NOW PLAYING
The healing power of FinalFantasyXIV.
We all have our ‘end of a long day’ games that we relax in without the faculties of reflexes or a fully switched-on brain. For me lately, those games have been Dave Gilbert’s Blackwell series. They’re 2D point-and-click adventures in the old-school mold—they wait patiently as I click their scenes down to every last detail, they’re 100% voice acted, and their jazzy soundtracks envelop me like steam rising from a New York subway.
I came to the Blackwell series after playing Gilbert’s latest game, Unavowed, set in the same universe where the supernatural murmurs in the shadows of a beautifully observed New York City. And while Unavowed may well be the best point-and-click ever made, it’s fascinating to see
Gilbert and his studio Wadjet Eye Games climb towards that creative zenith through the Blackwell series.
There are five games in total, following socially awkward spirit medium Rosangela Blackwell as she wanders a mostly nocturnal New York City in search of lost souls who need help passing on to the afterlife. She does this alongside her spirit guide Joey Mallone—a caustic-humored ghost who looks and sounds like a PI from the 1950s, and who was also guide to Rosa’s late aunt Lauren.
Joey and Rosa’s dynamic is a peculiar one—his nasal lexicon, through which he calls Rosa ‘doll’ or ‘dollface’ contrasting with Rosa’s distinctly New York dryness and neuroticism. You may not warm to them right away, but their relationship offers moments of both comic relief and pensive reflection at just the right moments. It’s central to Rosa’s journey from rudderless young adult into seasoned medium.
Gilbert uses ghosts and the supernatural to maturely explore some serious themes. Suicide, depression, and mental illness all come up—young lives extinguished
GILBERT USES GHOSTS AND THE SUPERNATURAL TO EXPLORE SERIOUS THEMES
too soon, a businessman buried in debt, a musician who drowns his talent in alcohol. Their hauntingly lifelike stories and lonely limbo existence as ghosts invests you in helping them move onto the next realm—whatever that may be.
THE REAPER
Once it finds its feet, the series settles into a rhythm of journalistic-style investigations, as you listen to people carefully for key names and places, then type them into Rosa’s computer to unlock new locations or dialogue options. Once you gather information, you return to the ghosts and try to jog their memory by getting them to accept the fact that they’re dead.
No games capture the spirit of a real-world city like Blackwell captures New York. The diversity of the city’s denizens is well represented, while the hand-drawn locations are instantly recognizable.
I really enjoy seeing the clear creative progress through the series too. You can feel both the writing and artwork maturing alongside its existentially wayfaring protagonist. By going through the Blackwell series game by game, you get to witness the creative journey of one of the best writers in videogames.