Ankh (video game)

Ankh is a 2005 graphic adventure game from German developer Deck13, published by bhv Software. It uses a 3D environment with cinematic camera movement and a humorous tone.

The game is a remake of Ankh: The Tales of Mystery, a 1998 adventure title developed by Artex Software for the Acorn Archimedes. Two sequels followed: Ankh: Heart of Osiris and Ankh: Battle of the Gods. A Linux and OS X port arrived in 2006, and a Special Edition launched in the UK in February 2007. A Nintendo DS version, titled Ankh: Curse of the Scarab King (German: Ankh: Der Fluch des Skarabäenkönigs), was released in 2008.

The player controls Assil, the son of a respected Cairo architect, who is a party animal. After one of his party nights goes wrong, he and two friends break some urns while trying to have fun in the pyramids, disturbing a mummy.

The mummy places a death curse on Assil, giving him 24 hours to remove it and save himself. Later, Assil meets Thara, the Arabian ambassador's daughter, who also becomes a playable character. Deck13's creative director Jan Klose cited Monkey Island as an influence on the series.

The soundtrack, composed by Dynamedion, was ranked first for "Best German Soundtrack 2005." According to GameStar, the game was produced on a small budget "in the low six-digit range."

Ankh was a commercial hit in Germany, selling 100,000 units there, and the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger reported worldwide success. By August 2009, Deck13 stated that combined global sales of Ankh and its first two sequels exceeded 500,000 units. The Windows and Nintendo DS versions received "mixed or average reviews" on Metacritic.