Reviews

• gokuhawks15

  Jan 9, 2023

  The game has no good strategy guide whether on Youtube or other websites. I am soft-locked into a corner and have no idea where else I can go. Save your money and don't buy this. This game will just have you running in circles for all of eternity. TO SUM IT UP, TO MANY OPTIONS AND NOT ENOUGH DIRECTION. Heroins Quest is great and is a way better game than this blind adventure.
• gamedeal user

  Feb 3, 2023

  A Tale of Two Kingdoms is a fun point & click adventure game by the same developer that gave us Heroine's Quest. This game is very similar to classic Sierra adventure games like King's Quest 5 or 6, Quest for glory 3 or 4. It also, really reminds me, at times, of The Legend of Kyrandia series. Visually it's very similar to those games. If you've played their other title, Heroine's Quest, the visual style is about the same. The user interface most closely resembles King's Quest games with icons like look, walk, touch, talk, and your active inventory item. Those icons can be accessed from a drop down menu at the top or by right clicking. It has a very nostalgic feel, if you enjoyed playing P&C adventures in the 90's. It doesn't feel quite as polished as Sierra's games, and isn't s good as Heroine's Quest, but its close. Visually, I found the games art to be beautiful. The retro style pixel graphics may not appeal to everyone, but I found the hand painted backgrounds to be beautiful, and the character portraits we're nicely done, with some of them looking quite stunning. The sprites all look visually distinct, even the random wandering townspeople. The only issue is occasionally something doesn't seem 100% scaled correctly, like a skull on the ground that seems abnormally large compared to the sprites heads, or a few scenes involving distance and perspective. Most of it however is very nicely done. While Crystal Shard's other game, Heroine Quest, was largely based off the style of Sierra's Quest for Glory series, this is more similar in play to King's Quest. This doesn't have any RPG elements. It's purely Point & Click Adventure with some light puzzles/mini-games. Most of the game revolves around the typical fetch quest/inventory puzzles. Most of which are logical and relatively easy to do. There is a mini-game that features twice in the game that's a triangular version of an Othello/Reversi style game. There's a music puzzle that's not that hard. There's a non-requisite logic style dialogue game you can play with your bard friend to help narrow your list of suspects. There are also a few dialogues that are almost a puzzle in that you need to select the right option to initiate certain actions. There are also wrong options which can end your game. There are also several quick action moments where you need to use an item or moving to the right spot quickly. While most puzzles and quests are pretty logical and easy there is one test from the Pooka which is a riddle and you may not know the answer to it and another test from the Pooka when entering Thierna na Oge that can prove difficult. While you can fail, you can restart the test and keep trying till you get it right. That's probably the hardest part of the game. This game does have a built in hint system but it's really basic, just telling you what you should be trying to do in general like get back into town and talk to people, but not specific hints as to how you might do that or where you might find something. It also does not include (as far as I could tell) any sort of hotspot highlight option. Some people find that really annoying especially in "newer" games, but honestly, the rest of the game is just pretty well designed so that it doesn't really bother you. The story is interesting and the dialogues are pretty well written. The voice overs make the more difficult Irish spellings a little easier to understand... though some things, like 'Thierna Na Oge' don't seem like their being said right. While I overall enjoyed the more expansive story there were often long dialogues and cut-scenes that were either not skipable or only skipable one line at a time. There are different endings and optional side quests in this game so while those longer scenes and dialogues aren't so bad the first time around when you're taking it all in they are a bit tedious on additional playthroughs. This game has 34 achievements which is a pretty good amount compared to most point & click adventure games. You will not be able to get all the achievements in one playthrough unless you utilized a lot of strategic saving but even then some path branches require doing something early on as well as later in the game so you may have to replay from a much ealrier spot to get them as opposed to just a few different choices at the end. The endings aren't all that significantly different and the long cut scenes and dialogues that can't be quickly skipped may make achieving 100% too much of a chore for some. A fair amount of the achievements are story unlocked so if you just play through one time even without an achievement guide you'll probably pick up half of them. Overall, I found this game really enjoyable, if you like fantasy and medieval/renaissance settings you'll probably enjoy this. You get to encounter Faeries/Unseelie, Goblins, a Giant, a Barghest, a Druid, Sorcerers and a talking scarecrow! If point & click adventures are what you like, and you enjoyed Sierra classics form the 90s, Heroine's Quest, or other similar games, chances are you'll enjoy this too. If you want to unlock all the achievements it can be a time consuming game. I had to trudge back and forth to locations many times to trigger all the cutscenes and complete all the side quests making for about 11 hours for a full playthrough with as many achievements as you could get in one playthrough. Then about 8-10 hours to unlock the other endings and challenging achievements. If you play through, exploring well and trying to do everything it probably comes out close to about $1/hr of gameplay, which I think is a pretty good deal considering how enjoyable I found the game. There's some replay value in the different endings and optional side quests, but I would recommend spacing out additional playthroughs by at least a few months, so that it feels more enjoyable and fresh.
• gamedeal user

