This next game review is about another AGS game by Wadjet Eye Games. From the company that brought you The Shivah, comes another interesting adventure game called The Blackwell Legacy. Also set in New York City. It tells of the adventures of Rosangela Blackwell, an aspiring writer.
After spreading the ashes of her late Aunt Lauren, she gets a phone call from a psychiatric hospital, where the Doctor tells her of her Aunt’s problem. Then he suggests it runs in her family, as evidenced by her grandmother’s exact same condition, and that she might possibly have the same problem. The Blackwell women, evidently has episodes of craziness. Like pulling out your hair craziness. Running around knocking things over and hurting themselves craziness. The only connection they find is that they seem to be talking about someone named “Joey”. Who Joey is, the doctors don’t know. The doctor gives Rosangela some letters from her Aunt to her family. 
At first the letters seem normal, and then after Lauren moves to New York, her brother Jack notices their mother’s fits of insanity. Screaming, and having fainting spells. Eventually it becomes so bad that they have to commit their mother to a mental institution. Jack later marries and has a daughter, Rosangela. Jack starts noticing Lauren having the same problems. When Rosangela’s parents die, Lauren decides to take care of her. Lauren eventually is in a psychiatric hospital herself. As soon as Rosangela finishes reading her Aunt’s letters something strange starts to happen. She gets a headache and senses something strange. Craziness.
The strange feeling goes away but now when she looks at a picture of her and her Aunt she notices another figure in the picture. A ghastly figure of a man. She starts thinking she’s going crazy when the ghost appears. His name is Joey. Here’s pretty much where the demo ends. More Craziness. In fact this game is full of crazy, but not in a bad way.
Like The Shivah the interface is really easy. Right-click to examine an item that has been highlighted with your mouse, and left-click to interact with it. There’s also only one location to go to as with The Shivah’s demo. But unlike The Shivah demo, the story is more engaging. The story is interesting and not crazy. The game itself is not crazy either, just the Blackwell women.
I found myself wanting to figure out this mystery. Who is Joey after all. Why has he been plaguing the Blackwell women. What is Rosangela to do when she’s facing insanity, or what she thinks is insanity. It’s not like there’s anything wrong with The Shivah, it’s just that the story isn’t as intriguing. There wasn’t really anything in the way of puzzles though, which the demo for The Shivah did have a few. Of course the fact that this didn’t have really any puzzles, but a good story, verses The Shivah which had some puzzles, but the story didn’t really do anything for me, is pure craziness itself.
The graphics are what you would expect from an early 90’s era graphical adventure game. They’re really well done, and similar to The Shivah. The music, leaves a bit to be desired, it’s not terrible, but there’s just something it needs, or doesn’t need. The voice acting also isn’t terrible, but it isn’t great either. Considering that this was Wadjet Eye’s second commercial outing though, I’d say it was good enough. 
I believe this one is worth buying, to see what happens next. I am writing this from the standpoint of the demo, however. Which means I’m not mentioning anything about the trailer, and what the game is supposed to be about. Actually trailer is incorrect, or is it correct. There’s a few scenes shown at the end of the demo, so I guess since it “trails” the demo, it could be considered a trailer. I figure you would want to check into it and discover for yourself whether you would want to buy it rather than telling you what the game is supposed to be about. I, myself, would buy it, if I had any money. Of course I don’t, and that’s partly why I am writing reviews. Hopefully I can make a few bucks from advertising, but I’m crazy so I will just wait until I do. Then I may start going back and re-reviewing these games. So generally I’d say try this out, because it just might be interesting to you, too.
Name: The Blackwell Legacy
Developer: Wadjet Eye Games
Price: $14.99
Final Analysis: An intriguing story, and delightful “Golden-age of adventure games” graphics, make this a must-play for any adventure game enthusiast.
Where to get it: Get the Demo here. Purchase the game here.
Tags: Adventure, ags, fun, game, games, independent, Indie, point'n'click, retro styled, reviews, Wadjet Eye Games, windows
“But unlike The Shivah demo, the story is more engaging. The story is interesting and not crazy. ”
“It’s not like there’s anything wrong with The Shivah, it’s just that the story isn’t as intriguing.”
“The Shivah which had some puzzles, but the story didn’t really do anything for me”
It’s fine to review a game based just on the demo, I guess, but how can you really compare the stories of two games when you’ve only played a small bit of each? In reality, you DON’T KNOW how good the story is in The Shivah, or for that matter how good the story is in this game.
I’m actually only comparing the stories of the two demos. Perhaps I need to make that more clear in the future. Thanks for pointing that out.
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