Accompanying the visual presentation is an impressive, low-key soundtrack. Wisely supplemented by long periods of silence, a variety of instrumental scores provide a soothing ethnic background that never overwhelms. Voicework is largely solid, with several of the actors returning from Ankh to reprise their roles, including Assil. The cast represents a strange mishmash of multicultural accents, but as this game offers no nods to realism, this discrepancy is really a non-issue. Remarkably, a few actors still haven't learned how to pronounce either "ankh" or "Assil" consistently, and you'd think after two games that proper voice direction would get it right. Then again, the unfortunate sound editing from the first game also hasn't been corrected, so once more the "background" conversations are so loud that they drown out the playable character dialogues at times, and if you cut into an ongoing discussion, they'll continue their own stilted and endlessly-repeating dialogue in between your interjections. Even that isn't as bad as the occasional lines with no sound recording at all, let alone those with visible subtitle placeholders as the only evidence that a dialogue line was ever planned. These oversights happened in the first game, and they happen again here, and while hardly an earth-shattering problem, it's incredibly sloppy, as are the many typos throughout.

The interface will offer no surprises to anyone who played Ankh, and aside from its reversal of left and right mouse buttons for "use" and "look", the third-person, point-and-click control scheme is completely intuitive. All the expected basics are well-represented, from the accessible inventory to double-click run speed to instant-exit icons. Like most 3D games, there are load screens occasionally as new locations are visited, but they're fairly short and cause no problems. Perhaps the only real hassle with the interface is during dialogues, as Heart of Osiris repeats its predecessor's annoying tendency to completely kick players out of a conversation once you've reached the end of a non-essential dialogue branch. Since the game actually offers so many options just for kicks, it's needlessly punishing to force players into starting conversations over from the beginning, particularly when there's often a verbal preamble that introduces each one. So expect to frequently pound your right mouse button to skip dialogue just to get back to where you wanted to leave off.

You'll be making plenty of use of your inventory throughout your journey, as gameplay in Heart of Osiris consists almost entirely of item collection and application. At one point I encountered a standalone calendar puzzle that seemed perfectly suited for a logic solution, but that proved to be merely a tease. Another puzzle involves a multi-part cooking recipe cleverly layered with clue deciphering, though this is the point where the game's translation from its original German is most apparent, making the solution more difficult than it should have been. For the most part, however, puzzle solutions are fairly straightforward. That's not to say they're altogether easy, mind you, and certainly not always intuitive. Like most comic adventures, this game includes a generous helping of bizarre item combinations, and you'll undoubtedly resort to random guessing at times. Fortunately, the inventory is cleared out as needed, so the tasks are generally manageable with a little thought and a lot of experimenting. Only once did I feel that a puzzle played dirty (if you discount the ones involving camel and bat poo), and that's because the "clue" is completely misleading. It was by sheer accident that I solved that one, and thank goodness, or else I might still be at it, cursing my inability to read German walkthroughs.

Despite its reliance on inventory, Heart of Osiris does bring a few interesting puzzle elements to the table. The most obvious is the inclusion of a cardboard codewheel that is required for one of the game's puzzles. Longtime adventure gamers will surely remember the days of codewheels, and while its value as a copy protection is probably marginal in the Internet age, it's still a fun extra. Unfortunately, it's tied to a buggy in-game puzzle where both the dialogue sequence is incorrect and items pop onscreen out of thin air. Ouch. Nevertheless, the codewheel is effective in concept, if not in execution. Elsewhere in the game, an intertwined series of puzzles revolve around the attitude of the nearby non-player characters towards you. You'll need to earn their favour before you can proceed, but what pleases one may displease another, so even after solving the individual puzzles for each, you'll still need to juggle your available options to succeed. To help gauge your progress, a smiley icon hovers over each person's head reflecting three different moods. It looks rather silly and it's completely artificial, but it does let you keep track of your status at a glance, so it's a useful tradeoff.

With so many ties to the original game, the obvious question for some is whether you'll need to have played the first to appreciate the second. And indeed, while it's entirely possible to jump straight into Heart of Osiris with no existing knowledge, the game does significantly reward those already familiar with the events of Ankh, so if you're considering one, start with the first. Doing so will serve the dual purpose of familiarizing yourself with the now-ongoing world of Assil and the gang, and determining whether it's worth it to you to continue. For those who like the original game, Heart of Osiris is a no-brainer, and for those who don't, there's nothing here to change your mind.

If you've yet to play either, both Ankh and Heart of Osiris can best be described as satisfying but rarely inspired. Identical almost to a fault, the new game once again offers up a solid experience for the 8-10 hours or so you'll spend playing, likely meeting reasonable expectations but never really exceeding them. For traditional comic adventure fans, it's familiar, it's comfortable, and it's carefree escapism, though it's neither funny nor imaginative enough to remember for long when you're done. Nevertheless, with the promise of Ankh 3 already on the horizon, it's a series I'm pleased to see continued, as there's always room for games that can put a smiley over your head.