Laura Bow 2: The Dagger of Amon Ra

The Dagger of Amon Ra is the sequel to Laura's previous adventure, The Colonel's Bequest. Laura Bow, fresh out of college, is hired by a New York newspaper and told to investigate a museum theft. The item is a priceless ancient Egyptian artifact, and possible suspects prove plentiful. During a party to celebrate the opening of the museum's new section, someone is murdered and Laura, after asking to be allowed to investigate, is locked in. This sets the stage for a series of murders, much in the same vein as the original game.



Download

This second and final game in the Laura Bow series, is set in a museum in the 1920s and reflects the Egyptology craze of the period. You play as Laura Bow (one of the first female protagonists in a game), a Southern belle who has just graduated from Tulane University and moved to New York City, where she has landed a job at a prestigious newspaper. For her first assignment, she is asked to write a straightforward, lightweight story on a benefit held at a local museum to celebrate their new Egyptian exhibit. When a murder occurs during the party, however, she is locked inside with all of the other suspects. As other guests begin dying one by one, Laura must solve the numerous crimes occurring before the culprits escape or kill her. The Laura Bow games were distinctive in that they required some actual logistical detective work on the part of the player; for the most part, though, the puzzles were of the typical variety of inventory and environment interaction (and frequent, often unexpected, player character death) found in most Sierra adventures. Unlike in The Colonel's Bequest, the identity of the murderer is not automatically revealed at the end of the game. Instead, the player is asked a series of questions, ostensibly by the police, to prove that Laura had solved the crimes and discovered the secrets of the other suspects. If the questions are answered incorrectly, the coroner will give a hint to point the player towards the path that would have revealed the correct answer in subsequent playing of the games. The ending of the game can change depending on the answers given to the questions, most notably in that Laura can be killed if the player doesn't know the identity of the main murderer. The game uses the more advanced SCI1 (Sierra Creative Interpreter, version 1) engine which features a point and click interface, VGA graphics capable of 320x200x256 resolution, and digitized sound effect. It also utilizes a toolbar located at the top of the screen that allows limited selection of actions, system commands, and access to the inventory. The CD-ROM version adds enhancements such as the voices of the characters, the sounds of the city, and the growl of the museum’s resident dinosaur that are not available in the original version.