The sequel to the 2003’s unique alternate reality title Missing: Since January, Evidence: The Last Ritual is a wholly remarkable mystery that’s guaranteed to bewilder, thrill and horrify any serious puzzle fan.
The premise is simple, a serial killer named The Phoenix has sent a CD to police investigators and they’ve been unable to decode it. Using the principal of “two heads are better then one”, the police have distributed the disc to the general public hoping that someone will be smart enough to figure out the mystery.
The first time you start Evidence the game will ask you for some basic personal information such as name and e-mail address. Don’t worry about spam, there’s a legitimate reason why they need this information and it makes the game seem all the more realistic. After you’ve finished signing up you’ll be given an ID and password that you can then use to login to the game and start your sleuthing.
Puzzles usually come in the form of a short video clip, and then a puzzle screen that will contain a series of hints and a box where you can enter in a password. How you actually solve the puzzle is what makes the game interesting.
Some puzzles will provide you with a series of words and a hint that you’ll need to Google to find the password. Other puzzles will have you scanning through audio or video for hidden messages or using Bablefish to translate foreign tongues into your own.
Occasionally you’ll hit a brick wall and be unable to solve a puzzle. This is where the alternate reality aspect of the game comes in.
There are a number of “real” people attempting to aid you in solving this mystery. Occasionally you’ll receive an e-mail from them containing hints, or in some rare cases, new tools that you can in turn use to solve a puzzle you were previously stuck on.
Article comments
1 - Ken Edwards
Congrats! Your article has been chosen for this week's Editors' Picks.
2 - ugh
Filled with typos...
Music, albeit very simple, in incredibly haunting
then typo in the last line, leaves out "last"
read over your stuff before publishing, really....
3 - Jason "Njiska" Westhaver
Hey Ugh. We do. I read over my work and Ken does an excellent job of editing. If you think this typo is bad try taking a look at the fine editing IGN does. They don't even get their faccts straight.
4 - Ken Edwards
So I missed an "is" which is now corrected. That's a really glaring mistake. Also, where in the world would "last" go, in the last line - which I can only assume you mean sentence.
But I am glad you read the review, and hope you enjoyed it. But it is hardly "filled with typos."
5 - Adam
Ugh, if you can't be bothered to hit the Shift key to capitalize your sentences, keep your grammatical and editorial comments to yourself. Pettiness is a very, very ugly quality, but so much the worse when coupled with hypocrisy.
6 - Carlos
He meant in the very last line:
Evidence: The Ritual is rated M (Mature) by the ESRB for Blood, Strong Language and Violence.
You forgot Last in the title of the game.
7 - R Bloom
The lyrics are haunting indeed. Who wrote them? I've got conflicting info. :/ Where can I get the entire soundtrack?
8 - Silence Dogood
still has some typos!
"Sadly Evidence isn't a prefect game"
what you mean is "perfect"
"given the amount of subtly in the game"
what you mean is "subtlety"