The Raven: Legacy of a Master Thief - Chapter 2 Ancestry of Lies

Chapter Two of The Raven - Legacy of a Master Thief once again puts players in the shoes of Constable Anton Jakob Zellner as he continues his investigation of the famous thief, The Raven, and the disappearance of an age-old ruby, The Eye of the Sphinx.

The second chapter, Ancestry of Lies, finds Constable Zellner in a Cairo museum surrounded by many familiar faces from chapter one. With one precious jewel missing the museum plans to display its counterpart alone, securely kept behind a bulletproof display case and thick steel doors. At least, that's the plan, until things go awry. Everything from the previous chapter's humor, style and mechanics remains the same yet holds ones attention with new twists and turns.

Players switch roles in this chapter, seeing the events of chapter one unravel through the eyes of a thief. This transition deepens the storyline further as many unanswered questions are explained and the ways of The Raven's success are revealed.

This metamorphosis is quite helpful as the transition between chapter one and chapter two is not as smooth as one would expect. Chapter two, Ancestry of Lies, was released a month after chapter one, and if not played in succession, many important details are forgotten. Before playing Ancestry of Lies a general summary of the previous chapter would have been helpful in reminding players of significant occurrences and crucial characters within the plot.

Instead of a brief recap of chapter one players are immediately thrown into chapter two with an excessive amount of dialogue attempting to catch players up to the current chapter. It takes a painstakingly long amount of time to get to the girth of the game, nearly asking players to skip through these conversations. 

Once players delve into the actual point-and-click puzzle aspect of the game it seems less thorough than the initial chapter. Puzzles are fewer and hints less necessary; not as much focus is needed on the dialogue between characters and clues are nearly placed in front of you. This could be due to familiarity with the game, or on the developers part, a way to intensify the focus of the story line.

However lax the challenge of chapter two may have been, the excitement for chapter three still remains. The end of Ancestry of Lies leaves the fate of  Constable Zellner and The Raven unknown, giving players the certain need to complete the series and solve the mysteries of The Raven: Legacy of a Master Thief.

Megan Bethke, NoobFeed (@XboxBetty)