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![]() ![]() Even better WadjetEye actually removes any notes, items or locations when they're no longer useful, so if something is available you know it's still relevant. The only inventory-combining in the game is actually combining notes to see if they fit together, in a manner similar to the underrated Discworld Noir. Joey as a ghost can explore undeterred and talk with other ghosts, whereas Rosa keeps notes of everything important to the case in her phone. Puzzles are usually solved three ways - with your phone, with Joey's ability to blow on things, and with information. You can't combine inventory items and you rarely have more than four things at any time - and often one will just be a key. Things can get tricky, and occasionally your investigations hit a dead end, but there's no randomly using inventory items on everything. Sam Duarte is Rosa's surly contact on the force ![]() Need to find out what theatre group this young dead actress was part of? You've got a phone, Google it! Need to find an address for someone but you just have a phone number? You're friends with a cop now, get him to trace it. ![]() What makes them seem easy is that they make sense. Some adventuring purists might argue that the puzzles are a little easy, certainly they're more straightforward than Daedalic would come up with, but they definitely required brainpower on my part. This was Deception's arguably biggest success: keeping sensible, logical puzzles that were satisfying to solve and felt very modern. Also, considering how low-budget the game is the voice actors do a fantastic job bringing these characters to life.Ī superb story with great, believable characters is a fine start, but of course with an adventure game the puzzles need to be good too. The characters (living or dead) all feel real and believable, with very human problems, hopes and failings, but it's Rosa and Joey that keep the story compelling. Plus despite all the sorrow and the problems they encounter they both continue to joke with each other, keeping a sense of humour running through the whole thing. However it's the smaller, more personal stories that make Epiphany (and Deception) so appealing, from the tales of the various tragedies that the pair help resolve (Kendra Haskins, sob) to the companionship between Rosa and Joey that forms the heart of the series and keeps it beating strong. It even builds to a big apocalyptic finale with the fate of New York in the balance, with a logical reason why Rosa and Joey are the only two who can stop it. It goes to a lot of unexpected places, weaves in interesting twists and manages to wrap up several of the series' lingering plot threads satisfactorily. I'm not going to spoil any more, but the story of Blackwell Epiphany really is excellent. They're the only ones who can stop this happening to anyone else, but first they have to find out why it happened at all. ![]() After helping out a lost girl ghost in a run-down apartment building they witness a man named George Ostin get gunned down in the street, and worse they see his soul get torn apart. After stopping Gavin and his vampire-like ability to feed on souls, psychic detective Rosa Blackwell and her ghost partner Joey Mallone have continued helping lost souls to move over, now with the aid of Sam Duarte in the NYPD. It's some time after the events of Deception. And now the last ever Blackwell game, The Blackwell Epiphany, is finally here. It's still the best adventure game I've played since LucasArts closed. I knew nothing about WadjetEye Games or the Blackwell series and yet ended up calling it "one of the best adventures I've played in years". Since I'm pretty knowledgeable about most games it's only properly happened to me twice in my gaming career: first for amazing DS puzzle-platformer Henry Hatsworth, and second for indie adventure The Blackwell Deception. A game I had basically no knowledge of lands on my doorstep (metaphorically), I play it not expecting much and instead discover an absolute gem. One of the greatest treasures of being a games reviewer is that now and again I get a total surprise. ![]()
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