Between Dwayne getting us into the Slow Game Club, getting to play Blue Prince and finding out about Thinky Games, my need to figure things out is being satisfied. And then I get an email about The Seance of Blake Manor. Developed by Spooky Doorway, it’s visually a much darker mystery game than their previous effort, The Darkside Detective: A Fumble in the Dark. And the game looks pretty interesting.
THE SEANCE OF BLAKE MANOR FEELS CREEPY WITHOUT LEANING INTO HORROR
Just look at that key art up there. The skull hidden in the clouds is a beautiful touch. Is it Steam description time? You bet. Because this might be one of my favorites I’ve read:
“Halloween, 1897. A group of mystics from across the globe gather in the west of Ireland to rip open the veil between worlds and speak directly with the dead. 48 hours before the séance, Evelyn Deane goes missing. Detective Ward is summoned to find her and uncover the culprit before someone else disappears.”
Why are people always messing with things they don’t need to? That is how people go missing. Mystery solved. Just lock up everyone involved. But of course, there’d be no game if that happened. The Seance of Blake Manor is a first-person narrative game that actually puts you in a time crunch. When I watched the trailer, I hoped that the 48 hours would come into play in gameplay and it does. “Each action and every lost minute counts the day down”. That excites me more than anything.
A mystery game with a timer is exactly what I needed. I’m going to have to connect dots a hell of a lot faster than I did in Blue Prince. I love the art style, the comic book aesthetic fits perfectly with setting of a Victorian era Ireland. I’ve had to actively avoid the top of the Steam page because they’re streaming the demo and I don’t want spoilers. It’s available until May 5th as part of the LudoNarraCon digital festival that highlights narrative games. And given that I literally just found out about that? I’ve got some more digging to do.
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