Crowns and Pawns sequel leading to Amber Road 

• Announcements by Jack Allin
• Published:

Follow-up to Tag of Joy's 2022 acclaimed globe-trotting adventure unveiled for PC and consoles

Indie Lithuanian developer Tag of Joy may have to change its name to Bundle of Energy, because not only is the team already hard at work on A Vampyre Story: A Bat's Tale in collaboration with Bill Tiller, they've just announced a sequel to the acclaimed 2022 point-and-click adventure Crowns and Pawns: Kingdom of Deceit called Amber Road. 

If you think the star of the new game looks familiar, that's because she's really the nefarious "Sun stone" thief. Wait, no, she's really Milda Kovas, the protagonist of the first Crowns of Pawns. The problem is, she LOOKS exactly like the thief, and is therefore accused of stealing the "unique amber artifact." In order to prove her innocence, Milda must set off once again for Lithuania, but soon finds that she's not the only interested party. According to local folklore, the stone's smaller fragments are believed to be scattered across the old trade route known as the Amber Road, and that collecting and combining all of the amber fragments will grant its possessor "arcane powers." And so Milda finds herself swept up in a whole now "story of Baltic myths and legends woven together with historical figures and places all across Europe."

As with its predecessor, Amber Road will be accompanied by an original score composed by Daniel Pharos (A New Beginning, Memoria, Blackguards), and presented in lovely 4K hand-painted artwork with "a touch of modern graphics features." Following the Amber Road will take players from "the Baltics in the North, all the way to the Mediterranean," with stops in exotic locations from Lithuania to Austria, Italy and beyond. There you'll meet faces both old and new, each fully voiced by actors whose credits include the likes of Monkey Island, Oxenfree, The Wolf Among Us, God of War, and Unforeseen Incidents, headed once again by Erin Yvette returning in the role of Milda. In your travels through both "beautiful landscapes and mysterious locations," you can of course expect plenty more classic Broken Sword-styled point-and-click adventuring. Controlled by either a mouse or gamepad, you'll face brain-bending gameplay that challenges you to "collect and creatively combine items, [find] notes, solve riddles, engage in witty conversations" and even "survive chilling threats" on occasion.  

There is no target release date for the new Crowns and Pawns just yet – nor indeed for A Bat's Tale, though the developer confirms that work on both is proceeding simultaneously. In the meantime, you can already wishlist Amber Road on Steam and check out the official website. When complete, the game will launch across a variety of platforms and storefronts, including Steam and GOG for Windows, Mac and Linux, as well as all major consoles.