Dagger of Amon Ra - Intro Summary

The Dagger of Amon Ra is a sequel to the Colonel's Bequest. In that game, released in 1989, journalism student Laura Bow solved a series of murders on a spooky southern plantation. Dagger followed in 1991, with upgrades to the graphics and user-interface. It initially released on floppy disks. A CD version that came out a year later added voice acting. So when you hear the rough sound quality, keep in mind this was state-of-the-art for 1993.

Laura is now a journalism graduate, and has landed a newspaper job in New York City.

Her first assignment: report on the theft of the Dagger of Amon Ra, a priceless Egyptian artifact stolen from the Leyendecker Museum. But the story alone isn't enough for Laura. We need to solve the mystery.

The game plays out over six Acts. In Act 1, we roam 1926 New York, get our bearings, and find a way into a formal party at the Leyendecker. A lot of what we learn from the police or criminal contacts seems minor at first, but those early clues become vital later.

In Act 2, we meet our full cast and start interrogating suspects. Who stole the dagger? Was it Wolf Heimlich, the security guard, who conveniently has no explanation for the theft? Was it Dr. Tut Smith, who insists the Dagger belongs in Egypt? Or maybe the Countess Lavinia Waldorf-Carlton, married to the museum's president for just two months before his sudden death?

The dagger theft takes a backseat, though, when one of our cast is found dead. Laura and the other guests are locked inside the creepy museum while an incompetent police detective examines the scene. Laura investigates the murder on her own. But as the bodies pile up, the pool of murder suspects dwindles. And eventually, she must flee from the deranged killer.

So, let's untangle this mystery together. Along the way, we'll dig into the minutiae of the game, the little details people miss, and where even the game designers can misstep. As for you, dear viewer... see if you can solve the mystery yourself. It's no fun if I do all the work. Let's get going.