The secret of the druids
| The secret of the druids | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Studio | House of Tales | ||
| Publisher |
cdv Global Software Publishing |
||
| Senior Developer | Martin Ganteföhr | ||
| composer | Josef Ferger | ||
| Erstveröffent- lichung |
May 2001 | ||
| platform | Windows | ||
| Game engine | Cougar | ||
| genre | Point-and-click adventure | ||
| Game mode | Single player | ||
| control | Mouse , keyboard | ||
| medium | DVD-ROM , CD-ROM , download | ||
| language | German, English, French, Russian | ||
| Age rating |
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The Secret of the Druids is a point-and-click adventure published in 2001 by the Bremen game developer House of Tales .
action
London , UK. Scotland Yard Investigator Detective Brent Halligan is a loser professionally and privately. Ever since he put Prince Charles through the dragnet on an important case as a suspect, he's been through with his boss and his colleagues. In addition, the female gender takes no notice of the somewhat messy police officer. In this situation, Halligan is entrusted with the investigation of a series of murders in which several people were cruelly killed in the vicinity of the British capital and the flesh was removed from their bones. The investigation leads Halligan to the anthropologist Doctor Melanie Turner, who informs the detective that the victims were removed with a golden druid sickle.
Together with the scientist and writer Arthur Blake, the duo discovers a group of conspirators who want to revive the old Celtic druid cult and help it to rule the world. A mysterious ritual that had been interrupted in the past and in which the murder victims and several infants play an important role is supposed to serve this purpose. The mastermind behind the action is the mysterious aristocrat Lord Sinclair, who has built a Celtic place of worship and sacrifice on his country estate. Halligan and Turner make their way to a ruined bridge at Blake's behest, where a time window is said to be. Through this the two get into the Middle Ages , where they try to prevent the first ritual.
Despite all their efforts, they cannot stop the Sinclair ancestor Serstan there, who sends them back to the present. Halligan and Turner then go to Stonehenge , where the current ritual is to be completed. With a trick Halligan can outsmart Sinclair, destroy the conspirators and avert threats. Halligan and Turner become a couple.
Game principle and technology
The secret of the druids is a 2.5D point-and-click adventure . For polygons composite, three-dimensional figures act against pre-rendered scenes. The player can use the mouse to move his character through the locations and use the mouse buttons to initiate actions that allow the character to interact with his environment. Poirot can find objects, apply them to the environment or other objects and communicate with NPCs . As the story progresses, more locations will be unlocked. The locations are pre-rendered still images. Communication with the NPCs takes place via multiple choice menus.
Production notes
In 2004 The Secret of the Druids was re-released as a Special Edition . Instead of the three CD-ROMs, the game was now housed on a DVD-ROM in an appropriate sleeve and in a white box. In addition, the game has been upgraded visually and acoustically with optimized graphics, new sound, an improved dialogue system and an additional 60 minutes of background music. In addition, there is an extra menu with wallpaper images from the game, demos for the games Fenimore Fillmore - The Westerner , Black Mirror and The Moment of Silence, as well as a teaser film , an accompanying manual and a miniature version of Brent Halligan's service file for the latter . In 2015, the then rights holder THQ Nordic published a version of the game that could run on modern computers on the digital distribution platforms Steam and GOG .
The secret of the druids is not to be confused with the text adventure of the same name for the Commodore 64 , which appeared in 1990 as a supplement to a special issue of the computer magazine 64'er .
German speakers
- Detective Brent Halligan: Stephan Schwartz
- Dr. Melanie Turner: Sabine Jaeger
- Arthur Blake / Maglor: Christian Rode
reception
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The PC Games praised story, puzzles and especially the humorous dialogues of the game, but regretted an outdated technical presentation. The specialist magazine Adventure-Treff described the game as "nice puzzle fun" and "expandable" and highlighted the lively characters and successful cutscenes, but criticized stiff animations, poorly developed controls, an annoying dialogue system and the gameplay that did not meet expectations.
Web links
- Official homepage for the game ( Memento from May 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (German, English)
- The Mystery of the Druids at MobyGames (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Adventure-Treff.de: New playthrough: The secret of the druids. Retrieved September 28, 2019 .
- ↑ Gamebase64.com: The Secret of the Druids. Retrieved April 22, 2018 .
- ↑ a b Adventure-Treff.de: The secret of the druids. Retrieved January 20, 2016 .
- ↑ a b PCGames.de: Halligan on a druid hunt. Retrieved April 1, 2017 .