After meeting the oracle on the pirate island and successfully defending Nate at the trial, I have departed the pirate island without beating the pirate at his poker game. Have I messed up, or will I have to come back to the island at some later time to win the poker game?

The poker game and other optional puzzles (like fighting the bounty hunter) are for perks in the game only (like a hat...). You can play them and win to see what the prize are.

How can you tell which puzzles are optional? How many are there?

I didn't add it on the walkthrough. I think there are only 2 or 3.
The fight, the poker game... - can't remember now what else.

Ask here if you're not sure or check the walkthrough to see if there is a solution. If none - then it's optional.

Thanks. I might ask questions later. I am trying not to use the walkthrough.

Please do ask. Have fun.

Has anyone managed to beat the Red Pirate at poker? I know it's only a side quest but one I haven't managed to achieve yet. Is there a knack to it or what. I've played him several times now and he wins almost every time! I've won the odd throw but that's it. If I accuse him of lying, he hasn't! Very frustrating! Can anyone help?

Let's wait for help here. I didn't play the side quests.

There's a discussion thread on Steam about the pirate poker; some folks were saying that the poker game was confusing but to keep on trying and eventually you would win the game. Apparently you also don't have to win the poker game; it's optional.

I have won that poker game maybe on 4th try. It is not so difficult after all, but you would definitely need a little bit of luck!
I only tried to never accuse him of lying, but make him accuse me of lying while I was actually telling the truth
Again, that strategy helps if you are lucky enough to have pretty good dices. And to get that try to balance dices that you keep and those you are re-playing.

Has anyone discovered a side quest in Igor's quarters in Vlad's castle? I'm playing the final chapter again and hadn't discovered this before. Wilbur has some directions but I could only find the sound of running water which might be the broken pipe mentioned but I don't know? Wandered round in there for ages. I know it's not vital but.....
Grateful for any help.

Where is Igor's quarters? I don't remember this part.

Ah- another achievement at the castle. Thanks.

It's under the stairs in the castle MaG. You can only go there after Vlad has told you about Igor and that he never took light down there.

I can't trigger the talk about Igor's clothes with Vladi yet. Ugh.

It's the conversation about why Vlad calls Wilbur Igor.

I replayed that part and there was no talk about the clothes except for showing him the next day.

This is one of those optional quests that are not required to finish the game like the poker game and fighting the bounty hunter. I didn't do those two, but I did manage to complete the one you're talking about. If you find your way, you will get Igor's butler uniform. You have to decipher those somewhat cryptic clues like the running water to know when to change direction. You have to do it all in the dark, that's about all I remember, but I did manage to find it after several tries.

There's another one of these quests at the pyramid, where Nate gets a dancing girl costume. It's in the room at the far right where the dung beetles started out. You have to wait until everything at the pyramid has been done, because the mummy won't let Nate get to it while Nate is carrying the mummy. When you're ready to leave the pyramid for the last time, and Nate is no longer carrying the mummy, then you can go back in and solve the puzzle. I don't remember the puzzle details, but it's located on the left wall of the far right room that had the dung beetles.

Sorry MaG I can't remember exactly but it was one of the dialogue options when Wilbur first speaks to Vlad in the dining hall.Well done Uncle Reg. Sorry to say I gave up on it. However this is still one of my fave games ever so I'm really hoping there will be another game announced soon. There are too many unanswered questions at the end of the game. It's like they WANT to keep us hanging on. I do hope I'm right!

I just now saw that I need the latest patch to get 3 achievements that I missed. I had a copy before the game was released.