Blackwell (game series)

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Blackwell
developer Wadjet Eye Games
Publisher Wadjet Eye Games
Designer Dave Gilbert
First title The Blackwell Legacy (2006)
Last title Blackwell Epiphany (2014)
Platform (s) Linux , Mac OS X , Windows
Genre (s) Adventure

Blackwell is a five-part retro- style adventure computer game series . The following games have been released so far: The Blackwell Legacy , Blackwell Unbound , Blackwell Convergence , Blackwell Deception and Blackwell Epiphany . The first game was released in December 2006, the second part followed in September 2007, part three in July 2009, the fourth game in October 2011 and part five in April 2014. The games were developed by Dave Gilbert . The first four games are offered as a Blackwell Bundle .

Actions

The Blackwell Legacy

The protagonist of the game is Rosangela Blackwell (Rosa), a young freelance writer who leads a lonely life in New York City. Shortly after her only relative, her aunt Lauren Blackwell, dies, she is asked to write about a suicide in a dormitory. Rosa has a headache all day and in the end a ghost named Joey Mallone shows up in her apartment. He explains to her that she is a "medium" like her aunt and that her job is to help ghosts stuck in the real world leave their old lives behind. Reluctantly, she accepts the explanations and moves on to the case of the girl who committed suicide. Your ghost is now haunting the dog park. Rosa soon discovers the girl was one of three close friends, two of whom have already committed suicide after conjuring up a restless ghost using an ouija . She learns how to help the mind and does so. The third girl has also attempted suicide, but was rushed to the hospital, where Rosa finds her and the restless ghost. It also helps this spirit to leave the real world behind.

Blackwell Unbound

The second game is a prequel to Legacy and follows the investigation of Rosa's aunt Lauren Blackwell and Joey in the 1970s. They investigate two ghost cases - a murdered saxophone player and a murdered woman who haunted a construction site of their former apartment building. While investigating the two seemingly unrelated incidents, Lauren finds out that both ghosts were murdered by the same woman who calls herself the Countess. They find out that she thinks she's helping people leave their old lives behind, just like Lauren does, but in reality she's insane and kills them. It also turns out to kill everyone that New York journalist Joseph Mitchell writes about. Lauren gets Mitchell to write about her, and the Countess comes to Lauren's apartment to kill her. Since the countess does not respond to a conversation, Lauren is forced to kill her with the help of Joey.

Blackwell Convergence

The third part takes place six months after Rosangela and Joey met. During the exhibition in a gallery, Rosa begins to follow a possible lead of a director of a film company. She soon finds out that an actor who had a role in her new film was murdered. Rosa also learns of an old murder case involving a scientist whose work was stolen, in favor of a rival company. Ultimately, the countess appears at the gallery opening and kills the artist whose paintings are on display. In all three cases the firms were financed by a capitalist speculative firm, the Meltzer Foundation. Rosa finds out that they benefited greatly from all three deaths. She confronts the company, and it turns out it was the Countess who overheard the killing after dating Charles Meltzer. He also tries to kill Rosa, but the Countess's old ghost guide, Madeline, interferes and Rosa helps her break the bond between the Countess and Charles Meltzer. Freed from the tape, the Countess tries to take revenge on Charles, but is stopped by Rosa and Joey. Rosa then leads her into the light and the countess can leave her old life behind. Rosa finds out that the Countess broke off her association with her spirit guide Madeline and went mad, she then teamed up with Joe Gould , later with Joseph Mitchell, and finally with Charles Meltzer, all of whom acted as her guides.

Blackwell Deception

The fourth game revolves around Rosa and Joey again and takes place some time after the third game. Rosa receives a phone call from a former newspaper employer asking her to investigate a case for him. She soon finds out that he was murdered while he was doing research on a contact he got through the medium Lisa Tenzin. Rosa then investigates two more murders and finds out that Lisa brokered both of them to a man named Gavin. Rosa confronts the medium about this, and it turns out that Gavin brainwashed her to help him. Gavin actually absorbed the energy of the dead in order to remain immortal. Gavin then manages to catch Rosa and kills Lisa, who tries to escape. He also brainwashes Rosa and traps Joey, thereby breaking the bonds between them. However, Joey can return with the help of his tie, which is a tangible connection to Rosa. He brings Rosa back to her senses and interrupts Gavin's ritual, who is trying to absorb her energy. Rosa kills Gavin while she is being freed. In the end, she takes Lisa's mind to the other world and Gavin's mind just dissolves. She decides to find the organization that was behind Gavin.

