The Shivah

The game was perhaps (read: at most) 4 stars up until close to the ending. Lots of the puzzles revolves around noticing and searching terms using the in-game web browser. This is implemented just fine and you are allowed to discover some things before you are meant to (a huge plus). I have no problems with this. Since you so rarely need to left click objects I found the mouse button layout to be a weird choice (you often just want to look at things; which you do by pressing the right mouse button). The clue system in the game could also have been updated more as you discovered things in the game world. It's always jarring to hear your character talk as if you hadn't just discovered something huge. Otherwise the clue system functioned just fine. The end sequence was just horrible. I see the point, but the "logic" is too subjective. It also doesn't help that you don't get to save in-between the later sequences and are thus forced to skip a ton of dialog and chose the exact same dialog options repeatedly. This is just not a fun experience. It felt like I spent most of my time with the otherwise fine game playing the last sequence and it ruined my overall enjoyment and experience with the game. Luckily, I've played other games from this same developer (including Primordia) so I know they are competent developers, otherwise, judging by this game alone I would've been reluctant to dive into their catalog (i.e., you shouldn't judge their other games based on this one); which again was just fine at the beginning and middle).

As a fan of Dave Gilbert's 'Blackwell' series, I decided to play 'The Shivah' to see where his professional independent game designing career began. Although 'The Shivah' is a comparatively short game compared to his recent projects, it's still very enjoyable. How often do you see a rabbi as a starring protagonist in a video game? While I wrongfully thought this game explores the rabbi's inner conflicts about his own faith, and instead found myself playing detective as the rabbi, I was very pleased with the puzzles and the multiple endings, for the rabbi's actions do indeed speak louder than his words or sermons.

Despite being a long-time fan of Wadjet Eye Games and following their creative and/or publishing output consistently for several years, I never got around to playing their first title until recently. Just as expected, this game is great at building atmosphere, has great characters and excellent dialogue. Sound design is nothing remarkable, but of consistent quality, music and voice acting are more than decent. We only see glimpses of New York here, but they already foreshadow the immersive setting of the Blackwell series. The drawback is that the story is too short, the pacing is uneven, but if seen for what it is, a prologue to the future installments of Wadjet Eye Games catalogue, this is a game well worth playing, and there's a lot of fun to be had with it.

Pretty good short story and interesting main character.

The Shivah is a very good game worth playing through if you don't mind its very short length (2-3 hours). The story is very good, as you assume the role of a rabbi trying to solve a murder. The Jewish bent of this game is also very intriguing and not something you see in a game really often. As for gameplay, it's a standard point n' click game that lets you think, but it's not a pixel hunting fare, thankfully, it's more about finding clues and dialogue, like a typical crime story. Collecting clues in a separate menu is there, but there aren't a lot of them in the game and combining clues is useless. All of this is because the game is very short, about 2-3 hours, which may or may not steer you away from this game, as there are games with more content for the same price, especially during sales. I still recommend you the game, but wait for a sale on this one.