Chronicles of Mystery: The Tree of Life is the second game in the series of adventure games for PC. The game was developed and published by City Interactive in 2009.
Gameplay
The gameplay of The Tree of Life is linear, its in 3-D and in third-person perspective. The player moves the character by clicking on locations shown in the main display; the scene will only crossfade when a character is finished with all the actions on the screen. Players can interact with specific objects on screens by clicking or dragging them, and NPCs. The player can use an in-game hint system, which is located on the bottom left corner of the screen (in a shape of a magnifying glass). The items are carried by the player, the items return to their original position when dropped. The game has interactive cutscenes which will show up after a player is done with the location, and before moving to a next one. To complete the game, the player must explore real life locations, such as; Venice, Brittany, Cairo and Gibraltar. The game is largely nonviolent with unlimited time to solve the puzzles; and although the protagonist Sylvie Leroux does not engage in violence herself, there is however one scene in the game in which she must trap an assassin within a given time limit or else she will be slain by a poisoned dart.
Plot
The game starts off with people wearing masks gathering somewhere in Venice, to discuss an assassination, who will carry it out, and who will be the victim. As they conclude, Marcel, one of the owners of a castle is the target. The leader of the assassination ring, shoots a poison dart at Marcel, who falls, as soon as he receives it. His wife who was with him saw him falling, but didn't know how it happened. Meantime, our heroine, Sylvie Leroux turns out to be in the same city where the assassination took place, and begins to investigate. The owner of the castle tells her that Marcel died after an accident, caused probably by love, a heart attack, as his wife, Claire, describes it. But Sylvie has her own take on it. The investigation leads her from Brittany to Venice, Cairo, and Gibraltar.
Sylvie Leroux starts her investigation in Brittany, which was a stop-by city. Her real destination was Venice, where she was scheduled to carry on a lecture about her book, "The Scorpio Ritual". In Brittany she finds a chest that was a key part in "Mary Celeste" mystery. Also, she finds notes about a strange collector nicknamed "Saint-Germain", who is also a count of some kind.
Venice
When she arrived to Venice she meets a gondolier, but right in front of her eyes he was assassinated by a masked figure. Sylvie finds a chronometer, and a coin (a murder mark), next to the body. She thoroughly examines the chronometer and finds out that it dates to 1872, the year that "Mary Celeste" sunk. Due to the murder the lecture was canceled, but she managed to sign the book and give it to a couple of carnival-goers, which she met outside, who wanted to come for a lecture and book signing. After she left them she saw the same figure on the bridge, (the same figure that killed Marcel), and got terrified. She avoided the confrontation with him by traveling on a gondola, under the darkness and a flare, which she made to distract the figure. After a successful distraction, she manages to flee the place unnoticed.
She lands her gondola at a garden which is a property of that mysterious collector. The collector and Sylvie introduce each other, and then Sylvie gives him her find, the chronometer. She mentions of a date of sinking to him which is on the chronometer. Saint-Germain then wants Sylvie to bring him the chest, but she can't do it because it is a property of a museum now. After an argument they came to a deal: She will work for him, and she will get more than a half objects that they will excavate together. However it seems they are not alone, three times the Count hesitates, believing he heard something, and on the third occasion, the masked figure from the bridge pops up at the window. Saint-Germain mentioned something about a collector in Cairo, who is specializes in Atlantis. He doesn't remember his name due to amnesia, that was caused by an accident. Sylvie takes a flight to Cairo, in search of that collector.