The Raven is one of the more enjoyable P&C adventures I've played in the past few years. And probably the best P&C mystery/detective adventure I've ever played. I really enjoyed Testament of Sherlock Holmes as well, but this was better done, in my opinion.

Many, many video games seem to be built by developers, programmers and artists, and then have a story sort of try and glue the pieces together loosely for an enjoyable experience. There is nothing wrong with that. There are a ton of really fun games out there with this formula.

In the case of The Raven, it felt like a team of writers (or maybe just one, I dunno) put together a fine story, and then built a game to wrap around it. For me, this was a departure from the typical game formula and a breath of fresh air. BUT, it won't be for everyone.

You get to play three different characters in the game (two male, one female) as you both try to unravel a mystery, and become a deeper part of it at the same time.

The game play is fairly typical P&C, with a few treats in regard to "repeat performances" at very specific "crossroads" in the game (I won't spoil it).

The game isn't without flaws. There are inconsitent commands when it comes to character movement, occasionally sloppy pixel area matching (when your mouse cursor can either click on an object well outside the object, or not at all). Audio sometimes cuts out, and the cutscenes occasionally get wonky. The game crashed on me a handful of times in the 14 hours I spent playing it. It has some warts when it comes to gameplay mechanics and execution.

But all that being said, it was STILL a joy to play. The character development is among some of the best I've ever experienced in decades of gaming. Dialogue that seems nebulous at times ties in wonderfully by the end of the game. In fact, SO good, that you'll even chuckle at the end at encounters that occurred earlier in the game when you realize the full context of the conversation later.

There is subtle and mature humor in just the right places when you've had enough serious dialogue. There are extremely mature subjects that are covered, and conversations that really pull you in if you've lived for longer than a few decades on this planet. And when I say "mature" I don't mean an ESRB version of it. There's not much in the way of sophomoric language or gratuitious violence. But there are very adult themes that many of us become sadly familiar with (or can laugh about) when we get older. And some we'll never laugh about.

The bottom line is that this is a true adult mystery with several wonderful twists, a killer storyline, some fun (but typical) P&C mechanics, and some fun and mostly logical puzzles.

If you enjoy a strong story in your games (or at all), or enjoy mysteries, or generally enjoy P&C adventures, I can recommend this. If you enjoy all three, then I think this title is a "can't miss" and even a bit underrated.

I initially bought this game at full price due to the positive early reviews (which were mostly based on the first chapter).

Unfortunately, the game is severely broken for many users and the developers have done little to fix these issues since the game's release. These are not only minor bugs or annoyances, but critical game breaking issues.

I usually love these types of adventure games, but in this case, I have been unable to progress beyond the first chapter (disregard the deceptive amount of hours on record; I have left the game running in the background on several occasions while running errands, sleeping or looking for solutions to the problems I've encountered). It is unlikely that I will get a refund as I bought the game long before Steam's refund policies were changed. Instead, I want to warn future potential buyers of the problems they may encounter.

Take a look at the forum posts below:

Bug thread (13 pages so far): https://steamcommunity.com/app/233370/discussions/0/846959998013346908/

Save games disappearing (this is my biggest issue at the moment, as you can see by my posts to the below threads):

https://steamcommunity.com/app/233370/discussions/0/594820656460543503/

https://steamcommunity.com/app/233370/discussions/0/540734168144496448/

https://steamcommunity.com/app/233370/discussions/0/34095131971716840/

Linux/Mac issues (there are too many of these threads to list them all):

https://steamcommunity.com/app/233370/discussions/0/540736320066916724/
https://steamcommunity.com/app/233370/discussions/0/540732596570915707/
https://steamcommunity.com/app/233370/discussions/0/540734792154348290/
https://steamcommunity.com/app/233370/discussions/0/540736780877897495/
https://steamcommunity.com/app/233370/discussions/0/846959875998907603/
https://steamcommunity.com/app/233370/discussions/0/846959876007904035/

Etc.

More examples can be found on the game's discussion page and I recommend reading through it. These issues have NOT been fixed, despite the game having been out for two years now.

This leaves the game unplayable for many people; whether you are going to be one of these people depends on your luck and on your operating system. Mac and Linux users seem to have the most issues. As the game is listed as being compatible on these operating systems, this is inexcusable.

As for the game itself (or the little I have been able to experience of it), the story is an obvious homage to Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot. The first chapter starts off slow, but quickly builds up suspense once the titular "Raven" makes an appearance. I have heard that the second and third chapters are a bit of a let down compared to the first chapter's conclusion. The puzzles are alright, but nothing memorable comes to mind. They mainly seem to revolve around using the right object in the right location. I didn't encounter any logic puzzles or truly creative solutions. There is some pixel hunting involved, which I found annoying in the initial train sequence (although it is possible to reveal hot spots in the game by using up "points", this locks certain achievements from being accomplished). The animation and movement in the game is frankly awful, but I was able to ignore it for the most part. It does not really compare well to contemporary medium-high budget games, and as such the standard asking price is a tad steep. I would write more about the game itself, but my save games were erased three times in a row and I have given up on making any progress beyond this chapter.

