The Raven (or The Raven: Legacy of a Master Thief) is a thrilling episodic point and click crime adventure game set in the early 1960s, which pays homage to the classic Agatha Christie mystery adventures.
The central plot of the games circles around a legendary thief known as The Raven, who has supposedly returned after he was apparently shot and killed many years ago while attempting to escape during a robbery, and has now set his eyes on two priceless jewels known as The Eyes of the Sphinx. But the real mystery is not only who The Raven really is, but even if this "Raven" is the original.
Released in 2013 by The Adventure Company, the three part game (Legacy of a Master Thief, Ancestry of Lies and finally, A Murder of Ravens) is available for download on the game's official website or Steam.
In March of 2018, the game was remastered with higher-quality textures and models with additional platform releases.
This Game contains examples of:
- The Alcoholic: The Baroness. She even has a large steamer trunk that's been converted into a travelling bar and a safe.
- Book Safe: A variant. The Baroness steamer trunk has a hidden safe.
- Brains and Brawn: Inspector Legrand is the brains to Constable Oliver's brawn. There's also a villainous example in that the Raven, in the form of Mr. Inch, is in reality a wounded veteran of WWII, so depends on the young, athletic Adil to provide the muscle to see his schemes through to completion. Subverted in that Adil is actually very bright and resourceful in his own right.
- The Butler Did It: Played with. The plot involves first a jewel theft and next a murder, both apparently committed by the shadowy Raven, later identified as the butler, Mr. Inch. Except not only was it not Inch who killed the baroness, Inch is eventually revealed not to be the Raven at all.
- Cool Boat: The S.S. Linda.
- Cool Train: The first part of the first episode is set on board the Orient Express.
- Dating What Daddy Hates: Discussed. Patricia comments that when she brought Adil home to meet her father he wasn't exactly pleased, but she adds that he wouldn't approve of any man she brought home.
- Drowning My Sorrows: Both the Baroness and to a lesser extent the violinist, David Kreutzer have a tendency to do this. The former is due to loneliness and mourning her deceased family, while the latter is due to never being able to become a successful musician.
- The Exotic Detective: More like detectives, since all three detectives are from different countries. Constable Zellner is Swiss, Inspector Legrand is French, and Constable Oliver is British.
- Fair Cop: Inspector Legrand is rather handsome, especially compared to his two colleagues.
- Fat Idiot: Played with with Constable Oliver. While he does come across as oafish, he never trusts Zellner considering Zellner is the true Raven that Legrand is pursuing.
- Foreshadowing:
- At the beginning, Zellner makes a few comments about his theater group, and has an innocent conversation with Matt about acting - that it's more than just acting like the role you're playing, but becoming the role entirely. This may tip off a player right away that he's not who he claims to be.
- The heart medication Zellner's daughter insists that he takes, which is the first item in the player's inventory yet has no apparent use in gameplay. His daughter turns out to be undercover as Ms. Mayers, and at the very end Zellner uses the medicine to tip Legrand off that he was The Raven all along.
- During a conversation between Zellner and Patricia the latter says that they are engaged, the more observant listener will notice Zellner sounds rather too shocked by the admission of someone who he's only recently met. At the end of the final episode when it's revealed that they are actually father and daughter working undercover, it makes sense since Patricia had not informed him of the engagement.
- When threatening Adil, Mr. Inch says that one of the "necessary" things he would kill for is revenge. The whole scheme turns out to be his own revenge against the Raven.
- Friendly Enemy: The Raven's Calling Cards to Legrand were casual and often friendly, a style Mr. Inch twists to convince Legrand that he's the real one. During the plot, but before The Reveal, Zellner - who is the true Raven - shows genuine concern for Legrand pushing himself and his career over the edge to hunt him down. In his final letter, he beseeches Legrand to let the Raven die and focus on doing good work where its needed elsewhere.
- Gentleman Detective: Constable Zellner comes off as being one since he is very well mannered.
- Gentleman Thief: Deconstructed - the plot involves the titular Gentleman Thief returning, only to slowly be revealed to be a brutal sociopath who will stop at nothing, even putting people in harm's way, to get the attention he wants. And then reconstructed - the supposed Raven is a fake who is intentionally playing himself up as a thug to ruin the original's reputation. The true Raven is a devious but decent trickster who is as much there to stop a villain from hurting people as he is to clear his own name.
- Grand Dame: The Baroness Von Trebitz and Lady Clarissa Westmacott.
- Hannibal Lecture: Mr. Inch is very fond of these. He seems to be outright enjoying himself while attempting to convince Gebhardt to kill himself.
- He Knows Too Much: Dr. Gebhardt's motive for killing the Baroness was because he had her sister turned over to the Nazis, and she recognized him from a photograph.
