There haven’t been too many adventure games lately, so when this one came out I felt some kind of joy in my heart. I knew it was a story of friendship, but I was intrigued by the mystery surrounding the school and the disappearance of the teachers and students. Exploring such a huge school, with its gothic look, was something I wanted to do since I first found out about Keepsake. It’s true that visuals played a huge part, but my curiosity kept increasing until the day I heard that it was finally released.

     You see, adventure games are scarce these days and good adventure games are priceless for the few fans, I included, still left out there in the wild. Single-player games are now replaced by massive multiplayer ones and the joy of solving a puzzle with just your own brain cells is replaced by the trial and error of a team to kill a boss or why not, another team struggling to do the very same thing. I don’t say that I don’t like MMOs or any other genre because I play all kinds of games, including MMOs, but the joy you feel when you successfully complete a puzzle by yourself cannot and should not be shared with anyone. It’s your accomplishment, yours only and that’s why you have to be proud about it.

     Keepsake is a true point-and-click adventure game. You play as Lydia, a candidate at the Dragonvale Academy and a long time friend of Celeste, the principal’s daughter. The day you arrive, instead of finding a welcome committee of some sort, you find the school closed and deserted. As you wander around aimlessly, you’ll find a wolf named Zak who pretends to be a teacher’s familiar. Of course, you begin to suspect him of not telling the whole truth and that’s how you’ll find out who he really is. Even if I already finished the game and got all the questions answered, I wouldn’t like to spoil your surprise. It’s just enough to say, and you’ll know this from the very beginning, that Zak wants to be a dragon to get revenge on the kids who locked him away and laughed at him.

     This being said, a long part of the game is spent as you’re looking for the ingredients to brew the potion, while powering up the academy and discovering its secrets. There will be a locked gate in the main hall that you’ll see right away upon entering the academy (if you spend a little time going around the huge beautiful statue), so you will have to find a way to open it and access the upper part of the academy. From there, you’ll have to pass a few trails to be able to teleport yourself to another upper part of the academy, where the real fun begins. That’s why we could say the game is divided in three large sections and it will keep you entertained for quite a while. I played almost 24 hours to get to the end, but I was in no hurry as I wanted to enjoy all the nice visuals and relaxing music.