Blackwell Epiphany

The series finale begins according to the usual pattern. Rosa and Joey investigate a haunted house on behalf of Detective Durkin. After successfully completing the mission, they meet George Ostin, a man they do not know, who is looking for Rosa, but who is shot by a masked person immediately after they meet. His mind (just like Gavin's in the last part) is torn to pieces in front of Rosa and Joey. As history progresses, George Ostin and five other people were members of a self-help group over 20 years ago through which they found their true purpose in life, but which after their death had weakened their spirits so much that their souls were weakened could be "consumed" by another spirit. The former spirit guide Madeline turns out to be this other spirit, who now wants to gain possession of Rosa's body in order to finally be able to become mortal again. When Rosa, with Joey's help, manages to free herself from Madeline, Madeline takes on a diabolical plan that is supposed to destroy all human souls in New York. With literally the last of her strength, Rosa manages to avert the evil and give Joey Mallone a second chance at a happy life.

Game principle and technology

All games in the series are 2D point-and-click adventures. The game locations are shown as hand-drawn still images, some of which are animated. With the mouse, the player can move the respective protagonist through the locations and with the mouse buttons initiate actions that allow the game character to interact with his environment. The player can find objects, apply them to the environment or other objects and communicate with NPCs . As the story progresses, more locations will be unlocked.

Production notes

Rod

task game
The Blackwell Legacy Blackwell Unbound Blackwell Convergence Blackwell Deception Blackwell Epiphany
Code & history Dave Gilbert
Character graphics Ian Schleiffer Erin Robinson Shane Stevens Ben Chandler
Background graphics Tom Scary, Chris Femo Luminous Arts, Karen Petrasko Indrek Plavutski Ben Chandler
Additional graphics Eyal pity Eyal Jammer, Julie Gilberg Eyal Jammer, Jenna leather Shane Stevens, Eyal Jammer, Jenna Leder, Emma Grahn, Jose Navarro, Luminous Arts
music Peter Gresser Thomas Regin

Characters and voice actors

character game
The Blackwell Legacy Blackwell Unbound Blackwell Convergence Blackwell Deception Blackwell Epiphany
Rosangela Blackwell Sande Chen (Reissue: Rebecca Whittaker)   Rebecca Whittaker
Joey Mallone Abe gold color
Kelly Hawthorne Chen-yung Hsu  
Adrian Tucker Thomas Tucker  
Nishanthi Sharma Ruth Weber   Nonie Craige  
Jim Burdo Matt Garnder  
Dr. Quentin Joe Rodriguez  
Hospital guard Francisco Gonzalez  
Alli Montego Chen-yung Hsu  
bob Dave Dodson  
Susan Lee Jennifer Estaris  
The Deacon John Swist  
demon Dave Gilbert  
Moti Cooper chaplain  
Lauren Blackwell   Dani Marco   Dani Marco
Isaac Brown   Daryl Lathon  
Mavis Wilcox   Chen-Young Hsu  
The Countess   Stephanie Cox-Williams Ronica Reddick  
Cecil Sharpe   Daryl Lathon  
Dwayne   Francisco Gonzalez  
Joseph Mitchell   Dave Gilbert  
Harriet Sherman   Shelly Smith  
Sam Durkin   Francisco Gonzalez   Francisco Gonzalez
Jack Blackwell   Dave Gilbert  
Columbia operator   Julia Detar  
New York receptionist   Brandon Van Slyke  
All Reiken   Brian Silliman  
Josie Park   Shelly Smith-Shenoy  
Claude Urdin   Daryl Lathon  
Monique Stahlman   Ronica Reddick  
Minetta Bartender   Dave Gilbert  
Paul Meltzer   Marcus Weems  
Frank Lyons   Francisco Gonzalez  
Charlie Meltzer   Dave Gilbert  
Madeline   Nonie Craige Jennifer Holmes Miranda Gauvin
Joe Gould   Marcus Weems  
Martin Goldwater   Marcus Weems  
Ryan Jacobs   Michael Gambino  
Jeremy Sams   Edward Bauer  
Madison Haines   Shelly Shenoy  
Penelope Haines   Jennifer Holmes  
Nurse   Mercedes Rose  
Receptionist   Julia Doolittle  
Danny Marconi   Dave Gilbert  
Lisa Tenzin   Rachel Rydzewski  
Tiffany Walters   Miranda Gauvin  
Rachel Abu   Jennifer Holmes  
sterling   Dave Gilbert  
Kenneth Sharpe   Daryl Lathon  
Elaine Appleton   Mercedes Rose  
Jamie Graham   Sara Elmaleh  
Seb Frederick   Dave Gilbert  
Gavin   Brian Silliman  
Mary Meehan   Erin Winebark
George Ostin   Jim Mullins
Ostin's doorman  
Father Gabriel Ullman   Jim Mullins
Emil Haskins   Andy Chmelko
Father Michael Cooper   Phillip Callen
Lia Haskins   Drea Lorraine
Kendra Haskins   Samantha Rosen
Cory Palmer   Andy Chmelko
Ray   Kenwyn Dapo
Maggie Fielding   Ana Berry
Peter Fielding   Matt Prichard
Tanya Corsey   Manini Gupta
Heather Goffstein   Shelly Shenoy