Basically, if you play on Mac or Linux: DO NOT BUY THIS GAME!

If you play on Windows... buy at your own risk. The first chapter seems decent enough; I can't personally comment on the final two chapters, but many reviews online seem to paint them in a rather mediocre light. Even if you do not encounter the technical issues that apply to Mac or Linux users, the game is still rife with random bugs which can impede your progress. I'd wait for a sale, or hope that the developers finally take notice of these issues and release a patch.

If Agatha Christie would have written a heist thriller, it would have probably been a lot like The Raven: an interesting whodunit wrapped in an exciting jewel thievery, all presented as a three-part, solid point ‘n’ click adventure game with a clear, comfortable interface.

Playing through The Raven: Legacy of a Master Thief is like sitting down to watch ‘Murder on the Orient Express’ (the ’74 one), which miraculously transforms into ‘The Italian Job’ (again, the original).

The story even starts on the Orient Express, where we meet our first protagonist, Constable Zellner, an obvious Poirot homage (we even meet this world’s Agatha Christie). He eventually manages to get mixed up in an investigation against the Raven: master thief who plans to steal two Egyptian jewels.
From this point on, we are treated to both a classic English style whodunit murder mystery on-board a cruise ship (a smaller homage to ‘Death on the Nile’), and a heist thriller where many people are not who they seem, and several well-crafted plans are at work at the same time, directly opposing each other. This is also the point where the story introduces the other protagonists, a young burglar couple.
Not only the plot is great, but the characters as well. All of them have detailed, often tragic backstories, just like the best Christie novels. And they are played by talented English actors.

Since the story tries to imitate Ms. Christie’s work, the puzzles are also straightforward and realistic, aided by a simple interface. Don’t expect an easy game though, because progress usually requires carefully examining every possibility before the game lets the player choose the correct one. The characters cannot run and many tasks are divided into dozens of small steps, yet the pacing is so good that the game never feels boring, and the 12-15 hours of play time just flies by pretty fast.

For a point-and-click adventure game, the main character is endearing, the overal scenery graphics are movie quality (there are weird glitches with the character though), and while it was fairly predictable, it was still good old fashioned fun! The music really fit this game as a time piece, and the dialog was well put together, if not a little long in the tooth.

I gave the entire 3 part series of the Raven: Legacy of a Master Thief a 4.25/5.0

This is a classic old-school style point-and-click adventure with some quality graphics, superb voice acting, and a brilliant orchestral soundtrack. It has a strong nostalgic feel of a Poirot / Pink Panther whodunnit.

My one criticism is that the puzzles are pretty simple - sometimes you feel you are just clicking things for the character to reveal the story. However, the atmosphere and superb voice acting will keep you hooked in, and it's worth sticking with it to the end to reveal the true identity of the "The Raven" - the mysterious, shadowy character you chase through the game.

The pace is quite slow - but in a nice gentle way. It's a perfect chillout game for the mature adventure gamer on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

As someone who enjoys good point-and-click games, this was an averagely good one, though it wasn't an awesome one. As someone who's read and loved Agatha Christie, the constant references to her books, character and herself are simply adorable.

Things I liked about it:

• The plot felt like a tribute to Agatha Christie's mystery novels, even in certain apparently far-fetched plot twists. There are also nods to what became the "classic" plot in mystery novels. I loved it when one of the characters said something like "what do you think, we're going to come up with new surprise characters?" or similar. Even the cheesy romance that flourishes in the midst of adversity sounds like a nod to Christie's novels.
  
• The music is very nice and goes well with the game.
  
• NO PIXEL HUNTING. No extremely absurd combinations of inventory items, like "oh, let me glue cat hair to a baby rattle to make a crossbow".
  
• The voice acting is not outstanding, but it's good enough to keep you in the atmosphere.

Things I didn't like about it:

• There are several bugs. You get stuck walking but not moving, characters disappear in the middle of dialog, you disappear, objects disappear from your inventory, then they magically reappear. Sometimes you just have to restart from a previous save.
  
• The graphics looked unfinished. Sometimes I could see the eyeball through the angle of the eyelid, details like that.
  
• The movements were very awkward. Sometimes you arrive somewhere and have to examine an item, and for that, the character stops, turns left, stops again, turns a little more, stops again, then you have the animation of the character examining. Then, a pause, then the character's comment about it, then a pause, and then you can continue. It's not too bad, but it gets annoying after a few hours.
  
• There aren't enough puzzles, though it's probably fair to say that I don't count as puzzle using a key to open a door, even though sometimes these things can be considered puzzles by others. The very few puzzles are generally too obvious, especially with all the help you get. Sometimes you examine an item, and the character comments something like "Oh, that would be useful to do this or that...".

In general, it's fairly entertaining and I enjoyed it, probably because the continuous references to Agatha Christie kept bringing a silly smile to my face. If I had to grade it, I guess it would be 7/10, though I'm not sure I'd grade it like this if I hadn't been a Christie fan.

