The Shivah

I think overall the game is a bit mediocre. However, I think it's Wadjeteye's debut and considering that, it's pretty good. The graphics are nostalgic and adorable. Music is fitting for the main character's bleak mood. The voice acting is a bit cheap at times. The fact that the game has voice acting is applaudable though. The story is relatively short and you can certainly finish the game in an evening. It's a bit disappointing that items in the inventory cannot actually be used. They just serve to provide information. Depending on some of the actions you take, there are different endings. Some of the storyline struck me a bit odd. A worn out guy winning a fist fight. Somebody else stepping into the room depending on what responses you choose in dialogues. These certainly were surprising but also somewhat implausible. Again, given it's their first game, I think it turned out pretty nice.

I found it interesting. I like the idea of a Jewish Noir Detective Mystery. The voice acting is kinda stiff, but I got used to it after a while. Mostly liked the story. It got a bit obtuse about what you should do next and that was frustrating. Like the Monkey Island word battles.

This short game tells a good somber mystery story with a main character I really came to like. The story is also about personal conflict and is well told. The basic graphics and sounds were enough along with the story and puzzles to immerse me in the game and keep me interested in what would happen next. The simple interface is easy to use and the contextual puzzles never felt out of place but rather fit in well with what was going on in the game at the time. I liked the setting too and learned some things about the Jewish faith and customs I was not aware of. The only thing I didn't like was that it was over too soon and I felt they could have fleshed out the story with more depth and lengthened the game as such. That really just speaks to how I enjoyed it though and wanted more. So I'll refrain from 5 stars but I think it does easily earn 4.

I think this was one of the dev's earliest work which was upgraded with better graphics. I really enjoyed the story itself and how it was written. The mystery kept my attention and solving it wasn't too difficult. It covered deep issues of the Jewish faith as well, but I think it also applies to other faiths, especially Christian, regarding suffering/pain and God allowing it to happen even to good people. The story has danger too and your main character can die. Which leads me to the only thing about it that made me take away a star: when your character dies, you go straight to the introduction sequence instead of the Main Page where you can select Load or Quit. And my character kept dying at one point because I hadn't figured out what to do right just yet so seeing that introduction sequence got to be a pain the neck after a short while! Other than that, I could easily give this game five stars. None of the puzzles were ridiculous or out of place. Voice acting was great. We're given the opportunity to listen to the dev sing! It's short and linear but there is a commentary options which gives you good reason to play through a second time if you wish to learn tidbits about it's development and the dev's thoughts on certain aspects of it. The classic version is also included so that may be another reason to play the game again (in Backup and Goodies section) just to see the differences.

Great adventure game, with mature approach. It has smart and innovative puzzles and interesting story, and good point and click style graphics. The strongest point in my opinion the character dev. The voice acting is terrific and helps to get into the skin of the character. The only con is it is a bit short, but that can be an advantage too.