Keepsake

Keepsake! Can I tell you about Keepsake? The environments are beautiful, the puzzles entirely logic-based, the storyline (thusfar) devoid of scenes involving blood, guts, gore or nuclear armaments of any sort. It's my kind of game. The environments--both visual and auditory--are nicely detailed. I'm hooked. I bought the game on Monday night and spent four straight hours playing it. It's fun and engaging. It may just change my mind about computer games.

The only thing I don't like about this game is the acting. It's just really amazingly bad. You're probably thinking, "Well, it's a computer game, what were you expecting?" Yes, gentle readers, but this is industrial-grade, heavy-duty Bad Acting.

As far as I can tell, all of the characters in this small cast are voiced by only two voice actors (one male, one female). Though they've obviously tried to make the various voices sound different from one another, they weren't very successful. Particularly groan-inducing are the sepia-toned "visions" endured by the main character (and hence, by me).

The first of these was so bad, I laughed out loud. Imagine a female William Shatner doing the voices for two computer-animated, sepia-toned little girls who are parting ways for what they know will be a very long time. Imagine tinkly music, a gentle breeze and lots of big-eyed, sad-kidness.

Acting aside, it's a highly enjoyable game. I get a total newbie kick out of just wandering around the castle thinking "Look at that floor! That floor is fantastic! I wish IKEA sold that in snap-lock laminate, I'd totally put some in our kitchen!" Visitors to our kitchen could then say "Your kitchen floor is reminiscent of a virtual, dragon-themed magic school." and I could say, "Well that's the idea. You should see the bathroom."

But I digress.

Over the last four days, I have spent at least seven hours completely nerding out with this game. My husband has wandered in periodically to remind me that there is a world outside my workstation, and to rejoice that I'm finally doing something with my computer besides word-processing. He's highly supportive of this whole endeavor.

After I finish Keepsake, I plan to give Dreamfall: The Longest Journay a try. I've read that the story is very well-written, and am hopeful that this means that the acting will be better as well.

What computer games (if any) are you guys into? Any recommendations for good adventure games?