sometimes tedious moving back and forth.

The graphics blew me away. Not as photographically realistic as some other games. I was spellbound by the fairy-tale, dreamlike quality of the images. Hauntingly beautiful music that I never grew tired of. I actually found myself going back to places just so I could gawk at the scenery and/or enjoy the soundtrack.

The storyline fascinated me. I was intrigued and stayed interested until the end. I enjoyed the puzzles. Some were pretty easy and some were deviously difficult (at least for me).

I enjoyed the playful interaction with my accomplice. Warmth and humanity were added via other interactions that I appreciated.

This game entertained me for many hours and I looked forward to playing it whenever I could. Although it employed some hackneyed concepts, it never bored me or disappointed me (not even the bittersweet ending). In my opinion, it was well worth the money spent!

Keepsake  [Posted on 2008-03-17]
This is a very long involved game with alot of puzzles and fun. It was delightfuly fun. She is a very modern girl and yet she is caught up in the magical fanticy. The artwork and the story line are unbelieveable. It feels like you are really in that castle. I kept wishing I had a room there so I could go to the acadamy too. I would recommend this game to anyone over the age of 14. It takes a lot of concentration and thinking to get through the puzzles, however, the game doew supply some help. Hope everyone likes it as much as I do. I have played it several times and I am sure I will play it again.

Lots to look at, Less to do [Posted on 2008-05-29]
This game is beautiful and the puzzles are great, both in length and complexity. However, halfway through the game I grew very tired of the distance Lydia had to go from point A to point B to get anything done.

The more I played, the longer the journey became. This game is gorgeous. But you can't do anything! Up the stairs, down the hall, through the door, over the balcony, through another door, up some more steps, down some more steps....on and on! B-O-R-I-N-G! It doesn't matter how great a game looks, if it's all useless window dressing it's simply a waste of time.

For one puzzle I went straight to the solution because I did not want to spend half an hour or more moving Lydia back and forth between the two areas it required to get the puzzle completed. By the time the ending came I didn't really care anymore, I simply wanted the game to be over.

If you like watching your little game person run, run, run, and run some more than you will love this game.

A Great Adventure Game [Posted on 2008-07-01]
Keepsake has a vivid storyline that draws you in, and the acting to match. The result? A completely immersive experience. Soon enough you'll find yourself empathizing with the characters. Add to this brilliant scenery and an intuitive interface, and you have one of the most brilliant games of the past few years.

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