I am not one to play many adventure games or point n' click games, but when a mystery like this one is involved I couldn't resist. The game has a lot of atmosphere for a very good story that is not transparent. I enjoyed the game very much, the graphics were well done and fit the time of the story very well. It's a pretty simple point and click adventure game, although sometimes it can be difficult to figure out how to advance in the game. Some thinking is required.

The characters in the game were well developed and kept me wanting to play more to see what was going to happen. The story was well thought out and kept you guessing as well. The voice acting was done very well in my opinion and the music through out the game was also very well done.

Most of the achievements are pretty easy to get, one is difficult and you may need to find some help to get it done as it is a tricky one to get for most. I have over 20 hours in the game but 3-4 hrs of it were AFK time. It is an enjoyable game without being to stressful so it's fun to just sit down and play it and see what you can figure out and enjoy the story. The only minus I can really give the game is some times the UI can be a bit clunky and getting your character to walk where you want them to can sometime be frustrating but not to the point it wrecks the game. 8/10

This is a perfect example of how NOT to do an adventure game.

You have entirely uninituitive puzzles, pixel hunting, a score system that punishes you for using a cheat to look at all hot objects (should be free and expected for a game like this)

But there's more, the character walks slow, talks slow and talks about everything at a pace that would make the pope rage. It's just a VERY slow plodding pace and the game never picks up, at least for the first chapter.

Worse there's scenes that are just annoying, the game doesn't have a brightness setting, so you're fumbling around, pixel hunting in pitch black rooms. And it's not clever or funny like Monkey's island situations. These are just annoying.

There's also the navigation between rooms that just doesn't work and is uninititive, quite often you'll want to go between two views of the same room. So you figure "I'll go walk towards the other side of the room and the camera will switch like when I walked over here.

It doesn't work, in fact you'll keep trying this before getting frustrated, then you'll walk to the a random point about halfway up the screen on the right side, and the screen will switch. There's no indicator you're in the right spot, you'll just magically switch screens. And that's assuming you have the mouse.

If on the other hand you're using the controller... well good luck looking for clues. Unless you're standing in the right spot in the right director, and the random number god nod towards you you're able to completely miss clues. Use a mouse, that's the best thing I can say.

Eventually you'll get annoyed so you'll grab a guide, ok. I don't fault a fan for that. Except the game only seems to slow down then. When you're not solving the "puzzles" you realize how ungodly slow the dialogue and situations evolve. Dull and slow.

Then there's achievements, interesting but even those are a bit broken such as one to look at all the evidence in a room. Even with a guide, the achievement might not (probably won't ) pop the first time....

Finally you get to a puzzle, a REAL puzzle, not just exposition, and you realize how utterly weak this game is. You're supposed to lock pick a door, ok that's an interesting concepts a lot of games have done, but they find the worst possible system to do it. Rather than give you any help you have to be pixel perfect to unlock it and there's a LOT of possible ways to set it up. This is after a painfully slow game, you now have a tiddly puzzle that you're going to get frustrated at.

At that point I gave up on this game, I once played this game for an 2 hours, now I played this game for another 3 hours, and honestly, I can say I haven't had any enjoyment from it. Don't buy this game, if you like adventure games, go play Machinarium, Monkey's Island, or newly released, Full Throttle, but what ever you do, don't play The Raven unless you have 11-12 hours to kill and want to kill them in the worst way possible.

A series packaged in (the now common) monthly Chapters has finally reached it's conclusion. Fans of Poiret and Agatha Christie Novel style games should pick this up. Or if you simply enjoy good detective stories done well. I enjoyed the puzzles and the voice acting was strong in places but weak in others. The enviroments repeated themselves often as you played similar events from different points of view but it was done in a way that didn't feel lazy or some rehash. Achievments for perfect scores are broken which annoyed me as I wanted to do a clean hintless run but it takes nothing from the game. Considering this was made during some downtime from The brilliant Book of Written tales you have to give it credit. Over the 3 Chapters you play as various protagonists and antagonists to unravel the mystery of "Who is The Raven?" You get bonus points for paying attention and accuising them in the game so its worth uncovering all the clues. Slow paced but understandibly so.

Not worth your time or money.

I enjoy point and click games, but this one is boring, slow paced and nothing is left for your own imagination. You are a detective who has to solve the riddle about who stole a valuable jewel that was supposed to be shown for the first time in a Egyptian museum.

Along the way you will learn a lot about different characters; their problems, dreams and what they do in general. I thought this was important in the first place, since I wrote down every last detail about everyone, in case it would be important to finally resolve who was the master thief, but no... Near the end of the game they even shows you who is the criminal, so no guesses and no need to go through the evidence.

This game also lacks the puzzle elements that is common in point-and-click adventure games. Every item you pick up he's actually saying where to use it. If you pick up a toothpick he would say "I can use this to open the lock to...", thus leaving nothing to the imagination.

Don't get me started with the animation. You want your character to go one direction, but first he has to take a 360 degree turn and take like 5-10 steps on the spot before he manages to move forward.

This is truly a point-and-click game, but nothing more. With a lot of bugs that seems not to be fixed may also ruin your gaming experience.