The Séance of Blake Manor

Huge huge recommend!! <3 As someone who wants to click everything in every game for fear of missing out, I was hesistant when finding out about the time mechanic, so if you feel that way I want to reassure you that; 1. I quickly learned to really enjoy and appreciate the progression of time, it made me think and consider things a lot more than a typical exploration/mystery game would. Managing your time and your focus is PART of the gameplay, not a random thing that exists to punish you. Its not detrimental to the game at all and I encourage you to do at least one full run through without reloading when you feel you could have acted differently. (but still, save at regular intervals for future use :) ) 2. following on, dont worry because the save system is set up in a way that makes reloading a non issue, you can manually save and load those again, or use the timeline feature, (somehow I missed the timeline until the very end of a second playthrough so I want to highlight that.) 3. My advice is pay attention at the beginning when you start really exploring, this will help you figure out how to focus your efforts in future and you can explore/act/save accordingly. (you have more time than you think) Really really read conversations and observations and take notes! another thing, I typically dislike doing multiple playthroughs for achievements/experiences/endings because I get bored. But in this case, It was really easy to do without having to slog through parts and it felt as though I could find out something new in each hour I replayed.

very good investigation game. the timer is very scary, but it probably won't be a big deal as long as you're not being totally careless.

Neumodern gespukt! Die irischen Jungs und Mädels von "Spooky Doorway" sind nach "The Darkside Detective 1" (2017) und "The Darkside Detective 2" (2021) nun das erste Mal in Form der dritten Dimension und einem völlig neuen Konzept zurückgekehrt. Zwar gibt's immer noch Grusel, aber dieses Mal müssen wir im Jahre 1897 als Detektiv das Verschwinden der Lady Evelyn Deane aufklären - und die versammelten Mystiker-Experten, die alle mit ihr zu tun hatten und an einem bestimmten Abend in einer Séance mit den Toten reden wollen, um selbst eine Lösung herbeizuführen, sind alle suspects. Nur leider steht mit der Beschwörung auch ein Unglück bevor, das alle Gäste vernichtet, die daran teilnehmen und ein großes Übel heraufbeschwören. Wir haben 3 Tage Zeit allerlei Mysterien aufzuklären - und bewegen uns zwar in Echtzeit durch die Räume (und verbrauchen keine Zeit) - aber sobald wir eine Aktion (meistens auch bloßes Anschauen) ausführen, wird uns eine Minute abgezogen. "Eine Minute? Papperlapapp! Das ist doch nix!" denkt man sich da vielleicht. Joar, problematisch wird's aber dann, wenn a) der Tag nicht komplett mit seinen 24h genutzt werden kann (der Ermittler muss ja auch mal schlafen oder es passieren wilde Ereignisse), b) bestimmte Aktionen mehr Minuten verwendet als geahnt oder auch c) Akteure zu bestimmten Zeiten weder auffindbar, noch erreichbar sind, weil sie in irgendeinem Zimmer eingeschlossen hocken. Ich habe das Spiel mithilfe einer Lösung gespielt, weil mir der Druck der verbrauchten Minuten absolut missfallen hat und ich das Spiel schon nach der ersten Teststunde abbrechen wollte, aber die Ermittlung sowie das Sammeln von Beweisen fand ich super - und irgendwie hatte es was seinen Tag gut zu strukturieren. Aber wie so oft ist das Spiel nur ein großer Test, ob du a) sinnvolle von sinnlosen Aktionen unterscheiden kannst und b) einfach nur Glück hast zur richtigen Zeit am richtigen Ort zu sein, um die korrekte Sache zu besprechen. Da es SO viele Akteure und Subcases gibt, schafft ihr unmöglich in eurem allerersten Run alles. Oder ihr bescheißt so RICHTIG professionell - aber selbst mit der Lösung ist die Planung viel zu akribisch und unangemessen. Kann man mal spielen - ist aber leider anstrengend. The Darkside Detective war dahingehend besser. Aber die neuartige 3D-Perspektive ist eigentlich der richtige Entwicklungsschritt. "Leider" kommt demnächst ein drittes Darkside Detective Adventure im bisher bekannten 2D-Pixelstil raus. "Playing it safe". Wie langweilig ;) Daumen zur Seite.

