Evidence: the last ritual

The Last of it’s kind?


Evidence: the last ritual is the sequel to the game In memoriam (Also known as missing: since January in the US). Understandably being a fan of In memoriam, I wanted a copy to play the sequel. Not so understandable is why I had to import the game. Developed in France by lexis numerique the game is available in French (obviously), Spanish, German and even in English for the Americans. So why the hell wasn’t there a UK launch of the game?

Regardless, I went to ebay and bought a copy anyway and dived into the game. Being a Participant in the first investigation, I knew what I was in for. Players take up the role of an investigator to help police solve a crime. The phoenix (the serial killer in the previous game) has resurfaced after a few years from hiding and has resumed his murderous ways leaving people dead and people missing. Police are baffled by the CDs offering clues to his crimes and motives. Consequently the police have released the “game” nationwide to help solve the murders.

With the aid of other (real) investigators from all over the world, players must solve the puzzles and unlock the secrets of the CDs to locate the people who have gone missing, solve the murders and hopefully lead to the identity and arrest of the Phoenix himself, which has been on going (details can be found at http://www.phoenix-killer.info ) for years. Players are soon sucked into a world of secret orders, the Templars, ancient history and intrigue as they piece together the mystery.

Despite having only a shoestring budget, Evidence still retains charm and is interesting despite most of the puzzles being point and click, the screens being mostly static and animations mostly created via (presumeably) flash. This is mainly due to some strong, inspired and clever (yet disturbing) design. Compounded with the excellent ambient music, the eerie music that accompanies puzzles and garbled voices whenever the phoenix communicates does well to create an atmosphere of unease and tension. Presumably to get across the idea that this is deadly serious and the situation is no laughing matter with a sense that’s it real. Especially when it’s spliced with amateur camcorder footage on the trail of a tragic tale to search for the truth. The developers have come top on presentation and retaining the experience from the previous game.

As already mentioned, players are made to solve a set of puzzles to unlock more secrets located on the cd. So far very typical from a video game, but here’s the unique thing: players must switch away from the game and surf the net to solve the puzzles at the same time. As if to use the game interface as a starting point and following clues like a true detective to find the answers and solving the mystery. Difficulty is a problematic issue as it tends to fluxuate wildly in certain puzzles. Typically this is mostly down to what some might argue to be poor design. Some clues offered are simply far too cryptic, ambiguous or meaningless to solve certain areas and this can be extremely frustrating. Granted, once you’ve found that eureka moment, the puzzles are easy to solve, but the lack of help if you still don’t get it is certainly a negative. On occasions it has resulted even a veteran of the previous investigation like myself to consult walkthroughs just to find out what the hell I’m meant to do, despite blitzing through all the other puzzles in that level. But the frustration can contribute mostly on the players themselves.

Only a healthy dose of paranoia, observation, ingenuity, time and more importantly, patience, will get players through the puzzles. But that’s simply asking a lot from most gamers and even the gamers this game targets (love point and click adventures), who might not have large quantities of all of those traits to succeed in this game. Those who do will, relish the challenge and will experience the fantastic feeling of success as you complete another of the phoenix’s puzzles; you put a lot of time and effort into it, you feel incredibly smart and no one can take that away from you as its true. YOU discovered the answer by thinking out of the box; YOU discovered the answered from observing something incredibly subtle something no one noticed and everything finally clicking into place. The sense of accomplishment, being rewarded with additional movie footage or a comment by the phoenix, the euphoria should be felt. YOU feel like a winner, like being a real Colombo or detective.

But it’s just a shame that this game will target a very niche group of people; most might not even call this game fun. The fact that you have to spend so much time surfing the net looking for a name, leads, key words, images to solve the puzzles or how it demands so much of your time.

Never less, the concept and the time and effort placed in developing Evidence the last ritual should be applauded. The developers have taken the time to film movies all over America and Spain, building websites for the puzzles and have some great designs for puzzles. The game truly does feel like an alternate reality investigative thriller, merging the boundaries between real life and fiction. On most occasions the developers have achieved their ideas successfully. Players frequently are made to follow a trail of clues on the Internet to the answers on certain websites and it works well. Frequently I get emails from people assisting me and offering help and background information on solving the puzzles and even from the serial killer himself! How do they know what they hell I’m doing? But on occasions, the whole thing can fall apart from the hinges. Rather then finding possible websites to solving a clue via search engines, you discover websites to walkthroughs to the puzzle you’re trying to solve; do you have the will power to resist looking at them especially when you very stuck?


To summarise, Evidence the lost ritual is a game that will only appeal to a very niche market, but those looking for an alternate adventure game or looking for a real challenge will like this and I whole-heartedly recommend people to at least experience the game as its truly unique. If you don’t fall into either of the latter, then I encourage players to have an open mind and try it regardless. But players are advised: they must have an internet connection as it will required to download tools, register the game and solve the puzzles.