The Last Voyage of the Warsaw Queen

The Last Voyage of the Warsaw Queen

I felt this game was an improvement over the last two Charles Ball games I played, and I had a good time. The world map was big and complex, and there were a lot of moving NPCs and multiple solutions and active scenes, but the hint system and provided map got me through.

In a way, it reminded me of what MT W's games could have been. That author would often have very complex games with multiple independent NPCs in interesting settings (including a riverboat accessed by time travel), but it was often underimplemented and hard to play without a guide. I often thought that, with more polish, they could be more successful, and I feel I'm seeing vindication of that here with this style of polished, complex game. Interestingly, this game also features the Necromonicon, which shows up in several MT W games. It's like an AU where all those games ended up fully fleshed out.

You play as a visitor to a steamboat-themed hotel who is sent back to the past by a medallion. You enter a steamboat, the Warsaw Queen, where you ancestor is up to no good. Everyone is a phantom, and moonlight makes them disappear. You are there for a long time and tons of events happen, especially gambling card games, and you can go in and out of 12 cabins and a big map of rooms on the ship. It is the night before the ship historically crashed and burst into flames, killing everyone. Can you stop it?

There were some flaws. The provided map doesn't cover all floors. In a rare instance of lack of polish, I was able to take the ship's wheel in the pilothouse. Some story parts don't make sense; why does our great grandfather keep going into the cabin and writing more in his journal, then leaving? And why when it says he comes out to join the game, does he disappear back into his room to write more? Maybe I missed a scripted event. The rules for when you can interact with each other are also inconsistent, but the story notices this and gives justification or points it out. It's easy to get lost in what you're doing.

Highlights include the alligator and plots by others to get the alligator, the descriptions of the medallion and evil symbols, the intricate period details (including the wallpaper reference). I also liked the hint system, which gave good nudges forward and provided puzzle solutions I wouldn't have conceived of (though they made sense in hindsight).