Summary
A Tale of Two Kingdoms is a full-length graphical adventure with a mood of fairy tales, magic, and intrigue, and strives to be one of the best AGS games yet.
The ancient kingdom of Theylinn is beset by enemies. Within the castle walls, nobles vie for the old King's favor, and not everybody is happy with the sole heir to the throne, princess Rhiannon.
Meanwhile, danger approaches, in the form of an invading army, a hostile giant, and a mercenary troop who are ancient enemies of the Theylann king.
A Tale of Two Kingdoms simply blew me away. I know money shouldn’t be a measure of quality, but here is an independently produced game available for free that I could have easily shelled out 30-40 dollars for back in the middle-late 90’s. Heck, I could do so today if I hadn’t already shelled out more than that much for Dreamfall(but enough about me…)
AToTK has been turning heads since its release, so much so that it is a wonder that I hadn’t heard of it until recently. A screenshot of it appeared in Games for Windows Magazine. It has won 4 Adventure Game Studio awards and the accolades of many game critics. The game was also featured in PC World magazine, in an article that poked fun at its low-res graphics but admitted it had a certain charm.
I’m going to go so far as to say that this game represents a sea change in independent adventure games and may be the most important indie game of recent years. Why? Because AToTK is a pitch perfect throwback to the heyday of Sierra On-line, a golden time when men were men and a computer game could get by on storytelling and esoteric puzzles alone. What does AToTK bring to the table?”
Well, for a start, it isn’t a remake of an existing Sierra game, but an original production with its own plot, characters, and music. It also proves that a time-honored format that many of us geeks wistfully pine for can be successfully married with new material. If it isn’t the first of its kind, it’s still a milestone. Its hefty download time can be excused by the facts that a) it’s free and b) its brilliant.
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