  Aug 30, 2023

  This is such a great game you’d think it was a classic Sierra game. If you like Sierra point and click games you feel right at home here go ahead and make the purchase. I wish more people knew about it.
• gamedeal user

  Nov 2, 2017

  Although I have only made it to Chapter 4 so far, this game reminds me of the old classical games such as the orginal Kings Quest games. Unlike Heroine's Quest, combat is not its focus rather it is more puzzle based and there are often more than one solution to the puzzel. Overall it is not a bad game, and I bought it because I liked Heroine's Quest and decided to support the company through this purchase
• gamedeal user

  Nov 4, 2017

  If you're having troubles running this game in full screen mode, you can try the Fullscreen F11 http://www.kapitanpazur.piasta.pl/dl/fullscreen_f11.zip program. Just run it and press F11 in game to play in full screen. I'm not into AGS (Adventure Game Studio) engine development, but not being able to play the game in full screen mode in 2017, and the fact that controllers are not supported, plus the not very intuitive menus, shows how bad AGS ages. While Heroine's Quest has more charming graphics and memorable music, so far this one has more involving story and lacks battles (which I like). Judging by the lack of reviews though, I don't believe this has many sales and people these days don't have much time for this kind of games. This saddens me because authors have put a lot of effort into making this excellent game which deserves more. I love every type of quest games that looks like this and I really appreciate what the team behind this game made. I haven't played such quest from a really long time and this review is probably pointless to you because if you're reading this, you're most probably already playing this gem.
• gamedeal user

  Nov 7, 2017

  Outstanding! Crystal Shard - this was more than well worth the wait. I hope I get to wait, yet another time, for a new release from your studio in the future! This game really does kicka*s and superbly dethrones simular games in the genre. Sierra should take notice and Activision should be sending the game developers an advance on their next project.
• gamedeal user

  Nov 18, 2017

  This is a tribute and throwback to the classic adventure games of last century. Unlike Heroine's Quest it is not also an 'affectionate parody' of the genre or the mythology it's based on. I bought it partly because I liked those games and it is fun to play that way again. I also bought it in part because I really enjoyed the free Heroine's Quest but I don't want to join yet more online services just to donate money. While I enjoyed those old games, I wasn't very good at them and I played this using the walkthrough for the original edition of this game. It worked quite well but for some reason the developers took it down. At any rate, I didn't get the full effect of wandering around wondering what to do. The basis of these old-style adventure games was moving around and picking up or at least looking at anything more pixellated than the painted backgrounds. Then you would apply the various items to the puzzles you encountered and seeing what worked ... if you survived. This game doesn't have the hidden dangers the King's Quest series was infamous for. You can usually see danger coming. However, it can usually also see you, so you are barred from saving until you survive. You should save after anything important or that you just don't want to do again. I quite enjoy this game. The Two Kingdoms of the title are the mortal kingdom of Theylinn and the Faerie Realm that co-exists with it. Theylinn has requested aid from your group to help against an army of goblins. Then Theylinn's king is assassinated and you are blamed. While the goblins and humans prepare for war, you investigate the murder and seek out the Faeries to resolve things diplomatically. I enjoy the theme of seeking peace. I love elves so I quite enjoyed dealing with the faeries and seeing their realm (although they rather exasperate the character you play). The game looks and sounds beautiful. The voice acting is quite good. The first chapter especially wouldn't have such diplomatic tension or sarcastic humour if just left to the writing. The main thing I didn't like was the cutscene mechanic. If you look in the Achievements you will see that there are 20 to try and witness. Their purpose is partly to give you clues to the murder and partly to show that other characters are trying to affect the situation, even if only you advance the plot. However, getting the cutscenes is a combination of finding the right trigger and then, often, waiting for the cutscene to run by repeatedly entering and leaving a scene. If you didn't know they were a specific thing to look for you could easily miss about a third of them. For that matter, you can easily lose some potential later actions by simply solving puzzles 'too early', in chapter 4 rather than chapter 5, although you are more likely to lose story-only cutscenes. I would recommend this. It might be a little random by modern standards, but it is more than just nostalgic fun.
• gamedeal user

