| Cleopatra: Riddle of the Tomb | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | Kheops Studio |
| Publisher(s) |
|
| Platform(s) | Windows, Mac OS X |
| Release | WindowsMac OS X
|
| Genre(s) | Adventure |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
Cleopatra: Riddle of the Tomb is a 2007 adventure video game by French developer Kheops Studio. Outside of the United States, it is known as Cleopatra: A Queen's Destiny. [4]
Taking place in 48 BC, the plot of the game centers on Cleopatra's struggle toward the Egyptian throne, and her subsequent civil war with her brother Ptolemy.
The protagonist of the game is Thomas of Chaldea, a young student of astrology, whose mentor Akkad and the latter's daughter Iris (who is romantically involved with Thomas) are arrested under Ptolemy's orders after Cleopatra commissions Akkad to perform an astrological divination regarding her prospective alliance with Julius Caesar. Working together with Cleopatra, Thomas explores Alexandria, solving puzzles, reading documents and meeting a few colorful characters along the way. He tracks Akkad and Iris to the plague-ridden isle of Pharos, but learns that his mentor was killed by Grecian mercenaries hired by Ptolemy after refusing to falsify his divination for Cleopatra so that she would abdicated the throne in favor of her brother. Thomas saves Iris from the lighthouse, and she agrees to perform the divination in her father's stead, using his secret, technologically advanced observatory. The divination foretells that Caesar will be a great ally to Cleopatra, and that their son would inherit both Egypt and Rome. Satisfied with the prediction, Cleopatra thanks Thomas and Iris for their help. The two then leave for Chaldea, intending to live the rest of their lives in peace.
Like other adventure games of the time, Cleopatra has a Myst -like series of panoramic screens that the player can navigate through, allowing them to click on hotspots to: advance to new locations, acquire inventory, complete puzzles, or interact with characters. [5] The game uses "dynamic combinatorial inventory", which allows players to disassemble certain items in their inventory, using only a piece of one to combine with other items. [6]
The game has a rating of 67% on Metacritic, based on 11 critical reviews. [7]
Frank D. Nicodem, Jr. of UHS praised the game's historical accuracy, user interface, and puzzles, adding that the game exhibits all the qualities that made Kheops Studio a leader in historical video games, alongside Return to Mysterious Island , Voyage , Secret of the Lost Cavern , and Destination: Treasure Island . [4] Meanwhile, Looney4Labs of Gameboomers thought that the game was highly entertaining. [8] IGN reviewer Emily Balistrieri thought the game would be appealing to those interested in post-Alexander Ancient Egypt, as it involved puzzles that are naturally integrated into the context. [5]
Astrology is a range of divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that propose that information about human affairs and terrestrial events may be discerned by studying the apparent positions of celestial objects. Different cultures have employed forms of astrology since at least the 2nd millennium BCE, these practices having originated in calendrical systems used to predict seasonal shifts and to interpret celestial cycles as signs of divine communications. Most, if not all, cultures have attached importance to what they observed in the sky, and some—such as the Hindus, Chinese, and the Maya—developed elaborate systems for predicting terrestrial events from celestial observations. Western astrology, one of the oldest astrological systems still in use, can trace its roots to 19th–17th century BCE Mesopotamia, from where it spread to Ancient Greece, Rome, the Islamic world, and eventually Central and Western Europe. Contemporary Western astrology is often associated with systems of horoscopes that purport to explain aspects of a person's personality and predict significant events in their lives based on the positions of celestial objects; the majority of professional astrologers rely on such systems.
The zodiac is a belt-shaped region of the sky that extends approximately 8° north and south of the ecliptic, the apparent path of the Sun across the celestial sphere over the course of the year. Also within this zodiac belt appear the Moon and the brightest planets, along their orbital planes. The zodiac is divided along the ecliptic into 12 equal parts ("signs"), each occupying 30° of celestial longitude. These signs roughly correspond to the astronomical constellations with the following modern names: Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, and Pisces.
Cleopatra VII Thea Philopator was Queen of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt from 51 to 30 BC, and its last active ruler. A member of the Ptolemaic dynasty, she was a descendant of its founder Ptolemy I Soter, a Macedonian Greek general and companion of Alexander the Great. After the death of Cleopatra, Egypt became a province of the Roman Empire, marking the end of the last Hellenistic-period state in the Mediterranean and of the age that had lasted since the reign of Alexander. Her first language was Koine Greek, and she was the only known Ptolemaic ruler to learn the Egyptian language.
Arsinoë IV was the fourth of six children and the youngest daughter of Ptolemy XII Auletes. Queen and co-ruler of Ptolemaic Egypt with her brother Ptolemy XIII from 48 BC – 47 BC, she was one of the last members of the Ptolemaic dynasty of ancient Egypt. Arsinoë IV was also the half sister of Cleopatra VII. For her role in conducting the siege of Alexandria against her sister Cleopatra, Arsinoë was taken as a prisoner of war to Rome by the Roman triumvir Julius Caesar following the defeat of Ptolemy XIII in the Battle of the Nile. Arsinoë was then exiled to the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus in Roman Anatolia, but she was executed there by orders of triumvir Mark Antony in 41 BC at the behest of his lover Cleopatra VII.
Astrological belief in correspondences between celestial observations and terrestrial events have influenced various aspects of human history, including world-views, language and many elements of social culture.
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