reception

game magazine Rating
series Destructoid 8/10
The Blackwell Legacy Adventure Gamers 3.5 / 5
GameZebo 3.5 / 5
Blackwell Unbound Adventure Gamers 3.5 / 5
GameZebo 3.5 / 5
Blackwell Convergence Adventure Gamers 3.5 / 5
GameZebo 4/5
Blackwell Deception 4players 80/100
Adventure Gamers 3.5 / 5
GameZebo 4.5 / 5
Blackwell Epiphany

The games in the series received good to medium ratings in contemporary reviews. In general, the story and character drawing were positively emphasized, while the simplicity of the games was criticized. The Canadian magazine Destructoid pointed out that not only did the individual episodes of the series have exciting stories, but that they were also linked by an interesting story across the episodes. The magazine praised the retro charm of the graphics and the “interesting and amusing” characters, but also referred to the linearity and brevity of the games and the resulting low replay value.

The English-language trade magazine Adventure Gamers highlighted the storyboard and an appealing main character of Blackwell Legacy positively, but criticized the brevity and lack of interactivity of the game. Rock, Paper, Shotgun noted in a review of Blackwell Convergence the talent of author Dave Gilbert to create "straightforward, emotional stories" with impressive character drawings. Reviewer John Walker criticized the pricing policy of the publisher Wadjet Eye Games as well as loose ends of the story, which hinted at dark secrets of the characters, but then did not pursue them consistently. The German-language magazine 4Players attested Blackwell Deception a sensitively told story and a humorous couple of protagonists and assessed that the game was "an intelligent, compassionate and amazingly interesting adventure", but which does not come close to the Gemini Rue from the same house , published in the same year .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Destructoid.com: Review: The Blackwell series. Retrieved March 5, 2019 .
  2. ↑ a b AdventureGamers.com: The Blackwell Legacy. Retrieved October 3, 2018 .
  3. ^ GameZebo.com: The Blackwell Legacy Review. Retrieved October 3, 2018 .
  4. ^ AdventureGamers.com: Blackwell Unbound. Retrieved October 3, 2018 .
  5. ^ GameZebo.com: Blackwell Unbound Review. Retrieved October 3, 2018 .
  6. ^ AdventureGamers.com: The Blackwell Convergence. Retrieved October 3, 2018 .
  7. ^ GameZebo.com: The Blackwell Convergence Review. Retrieved October 3, 2018 .
  8. ↑ a b 4Players.de: Test: Blackwell Deception. Retrieved March 5, 2019 .
  9. ^ AdventureGamers.com: The Blackwell Deception. Retrieved October 3, 2018 .
  10. ^ GameZebo.com: The Blackwell Deception Review. Retrieved October 3, 2018 .
  11. ↑ RockPaperShotgun.com: Wot I Think: The Blackwell Convergence. Retrieved March 5, 2019 .