Adventure Game Geek Explores Keepsake – A magical castle filled with dragons, intrigue and oh-so-many puzzles

• Features by Adventure Game Hotspot staff
• Published:

Keepsake is one of only two games developed by Wicked Studios (the other being the strategy-RPG Dawn of Heroes for the Nintendo DS). On the box it’s described as “an unforgettable adventure.” Well, Adventure Game Geek just happened to pick the box up again recently and realized he’d completely forgotten about it! So why didn’t Wicked Studios make any more games, and is Keepsake truly an adventure to remember? Fortunately it’s less than a dollar on Steam so it’s a small price to pay to find out!

We play as Lydia, a new student who arrives at the Dragonvale Academy of magic eager to begin her studies, but when she walks through the grand entrance the place seems totally deserted. But there’s another surprise waiting round the corner in the form of Zak, a talking wolf who says he’s actually a dragon who’s been transformed in an unfortunate potion accident that he blames on some other students. It soon becomes clear, though, that he’s not telling Lydia the whole story. After all, what kind of dragon is afraid of heights? And ghosts?! [Spoiler: there might actually be a ghost floating around somewhere…] Oh, and there’s also a merchant called “Mustavio the Fantastico,” who could easily be one of the Fettucini Brothers. (If you don’t know who they are, you can’t be a mighty pirate!) But mostly there isn’t much character interaction besides your wolf companion Zak, and the story revolves around brewing a potion to change him back into his original form and finding out where all the students got to. And puzzles – lots and lots of puzzles!

AGG admits to skipping a few of those brainteasers using the game’s handy hint system that can solve the puzzle for you. He can’t help feeling guilty admitting defeat, but the Hotspot’s own Joshua Cleveland chimes in with a cameo to remind us all that it’s not worth driving yourself crazy over a puzzle. Good advice! (Sounds like he’s talking from experience!?) So if you’re partial to solving a plethora of puzzles and exploring a majestic magic academy with a talking wolf, then Keepsake could be as unforgettable as it says. As for AGG, either this game didn’t have such a lasting effect on him, or he just has a bad memory. Either way, on with the show!

Adventure Game Geek is part of the Adventure Game Hotspot Network, a collective of talented, dedicated content producers who work entirely independently but have joined forces to promote each other’s efforts.

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