Game was playing entirely on SteamOS (Linux) using a controller. No issues running the game on an AMD 680M chipset. First and foremost, we need to get this out of the way. This game shows up on everyone's "Similar to Blue Prince" game recommendations. This game is very much nothing like Blue Prince. This is not really a puzzle game and there are very few "traditional puzzles" to solve. The ones that are there are basically "baby's first puzzle". This game is more like a traditional 2D point-and-click style game (like Maniac Mansion), with much less item interaction and mostly just dialogue, all set in a 3D space. You don't "use this item on this item". If you can take an object, you will automatically take it, and if you can use an item somewhere, it will appear as an immediate option to use it on whatever correct target you are pointing at. The premise of the game is that you are solving a disappearance in a giant hotel full of fantastical characters of varying mystical backgrounds (psychics, skeptics, voodoo practitioners, etc). All of the characters in the game are suspects and the actual meat of the game is that when you talk to each character, you will uncover their individual motives for being there, and by solving their problems they will reveal clues about themselves that will either implicate or exculpate themselves as suspects. Investigating the main disappearance reveals immutable facts about the suspect, and investigating the individual people reveals their traits which you can cross-reference. It's a very large and complicated game of Clue. The game is very dialogue heavy and steeped in Irish folklore and mythology. If you are not a big fan of reading, there are lots and lots of words in this game. Some people have nitpicks about the voice acting but I personally enjoyed all of the performances (in English). The core of the gameplay is that time does not pass while walking around the Manor. The only thing that advances the time is 1) Clicking on object to investigate it, and 2) Asking a person about a specific object. So let's get the one major gripe that everyone has out of the way. You will see people on the forums constantly moaning about the "time limit", and even going so far as to refund the game. In the very first section of the game (basically the tutorial), you have a limited amount of "time" to perform a specific task. Because time = clicks, there are enough things to click on that you can fail this section and get a Game Over screen. This is the first thing that happened to me. I ran around clicking on literally everything and asking people about every subject, and soon I hit the limit, got a Game Over, and realized that I had not saved my game. This is intentional on the devs part. This is to teach you that not everything may be worth clicking on and not everything may be worth asking about. It doesn't make sense to ask a character about a subject you know they will know nothing about (probably). You are supposed to be more "directed" in looking for things and asking certain questions. After the first two "tutorial" sections that are timed, the game basically opens up and mostly does away with the "hard game over" timer. I had enough to time to waste plenty of clicks on fishing expeditions and still 100% the game and solved every mystery with "hours" of in-game time to spare. This makes me think the people that were complaining never played past this part of the game. Sure I could reload to talk to every character about every single subject and hear every single line of dialogue if I wanted, but I honestly did not feel the need to, and I asked A LOT of unnecessary questions and clicked on A LOT of mundane objects with no usefulness already. There were a couple of places I got stuck, but thankfully the game has a "detective vision" that will highlight anything you can interact with. I only had to look up a hint on one thing, and it was because I missed opening a drawer and reading a note in it. The game is more "story based" than "mystery based". If you play the game, you WILL solve the mystery. It's not terribly difficult to figure out, but the game is more about revealing the plot than solving it. Biggest complaint is that there are some actions in the game that will abruptly lead to an immediate game over screen. Going into another guest's room while that guest is in the room will give you Game Over instantly, no matter what your relationship with that guest is. Thankfully the game autosaves before you enter any room and the game also gives you a generous amount of save slots, so use them!

I adored this game. The mechanics and menus were off-putting at the start, but I largely skipped learning about them (sorry, devs!) and learned them on my own gradually. I love the art style, the ambiance, and especially the story. Once I finished, I couldn't wait to go back and play again. Don't be intimidated by the mechanics. Even a rube like myself figured it out.

Игра просто потрясающая. Атмосфера на высоте, сюжетка на высоте, механики интересные (то же течение времени очень хорошо реализовано), даже не знаю, как описать свою любовь к ней💔 Прошла залпом, игра захватила настолько, что не могла думать ни о чем другом. В конце было только желание найти что-то похожее, наверное, ни одна из пройденных игр до этого не доставляла мне столько удовольствия в процессе прохождения. Советую от всей души. Если думаете, проходить или нет – берите, точно не пожалеете.

Loved this game so much. I didn't realize, when I was playing it, that you could have different outcomes. So after I played it the first time, I immediately played again to try and do better! Loved the soundtrack, the art style and the game play. I hope to have more games like this!