  Nov 19, 2017

  Simply the best point and click adventure game ever made in every way in my humble opinion. No dead ends, multiple endings, optional sidequests and scenes, vibrant characters, engrossing story with a steady pace, it's just really really damn good. edit: well, Heroine's Quest is better, but this one is definitely good stuff I love it
• gamedeal user

  Dec 14, 2017

  A Tale of Two Kingdoms is an indie adventure game created by Crystal Shard, the same studio that created the more commonly known Heroin's Quest: The Herald of Ragnarok. The player takes the role of Maeldun Whiteblade, who is framed for the death of Theylinn's monarch, King Vortigern. With the help of his friends Branwyn and Taliesin the Bard, Maeldun has to stop a horde of invading goblins, clear his name, discover the true culprit, and gain the trust of the faeries of Thierna Na Oge. This game originally came out in July 2007. I remember playing it in 2009, and my anti-virus program thought the game was malware. The version on Steam is a remastered version - all of the characters are now fully-voiced (which makes it a lot easier to understand the pronunciations of some names), and some characters have received visual upgrades to their portraits. Additionally, the game now has a playable prologue that explains the story setting, rather than a big info dump serving as an opening narration. Perhaps the strongest point of the game is that there is no way to screw yourself out of winning (*cough* King's Quest 5 *cough*). While you CAN miss items and events that will lock you out from achieving the best ending, or a 100% rating, you can still complete the game. Furthermore, some puzzles can be completed through different methods or different items; the only downside to the latter is that, again, certain solutions will preclude you from getting the best outcome. The points system is divided into 2 categories: Wisdom and Honor. Solving puzzles will award you wisdom, while performing "noble" acts, such as helping out an NPC, will grant honor. Similar to how Heroine's Quest draws its motifs from Norse mythology, A Tale of Two Kingdoms draws inspiration from Irish/Celtic mythology. The game world is vast; you can explore the majority of it at your own leisure, and run across many NPCs. A particular favorite of mine was the city of Carbonak; you see many game characters, guards and townsfolk strolling around its streets, entering buildings and going about their business. This is a stark contrast to so many games where cities either appear vacant, or are saturated with NPCs that just sit around all day and do nothing. It's little touches like this that give the game its charm. Puzzles can vary from simple to complex, but a notable feature is that Maeldun can ask NPCs to "do" something for him. When this option is selected, the NPC in question can describe surroundings, or can let Maeldun borrow an item, assuming they trust him enough to do so. While this game has many positives, it does have a few (if only minor) negatives. For starters, I didn't feel much empathy or emotion for Maeldun. He doesn't have much personality outside of asking a lot of questions, and his emotions are very rarely laid bare for anyone to see. Despite the fact that he's been falsely accused for regicide, it doesn't seem to faze him - he's pretty relaxed throughout the game's story. I didn't particularly "get" his supposed-lover, Branwyn, since she has about as much emotion as a cactus; she usually only talks about fighting the goblins and wanting to kick the crap out of Geraint, the captain of the late king's guard. Secondly, there are a few frustrating puzzles that are arbitrary if anything. For example (think of this hint as a freebie), an item that you need as a "good luck charm" is a horseshoe. To get it, you have to go to Carbonak, go into the stables, physically move Maeldun into the stall on the right, and then click on said empty stall to pick up the horseshoe. There is no way of actually seeing the item in question, and the only time you might actually hear about it is if you go to the smithy and overhear the stable-boy telling the blacksmith that his horse kicked one of his shoes. Of course, this conversation only happens in chapter 3, and it doesn't fully explain the horseshoe's significance. Another vexing puzzle regards a wounded pigeon. This pigeon can show up in one of four screens, but if it spawns near the beach leading to Carbonak's gates, you will have difficulty finding it, since its gray feathers blend in with the rocks on the road. Despite the above issues, A Tale of Two Kingdoms is one of the best adventure games I've played. Crystal Shard clearly knows what players want in an adventure game and what they don't. When they created the original game, they made it through their own toil and were not being paid a single cent. Players can easily see the amount of passion and soul the studio put into creating the game. I'm glad to see that indie developers can still stick out in a world that is saturated with AAA garbage, and I recommend this game to anyone who enjoys the adventure genre.
• gamedeal user

  Dec 21, 2017

  Loved this game. Is actually much better designed than most of the classic adventure games. Puzzles mostly make sense and are not too abstract. Clearly made with a love of classic Sierra games in mind.