Blackwell Bundle

Just finished Blackwell Deception, and very satisfied. The review is about it. Story: Loved the story, emotional. Very amiable characters. I did not notice any gaps or WTF moments. Design: +++++ Puzzles: The puzzles are engaging and logical. I only got stuck and had to resort to a walkthrough when the dog's name was used as password with a spelling different than mentioned in the dialog. Otherwise there was no frustration at all. Controls: TAB to change chars is very convenient. Still miss double click to fast leave the location. KEYBOARD CONTROL (arrows to browse the dialog, ESC to e.g. close the laptop) would be super handy, but missing. Bugs: The compatibility with Win 10 though is still an issue. I had to run it in a window, because it crashed on my laptop until I changing the settings. Sometimes the walking speed slider did not work.

I really enjoyed these games and they are a good example of how powerful a great story can be. It is the well conceived story and the excellent writing that makes these games so enjoyable. The characters are well fleshed out and realistic (as much as a ghost can be realistic) and the dynamics between them and their reactions to the plot elements are fantastic. The sarcasm especially is well-written and fun. Dave Gilbert is an excellent writer, not quite in the league of Jane Jensen, but close. On the other hand, due to the shortness of the episodes, the plots are not as in-depth as some other well-written adventure games. In terms of gameplay, the Blackwell episodes are relatively simple. The interface is not very complex and is easy to learn. There are few objects or inventory items. Furthermore, the puzzles are mostly straightforward and shouldn't pose a problem to an adventure gamer. Some will make you think but none will fry your brain. There are also few locations. However, this linearity is not such a bad thing sometimes as it doesn't present brain-busting puzzles or vast areas that need to be exhaustively explored, things that might distract from the story, which is what really drives this game. All four of the games are very short and each will only take you a few hours. It's probably best to think of this bundle as a single game in four bite-sized parts. The graphics are very emotive and retro in style, something I find charming, having grown up with the old Sierra and Lucasarts adventures. They are very 90's in style and quality, but then again, these are indie games. The only weakness I can see, and it is a very mild weakness, is that a few interface and graphic elements change slightly in each consecutive episode. Overall however, this is an excellent and entertaining series. If you like a good story and realistic, endearing characters you will probably get a lot of enjoyment from this bundle. However, if you are only interested in supremely challenging puzzles or fancy graphics, you might want to look somewhere else.

The games suffer from the typical pitfalls of point-and-click adventure games: illogical ways to do logical things. You know what to do, but you need to figure out the only way the game will let you do it (and it's not the most obvious one). But if you ignore that (and there are only several events of this problem), you'll get a very enjoyable, very well written, consistent series. A must-play for all classic adventure fans!

I've just finished the 4 episodes of Blackwell Bundle, that I discovered and bought recently (thanks GOG sales)... I just couldn't stop playing ; I couldn't wait to see what comes next... and yet, I didn't want this game had an end. Well, I still have the fifth chapter to play... ! I was totally into the story ; convinced by the characters, especially the Rosa and Joey duet, believable and charming ; and by the theme. I liked the fact that a game speaks about spirit stuff without making a mockery out of it, or making an (another !) "horror" game. Each chapter has its own plot and characters, and we learn about them as they unfold. The puzzles aren't very difficult, as it has been said, and sometimes I have been stuck because I didn't thought to combine clues in my notebook, or search a name on Internet, for example (which is rather new to me in point'n click adventure games). Just 2 (little) regrets : It's a shame the portraits are not pixellized in the last chapter, as they are in the previous ones (well drawn ; but it does nothing for the game... It's all a matter of taste. I like pixels in my point'n click ! ^^) And it's too bad that the Blackwell Bundle is not avaliable in french (at least with french subtitles), because I wanted to offer it to a friend who doesn't speak english very well :-) ... but I was very surprised (and impressed !) to know that the whole series have been developped by ONE guy. Wow. I take my hat off to you, M. Dave Gilbert ! Anyways, congrats for this series ; I am looking forward to seeing what’s in store in the upcoming titles :-)

A very good adventure game. Each game/episode is short, but the bundle includes 4 blackwell games. It was a good deal when I bought it, but I believe that was when it was like $5.99 for the bundle, not on sale. I won't swear to that, it's been a long time ago that I bought it, but I know it wasn't $15 like it is now. I am just now reviewing it because I just now played the last episode of this bundle, Blackwell Deception. Pros: * Very clue intensive detective adventure * Places and things disappear as you no longer need them, so this eliminates a lot of unecessary backtracking that are in a lot of typical adventure games. * Control of 2 characters, and control of each work together to solve a lot of the puzzles and tasks. Cons: * Very linear, not only with the ending result of each episode, but also with what you can do and in what order you can do them, so not really any replay value. * Steep rise in price from the original GOG asking price. Took off one star from what would have been a 5 star rating because of the cons listed above.