Hmm. I tried, I really did. But this game isn't my cup of tea: there are like twenty suspects, and most of my time so far has been spent raiding their (nearly identical) hotel rooms; clicking on journals and knickknacks; and then tracking them down to ask about 8 things I saw or explored in their room. That's pretty much the gameplay loop. If you love lots of reading and flavor text, then this might be the game for you. As a detective story, it's pretty meandering. But what got me to /ragequit were the seemingly arbitrary 'fail states,' in which you lose the game. I lost the game two or three times during the timed tutorial (fair 'nuff, I guess) but also during a weird dream sequence (I think?). Obviously, a lot of passion went into this game, and the art design is clever and appropriately spooky. But it's not quite what I was looking for.

[h3]TL;DR[/h3] A great game. Puzzles and deductions are pretty straightforward, the characters are interesting, and their intertwining storylines are fascinating. Some of the character mysteries are bit out there, but I managed to eke out a victim-free seance in the last hour or so. Very much recommend if you like character-driven mystery games. The reveal at the end was especially satisfying, if not without (very minor) issues. Now to a full review. [h3]WHAT WORKED WELL[/h3] [b]+ Main mystery.*[/b] With an asterisk, I very much enjoyed the overarching storyline. The research you do on folklore, local legends, and prominent characters feels extremely natural and intriguing. I did, admittedly, enjoy personal storylines more than the main one, but the grand finale pulled me back in. [b]+ A game of many beliefs.[/b] The game approaches its heavier historical and more personal topics with due respect, in my opinion. You do play as a devout Catholic, which colours the main character's judgements about others and about what's right and wrong, but other beliefs are treated with as much respect. [b]+ Voice acting.[/b] The game isn't voiced in full, but the interactions that [i]are[/i] voiced are exceptionally done. Everyone involved in casting, directing, and acting deserve nothing but praise. [b]+ The entire part before the seance.[/b] Without spoiling anything, the part before you join the seance and discover the culprit, you have to explore a part of Blake manor that was up until that point unavailable. It's the point of no return (of which the game warns you, thankfully), and the moment you enter the new location, the game flips on its head. The atmosphere of that sequence was impeccable. [h3]WHAT WORKED LESS WELL[/h3] [b]- Main storyline.[/b] At the end, the main plot became a little too out there for me, personally. Even though the whole game was about magic and fae, the most compelling part was actually personal stories, especially the mystery of the Blake family. Don't get me wrong, the story was still interesting, but it lost steam a little at the end, in my opinion. [b]- Walter Blake.[/b] I'm hiding this whole thing behind spoilers, because there's no way to talk about his character without mentioning something that could spoil the fun for new players. [spoiler]The last sequence of the game where you discover the truth about the Marquess's son was appropriately spooky and fascinating. Time stops following the usual constraints you got used to during your playthrough, and the more clues you uncover about the kid, the more chilling the story became. Loved that. However, there's a big letdown for me, personally.[/spoiler] [spoiler]Any and all plot points that come down to "this wasn't real" seem weak to me. I'm not gonna tell anyone how to write their story, and the developers of the Seance in Blake Manor did a tremendous job with their idea, but I WISH the big reveal wasn't "Walt has never existed."[/spoiler] [spoiler] The untouched kids' toys, the pristine nursery were creepy and awesome. But I WISH it was because Marquess had actually lost both his child and his wife in the accident, and just couldn't deal with the loss, and the staff was non-magically playing along out of respect or pity.[/spoiler] [spoiler]And I know that this type of change would've derailed the whole premise of the game, but a creepy lab and a grief-driven Marquess trying to physically resurrect his son's body using the magic of the seance would've worked so much better, in my opinion.[/spoiler] [spoiler]I blame the lab setting. I really wanted to see Walt floating in a test tube, for some reason.[/spoiler] [b]- The Culprit.[/b] There was one specific item you had to notice in the area that usually has NO interactable items in order to confront the culprit. It was a PAIN, and I would never have gotten to the end without googling what I was missing. That was annoying. [b]- The time-skip mechanic.[/b] It's the whole foundation of the game, and most of the time it works well, but sometimes it works AWFUL. You can either get more interesting context about the environments and people and visit all events, OR you can gather all the necessary evidence in time. You can't do both without a detailed guide. I missed so much. You [i]cannot[/i] explore in this game.