The Shivah

This is an old Wine app and takes foreveeeeeeeer to load! The Wine app states it is updating the games files and to wait.... AND wait... AND wait... Finally the Wine client comes up and then it takes forever to run the game! After quitting, the window about updating the files is still there and never stops. I had to quit Wine and it messed up the game files the first few times. Not worth the hassle. I only paid $1 so it's not worth my time to refund. Maybe one day I'll try playing it again... Maybe... Hardware Overview: Model Name: MacBookPro 11,5 (Mid 2015) Processor Name: Intel Core i7 Processor Speed: 2.8 GHz Number of Processors: 1 Total Number of Cores: 4 L2 Cache (per Core): 256 KB L3 Cache: 6 MB Memory: 16 GB Type: DDR3 Speed: 1600 MHz Video Card: AMD Radeon R9 M370X, VRAM 2048 MB Operating System: OS X El Capitan version 10.11.6 (64 bit OS)

Never thought that a low budget indie about a rabbi going through a funk would end up making such an impression but, well, here we are. Don't let the religious trappings fool you: Rabbi Stone, our protagonist, is conveniently the head of an empty, broke synagogue at the start of the story, freeing him from his rabbinical duties long enough to let him do some good old fashioned sleuthing. Not being Jewish and never really having played too many of the 90s adventure titles this game is so clearly modeled on, I can't really speak to either aspects of the game. As a grab bag of ideas on how a solid detective game might be constructed though, "The Shivah" is absolutely fascinating. Gone are the usual hand holding mechanics that make such games more into exercises in guessing from a list of answers than doing any true deductive thinking. What's left is a series of clever little puzzles that each make you feel like a master gumshoe when you work them out. My only real gripe is that the game feels more like a proof-of-concept demo than a finished product. The deduction puzzles are fun but rudimentary; let's just say that if the Jewish community is really this bad at picking passwords in real life, they're in for one hell of a rude awakening. For me, the real value of "The Shivah" is that it makes me excited to play the other games developed by Wadjeteye since its release. Whoever did this one had some fantastic ideas. I can't wait to see how they fleshed those ideas out once they had a little more time and budget to work with.

It is very short (completed it in under 2 hours, with half a doze replays of the ending, trying not to die), but enjoyable. A big thumbs up for all the Blackwell references. The riddles are what you would expect from a classic Wadjet Eye game. Only the ending is a tad frustrating, as there are minimum clues as to what you need to do, and it's mostly a trial-and-error grind. That is why I'm cutting one star off the top. Otherwise, worth getting for the right price. Especially AFTER having played the Blackwell games.

First off, this game is short: I spent 1h44m and saw 3-4 endings. (There were two that I think were actualy identical, though slightly different events led to them). So don't pay too much for the game, knowing that it's pretty short. It's an interesting story; like the Blackwell games, it's driven by an investigation. I didn't have any problem with the puzzles until late in the game when I felt like I'd hit a wall and the game wasn't giving me whatever I needed to move to the next step. This was when I looked at a walkthrough; [probably not a spoiler:] it told me that the game was expecting me to do something that I really hadn't even considered. I suppose I could see myself trying it, once I'd exhausted (and re-exhausted) all other avenues....but all in all, I don't think that moment showed very good design. Anyhow, once I'd done that thing that I'm hinting at, it unlocked a dialogue option that (somewhat to my surprise) led to the climactic scene of the game. (I say 'somewhat to my surprised' because that was when I realized how short the game was.) btw, combat took a few tries before it 'clicked.' (Hint: Be "rabbi-ish.") Anyhow, I then tried a few different paths and saw the various endings. All had their merits, with one clearly meant to be the 'good' one and another the 'bad' one. All in all, not a bad experience. ...although the clue system lacked polish....such as when I had to save and replay the first few minutes of the game to remind myself of a name. ...and when the game talks about $10k as if it's a huge amount of money, it reeks of storytelling by an...'unseasoned' writer, trying to tell a story well outside their life's experiences. I suppose I too was once a 20-something apartment-dweller who had yet to realize that, for an adult with real-world responsibilities, having $10,000 is one bad day (or a could kids' tuition payments....or one chemo treatment, etc.) away from being flat broke, or worse. But I digress.

Interesting with a game that takes on jewish culture like this. A few taboo topics handled naturally and without it feeling forced. Overall a good story and especially in that sense. Most of the puzzles are good but there is one exception. It seems like a lot of people get stuck on it and i did too. The solution is very far fetched. I think I'd have preferred fewer possible endings. They are kind of similar anyway. But the game is short enough ( probably around 30 min on a second play through) for anyone to see them all without spending a lot of time.