Secrets of Da Vinci: The Forbidden Manuscript

Secrets of da Vinci: The Forbidden Manuscript is a PC adventure game from Kheops Studios. You play Valdo, an apprentice artist in the Middle Ages, who has been hired by a mysterious individual to infiltrate Cloux Manor in the French countryside. There, he is to charm the lady of the manor, Marie Babou, allegedly the mistress of the King of France. This is to distract her from Valdo's real mission -- to locate a lost book of writings by Leonardo da Vinci, who spent his final years in the manor. But all is not as it seems, and soon Valdo realizes that finding da Vinci's manuscript is necessary not just to collect his payoff, but to save his own life. Everyone around him, from Babou to the King of France himself, has their own hidden agenda, and there's more at stake than he ever imagined.

Forbidden Manuscript is a puzzle-based game, where you must use clues and objects around you to slowly piece together the reality of what's happening in the manor. The building is full of secrets to be uncovered.


 * Adventure Game
 * Bamboo Technology: Remember Leonardo's famous flying machine? It's in the basement. You can fix it using the right combination of items found around the manor.
 * Bookcase Passage: From Leonardo's room to the one that was occupied by his lover.
 * Brainy Brunette: Babou is no dummy.
 * Broken Bridge: A literal one, leading to the dovecote.
 * Character Portrait: On the inventory screen is a portrait of Valdo; you can make him put on or take off various pieces of clothing and equipment by taking them from the inventory and putting them on his portrait. After he meets Babou, she also appears in the portrait, and the proximity of the characters to each other is determined by their relationship.
 * Chekhov's Gun: Your course of action later in the game is partly determined by whether or not you gave milk to the cat on your first night.
 * Clear My Name: Valdo goes from being on a simple mission for an unknown employer to being suspected of treason.
 * Crusty Caretaker: Saturnin, who may or may not be the villain of the story.
 * Death Is a Slap On The Wrist: There are a few instances where you can be captured and put to death, either through execution or torture; this is illustrated in sketch form. You are then returned to the last save point to try again.
 * Deus Ex Machina: The ending scene, where.
 * Diary: Valdo writes and sketches in one throughout the game. Not only does it provide additional clues for the player, it's worth reading just because it's entertaining.
 * Door to Before: The passage from Leonardo's bookcase leads to your own room -- but it's a one-way trip. You can only go back the same way by solving yet another puzzle, and that puzzle is only made available to you in a particular set of circumstances.
 * Elemental Crafting: In the smithy, you have to smelt pewter and copper to make bronze. You can also melt gold to manufacture coins to purchase needed items from Saturnin, although this is not strictly required (since you have some gold to start).
 * Evil Is Easy: You can, in fact, take the evil way out of just about every scenario if you want.
 * Flashback Effects: Completing different stages of the game triggers Valdo to have psychic flashbacks to Leonardo's life, which are presented in sepia-tone.
 * Gorgeous Period Dress: Babou's shown wardrobe consists of a whole two of these.
 * Hartman Hips: Subverted. Babou has them, but given the time period of the game, she has her corset to thank.
 * Historical Domain Character: Leonardo Da Vinci and the King of France are both in here.
 * I Can't Use These Things Together: Valdo's voice directs you throughout the game.
 * Karma Meter: Red and white bars on the inventory screen indicate your diabolical and angelic levels. Good actions increase your angelic level; bad (or rather, naughty) ones increase your diabolical level. If one or the other is too high, it restricts your options as to which action to perform.
 * Leonardo Da Vinci: He's how the whole thing got started, and his art hangs all over the manor.
 * Life Embellished: The mystery itself may not have been real, but much about the game is based on the actual life and death of da Vinci.
 * Lock and Key Puzzle
 * Meaningful Name: The cat's name is Alkahest. Alkahest is more commonly known as the philosopher's stone. This is important, eventually.
 * Money for Nothing: In a manner of speaking. In da Vinci's bedroom, Valdo will find equipment he can use to manufacture gold coins in the smithy. These can be used to purchase items from Saturnin, the cranky handyman. However, he starts the game with enough gold coins (real ones) to buy the only items that will actually be required to complete the game, so the coin manufacturing is technically optional. It only becomes necessary if the player spends the coins on the other items. (All of the items Saturnin will sell are needed to finish the game, but some of them can be acquired through other means.)
 * Multiple Endings: There really is only one ending, but certain details about it depend on your earlier actions.
 * Nonstandard Game Over: See Death Is a Slap On The Wrist, above.
 * Opening Narration: The game begins with Valdo reading the letter he received from his mysterious employer, with a voice-over reading it out loud for the player.
 * Optional Sexual Encounter: You don't have to get Babou to sleep with you, but it helps.
 * Plot Coupon: The sun and moon symbols and the philosopher's stone.
 * Red Herring: A few of the clues you find are actually incorrect, something that you can't possibly know until you receive the correct ones from another character.
 * Requisite Royal Regalia: A scepter and the King's signet ring are both significant to solving the mystery.
 * Rewarded As a Traitor Deserves: The character who turns out to be out to get you is treated to a rather fitting end.
 * Rouge Angles of Satin: The game's subtitles contain a really weird typo, which indicates that one character knew da Vinci "three hundred years ago." da Vinci died three years before the events of the game, but there's no logical reason why that hundred sneaked in there.
 * Scenery Porn: Limited, but it's there; the whole game takes place on the grounds of the actual manor house in France where da Vinci died.
 * Secret Circle of Secrets: One of these is heavily involved with the plot to destroy Valdo.
 * Solve the Soup Cans: Some of the puzzles around the manor are logical to the plot -- for example, repairing the Broken Bridge or preparing the tincture that will ease Babou's sore throat. Others fall squarely into this trope, though the game tries to justify them with all the secrecy and treachery.
 * Stuff Blowing Up: You have to use a cannon at one point.
 * Unwinnable By Mistake: You will render the game unwinnable if you use the ladder as a makeshift bridge from the dovecote to the smithy and forget to take it with you when you leave; when you return later in a boat, you will be unable to move forward.
 * You Shouldn't Know This Already: You can't solve the bookcase puzzle in Leonardo's room until after Babou has told you about Salai, Leonardo's lover.