The Blackwell Deception

aka: Blackwell Deception
Moby ID: 53340
Windows Specs
Buy on Windows
$9.99 new on Steam
Included in

Description

The Blackwell Deception is the fifth main game in the series and continues the story of the writer Rosangela Blackwell, following the events in The Blackwell Legacy (2006) and The Blackwell Convergence (2009). She is still accompanied by the family ghost Joey Mallone as they work together to solve the problems of troubled ghosts in order to make them pass to the afterlife.

The game starts when Rosangela receives word about a yacht that detaches itself every night to float round in the midst in the Hudson River. Solving that single event leads to a larger storyline that spans multiple cases. This entry also focuses on Joey's history for the first time and delves deeper into his past. Especially when they meet another human character that is able to see him. Players initiate conversations to get information stored as notes and solve puzzles by using or combining objects. Sometimes the only way to proceed is by deduction, by combining notes in a logical way to make assumptions that can be used during conversations to press characters.

As different freelance artists are used for the graphics for each title in the series, there are some differences in the visuals. The designer made a conscious choice to spend less money on the detail of the background art in exchange for a larger amount of locations for instance. Also new to this entry is the use of MyPhone, a smartphone that replaces the notebook and the desktop computer from the previous games. Rosangela is now able to check her e-mail on the road and do "Oogle" web searches right away.

Just like the previous two games players can switch between Rosangela and Joey at any time. Joey is able to pass through locked doors but cannot lift physical objects. He is often able to scout locations before Rosangela accesses them. Despite his lack of physical influence, he is however able to blow at very light objects to move them, a technique often used for puzzles.

Groups +

Screenshots

Promos

Videos

See any errors or missing info for this game?

You can submit a correction, contribute trivia, add to a game group, add a related site or alternate title.

Credits (Windows version)

60 People (49 developers, 11 thanks) · View all

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 81% (based on 19 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.9 out of 5 (based on 19 ratings with 1 reviews)

The best game in the series

The Good
The high quality writing and was always the strongest side of the Blackwell series and Blackwell Deception is no different, however in the past games the plot was limited to investigation individual cases of ghosts until you send them to their way in the next world, while this basic plot line still exist in Deception it's integrated into a bigger plot. Another change from the previous game is that the main plots has a personal link to the two protagonists of the game, this true especially for Joey – since this game is the first we get some glimpses to his life before he die and became the Blackwell women spirit guide.

Another plus of Deception is that the game itself has more meat to it, this is the first Blackwell game with a reasonable length of gameplay, unlike the previous ones which were extremely shorts and could be completed in several hours.

Just like all the previous games the puzzles are mainly base on detective work and keeping a close attention to the various conversations and notes during the game, some of them require to activate the grey cells to solve them but their never illogical or purposely hard.

There were some improvement in the game graphics, it now presented with much better looking personal portraits of the speaking characters, with a more cartoonish look to them in contrast to the pixelated ones of the previous games.

The Bad
Despite the improvement of the character portrait art I felt that in all other areas the quality of the art went backward from Blackwell Convergence, the background, animation and character look more crude and less smooth and resemble more to the two first games than the high quality of the third.

The Bottom Line
Blackwell Deception is the finest part in the Blackwell series so far, its contain all of the good qualities of the previous games while improving most of the weak spots in the series other games.

Windows · by Ingsoc (1366) · 2014

Trivia

References

The look of three minor characters (the receptionist, the nurse and the temp-worker agent) is based on long-time fans (and beta testers) of the series.

Analytics

MobyPro Early Access

Upgrade to MobyPro to view research rankings!

Related Games

The Blackwell Convergence
Released 2009 on Windows, Linux, 2014 on Macintosh...
The Blackwell Bundle
Released 2012 on Windows, 2013 on Macintosh, 2015 on Linux
The Blackwell Epiphany
Released 2014 on Windows, 2014 on Macintosh, 2015 on Linux...
The Blackwell Legacy
Released 2006 on Windows, iPhone, 2014 on Linux...
Blackwell Unbound
Released 2007 on Windows, iPhone, 2014 on Linux...
Tecmo's Deception
Released 1996 on PlayStation, 2008 on PlayStation 3, PSP
Dark Deception Chapter 2
Released 2019 on Windows
Dark Deception Chapter 3
Released 2019 on Windows
Dark Deception Chapter 4
Released 2021 on Windows

Identifiers +

  • MobyGames ID: 53340
  • [ Please login / register to view all identifiers ]

Contribute

Are you familiar with this game? Help document and preserve this entry in video game history! If your contribution is approved, you will earn points and be credited as a contributor.

Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Sciere.

Macintosh, Linux added by Plok. iPad, iPhone added by Pseudo_Intellectual.

Additional contributors: Patrick Bregger, ZeTomes.

Game added December 8, 2011. Last modified February 13, 2024.