- Inspector Javert: Deconstructed with Inspector Legrand, who after shooting down The Raven, he still wasn't satisfied, even though it earned him fame among the police, believing that he had shot one of The Raven's many accomplices. And now that The Raven has "returned", he's working himself to the edge of breaking point.
- Insult of Endearment: The Raven calls Inspector Nicolas Legrand "Nico" in his letters and Legrand himself states that the Raven is the only person who addresses him like so. The Raven impersonator appropriates this trick in order to fool Legrand into thinking that he is the original Raven.
- Locked Room Mystery: Halfway through the first episode, a shot is heard and Zellner, Legrand and Dr Gebhardt discover the Baroness has been murdered in her cabin room, which has been locked from the inside, while aboard the S.S. Lynda. Then after Zellner investigates the crime he discovers that the Baroness wasn't actually dead when they discovered her, but was only unconscious. A balloon filled with fake blood had been placed under the bed sheets and a tape with the sound of a gun shot had been hidden in her cabin. She then was drugged in her champagne, so when she entered the room (locking it after she entered) and collapsed on the bed, the balloon burst, then not long after the recorded shot went off, giving the illusion that she had been shoot. Then during the on-going chaos (due to Constable Oliver and Legrand finding a stowaway and Zellner suddenly collapsing) and with the sound of an alarm to cover the noise, the murderer shot her for real while no one was looking.
- Long-Lost Relative: Lady Westamcott reveals to Zellner that her companion's son, Matthew Miller, unbeknownst to either Matthew or his mother Mary, that he is her grandson. During the war, Lady Westmacott's only (estranged) son married Mary, had Matthew but broke up when Matthew was 7 years old. The employment of her son's ex-wife and helping fund her grandson's education is her way of making amends.
- Mad Doctor: Dr Gebhardt kills the Baroness because she knew he had her sister killed, and the when Zellner discovers evidence of his guilt he tries to kill him too.
- Never My Fault:
- Gebhardt claims that the Jewish woman he initially saved from the Nazis deserved to be killed by them because she cheated on him, though they don't seem to have been in an actual relationship. Both Inch and Adil peg this as a poor attempt to ignore his own guilt.
- Inch himself blames the Raven for his brother's death back when they were both Raven's henchmen, but the Raven himself later claims that it was Inch's own monstrous nature that put them into that situation.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: Lady Clarissa Westmacott is Agatha Christie in all but name. Indeed, her surname, Westmacott, comes from one of Christie's pseudonyms (she used to write romance novels under the name Mary Westmacott). Zellner's notebook contains a list of Westmacott's best-known novels, the titles of which are all shout outs to real Christie novels.
- Outlaw Couple: Adil and "Patricia Mayers".
- Properly Paranoid: Constable Robert Oliver never trusts Zellner. While he comes off as oafish and not too sly, he was right all along to suspect the Swiss policeman considering Zellner is actually the true Raven. Mitigated however, as he fails to uncover Inch as the Raven's impersonator and he always blindly endorses Inspector Legrand's viewpoints.
- Punny Name: The first name of the English police officer who follows Legrand around is Robert. Also, the villain's name is Alfred Inch. Shorten Alfred to Alf, and you get Alf Inch - Cockney rhyming slang for steal (Half Inch/'alf inch = Pinch).
- The Reveal: Inch is not the Raven at all, "Constable Zellner" is the Raven, Patricia is the Raven's daughter and Adil is her fiancé. The three of them were also playing literally everyone from the start.
- Scenery Porn: The views of the Alps during the first chapter are actually quite spectacular.
- Socialite: Patricia Mayers is this, while also coming off as a Rich Bitch, Idle Rich, Lonely Rich Kid, and/or Airhead depending who she's talking to. Although that's just a cover story, one of her favourites, for her criminal activities.
- Undying Loyalty: When Zellner first meets Lady Westmacott, her companion Miss Miller is very much against someone bothering her. Miss Miller later explains her loyalty is down to her employer coming into her and her son's life two years ago during hard times.
- Wham Episode: Halfway through Ancestry of Lies, Zellner discovers that "The Raven" is in fact Mr Inch, the Baroness's butler and his accomplice is Adil, the stowaway from the S.S. Linda. And that's not the wham that happens in the second game. During the end of the game, which take place in a flashback showing Adil's journey on the train to the cruise ship, once on the ship, he enters into a cabin which is revealed to be occupied by Miss Mayers, revealing that she is his lover and in the following episode is in fact working with him against Inch.
- Worthy Opponent: Legrand has a great deal of respect for the thief he's been trying to catch for years, though he's also quick to suspect that the Raven has turned to thuggery in his obsession. Given The Reveal, it's clear that the Raven has an immense respect for Legrand as well, given Zellner's genuine praises and concern for him during the plot.
