Missed Classic: La Crypte des Maudits - Won! (With Final Rating)

By Ilmari

Where I left off last time

While the first part of the game had gone like a breeze, the second part was not so easy. I did manage to find a fireplace with some soot, under which I found a button. Pressing the button opened a cabinet in another room, where I found an urn.

After this first bout of success, I couldn’t progress at all. With nothing else to do, I looked up a walkthrough, and apparently in the screen above I should have turned a leg. Well, the furniture here does have several legs, but I wouldn’t probably have figured this one on my own.

Turning the leg (no idea which one) opened up a secret compartment, where I found a vial. I again had no idea what to do and had to peek at the walkthrough for the second time in a row. Apparently I had to empty the vial at the fountain above, revealing a small sphere.

After so much hand holding, I was determined to get something done by myself. Luckily, it didn’t take me long to find out what to do with the sphere. I put it in the mouth of the troll, where I had started this section. A secret door revealed further mysteries. On an altar, I found a trophy, which I took to myself. I also found statues waiting for a numeric code and a library, where I did not know what title to search for.

Although entering the secret area had not made a real difference, yet, it wasn’t a complete waste of time, since when I exited the area I saw a cultist walk by with a parchment. After walking a bit, I noticed that the cultist had dropped the parchment in a laboratory. Reading it, I found a code (1213), which I went to type to the statues. They gave me a clue that I had to do something in the laboratory. What a disappointment!

With no idea how to continue, I turned to the spoilers. It turned out I could refer to the frame of the painting above and turn it, revealing a secret message.

“Lost in the corridors, a book came to my memory. Sabbath is here!”

I checked if the library had a book called Sabbath and it did. Reading it provided me with another hint.

“East of fountain trace the sign designated by the writings”

What sign should I make? I again relied on the walkthrough, where I now found out what I had to do in the laboratory. Apparently the ring you can see at the western wall in the picture below could be pushed, revealing another secret compartment. Within I found another urn, with some instructions inscribed.

O means “ouest” (west), so the beginning points out some direction, and then I should do something

The directions led me to the painting we’ve just seen. Checking my French dictionary, I guessed that the latter word might be “plinthe” (baseboard) and that I might have to break (casser) it. I was right, and behind the baseboard I found a key. The key opened up a drawer, where I found a rune.

It was obvious I should be drawing a pentagon. This opened up a door to a room with two pedestals. After a bit of experimenting, I managed to place my two urns on them.

“Go to the room of skull”

Here

Entering the final area

Beyond the skull door I found a room with two doors (locked), a coffin (also locked) and a cross. I tinkered with the cross, and turning it opened the other door, which led to a cellar.

The cellar was full of bottles, so I tried to drink one. The game mentioned it was “like spinach” - was this a reference to Popeye? Be that as it may, I was now able to move one of the barrels “without a problem”. There really wasn’t anything of note behind the barrel, but stones, and pushing them opened up a door to a new room.

I found myself in the crypt of the cult. I searched the skulls and found a key under one of them. I also read a book on the altar: “I knock on the door and it opens. They demand my name. I feel my end is near, but a word comes into my memory.”

Since there was nothing else to do here, I returned to the beginning of the area. The key opened up the coffin, where I found a magic talisman. After a while, I had the idea that I could follow the hint of the book and knock on the second door.

I had found the cultists. They demanded the name of the grand master of the sabbaths. After a few failed attempts (and deaths), I tried the name I had seen on a parchment way back at the beginning of the game: Leonard. That satisfied the cultists.

I was taken to a black mass. I really had nothing else that might help me but the talisman. Indeed, throwing it released some fumes that killed the cultists.

I’ve won! But how do I get out of here?

Final Rating

Puzzles and Solvability

The producers certainly learned something from their first game, since no puzzles felt ludicrous. First part of the sequel had surprisingly decent puzzle sequences, and while the second part fell occasionally into the old problem of “guess what element in the picture is important”, it showed clear improvement. Still, the puzzles were again quite ordinary and boring, mostly involving just finding new keys for locked doors, so no high numbers are to be expected.

Score: 4.

Interface and Inventory

Interface is still old-fashioned, and although the producers have streamlined it by removing unnecessary complications like the game clock, it still feels clunky.

Score: 2.

Story and Setting

The game manages to have even less story than its predecessor, and what little it has was copied from the first game. Furthermore, the setting seems unbelievable: am I meant to believe that whenever the cultists want to hold a black mass, they will have to go through all the same ordeals as PC with the keys and the passwords? If so, shouldn’t there be more cultists moving around the corridors?

Score: 2.

Sounds and graphics

Graphics are as nice as in the first game, but the music department is sorely lacking. Gone are the musical vignettes in each room, and after introductory music you can hear only some bleeping sound effects throughout the game.

Score: 3.

Environment and Atmosphere

As I already complained in the setting section, the game world feels just so empty and lifeless. There are a couple of skulls and skeletons you can interact with, but otherwise you won’t see anyone until the very end of the game.

Score: 2.

Dialogue and Acting

There were a few longer texts to read, but this is not so great an addition that I would feel the need to change the number I gave to the first game.

Score: 1.

(4 + 2 + 2 + 3 + 2 + 1)/0.6 = 23. Closest guess was Morpheus Kitami's 25.

Four points worse than the first game! Although I wasn’t as frustrated with this one, due to improvements with the puzzles, I can still agree that the sequel was ultimately the worse game. For the most part, playing this game felt like eating newly heated leftovers: it’s OK, if I am not looking for anything original, but it isn’t a particularly thrilling experience.