Crowns and Pawns: Kingdom of Deceit

If you are looking to play an up-to-date point and click game, you are looking for Crowns and Pawns: Kingdom of Deceit! This fantastic modern-day version of the classics provides all the things that we loved about the old ones but with much smoother gameplay and updated visuals. This is a n awesome improvement on the old formula that offers a brilliant game with rich story and engaging puzzles that will keep you hooked from start to finish. I hope you like puzzles! Let’s get into it.

Gameplay

A point and click adventure puzzle game, this title draws specific reference in its gameplay to classic titles like Grim Fandango and Escape from Monkey Island, but its much tighter and more refined, so its closer to games like Broken Age now. The game is point and click, meaning you spend a lot of time walking around clicking on things to find out what you can pick to inspect or keep. These items will usually have a meaning or use that you either already know about, or will soon know about.

Something I enjoy in this game is the ability to combine or alter items. You might have a sheet of paper that looks blank but if you use a liquid that reveals invisible ink on it, you will see a message appear. That sort of thing is a lot of what this game is about and I couldn’t be happier about it. You spend a lot of time experimenting and the game rewards you when you actually think about something.

In regards to the difficulty of the puzzles. I play a lot of puzzle games (and games in general) and I found this to be somewhere around the “Perfectly Puzzling” area. They weren’t too difficult or too easy, they compliment the pacing very well.

Story

The story follows player-controlled Milda, a woman from Chicago, whose grandfather recently passed away at his home in Lithuania. Milda will set off to Europe and discover an incredible conspiracy that she must work to uncover. Filled with danger, intrigue, puzzles and more, this game is absolutely fantastic.

The writing in this game is pretty great actually and the voice acting compliments it all excellently. This is one of the games where you can clearly tell that there was both budget and an interest in making something brilliant behind its creation. The protagonist has quite a lot of charm and that comes through in a lot of the writing and dialogue.

Visuals

After the gameplay, the visuals are the most important bit. There is something brilliant in this game that many of its ilk never think to include; character customization. Although you are locked in playing Milda, you are able to alter what her style as you see fit throughout the game and it really works.

All the character models are unique and well rendered, and the backgrounds are beautifully hand painted set pieces. There is something unique but classic about this game and it balances those themes perfectly.

Pros

• Excellent visuals
• Well-designed puzzles
• Fantastic writing

Cons

• Lots of plot holes throughout
• Lacks any real danger