A new film opens to rave reviews, despite its bloody history. A beautiful uptown office remains unoccupied, despite its prime location. A downtown artist berates himself for selling out, while a Wall Street investor congratulates himself on a job well done. Just normal life in the big city? Or is somthing more sinister binding these events together? Bizarre connections are a dime a dozen for the Blackwell family, but just how far back to they go? Medium Rosa Blackwell and her spirit guide Joey Mallone are about to find out.
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Wow, the series just keeps getting better. I liked the stronger noir vibes in Unbound, but everything else about Convergence was another step forward.
Most importantly, there were no puzzles that made me feel like I needed to mind meld with Dave Gilbert to solve. That's a big sticking point for me in the point and click genre, so it was nice to avoid for once. They also finally let you ask your spirit partner for a tip on what to do next if your stuck, which is really nice for the times when you suspect you missed something but aren't sure where you're best off spending your time looking. I had to pay attention, but I was never frustrated, so the gameplay was spot on for my preferences.
The story delves a bit deeper into the universe's lore and is even more introspective with the characters motivations and emotional states. The character writing and voice acting remain strong points for the game. As with the previous Blackwell games, it does a lot with a very short 3 hour run time.
The art moves to a higher resolution while maintaining the same overall style, which I enjoyed. The music brought in quite a bit of jazz influences from the second game, while largely returning to the more modern sound track of the first game. Very well done.
Most importantly, there were no puzzles that made me feel like I needed to mind meld with Dave Gilbert to solve. That's a big sticking point for me in the point and click genre, so it was nice to avoid for once. They also finally let you ask your spirit partner for a tip on what to do next if your stuck, which is really nice for the times when you suspect you missed something but aren't sure where you're best off spending your time looking. I had to pay attention, but I was never frustrated, so the gameplay was spot on for my preferences.
The story delves a bit deeper into the universe's lore and is even more introspective with the characters motivations and emotional states. The character writing and voice acting remain strong points for the game. As with the previous Blackwell games, it does a lot with a very short 3 hour run time.
The art moves to a higher resolution while maintaining the same overall style, which I enjoyed. The music brought in quite a bit of jazz influences from the second game, while largely returning to the more modern sound track of the first game. Very well done.
Sights & Sounds
- After a pair of games with some pretty mediocre pixel art, Blackwell Unbound finally manages to be easier on the eyes. The environment and character art see some notable improvements here
- The soundtrack is as good as ever. The walking basslines and wailing saxes bring those noir undertones to the foreground. Seriously, the saxophonist was on point the entire time
- The VA work is of the same amateurish quality as the previous two titles in this series. It sounds like a bunch of community theater people with those snowball mics from 2004
Story & Vibes
- The narrative makes a big step forward this time. The cases in the previous games sometimes felt a little disjointed or wandering despite their short runtimes. Here, though, the initial mysteries all blend together in a satisfying (if slightly telegraphed) climax
- The vibes become a little more tense this time around as some cracks begin to widen in Joey and Rosangela's partnership. They tend to be more curt and frustrated with each other in their dialogue, and by the end of the game, it becomes apparent that Joey isn't being totally upfront about his history
- As a result, there's a certain sense of unease that permeates this act of Blackwell
Playability & Replayability
- It's a point-and-click adventure game. You know the drill
- As such, there's not too many comments I can make on this front. I will say that the puzzle design is fairly bad in this game. The answer to several puzzles involves using the search engine on your computer. "Just Google it" is never a satisfying solution
- Probably not circling back to this one; I'd rather see where the story is headed in the next two games
Overall Impressions & Performance
- I'm invested because I'm interested to see where the story goes, but even after closing the book on the Blackwell series' third game, I'm beginning to wonder whether all the good elements are ever going to come together at once. A game with the personality of Legacy, the puzzles of Unbound, and the cohesiveness of Convergence would be really good, but as it stands, these have all been 6-7/10 games so far
- I played it on the Steam Deck; the trackpads make point and clicks really easy to play on the couch
Final Verdict
- 6/10. I'm continuing to keep my hopes up that I'll eventually really like a game in this series. I like the premise and the overarching story, but Convergence fails to impress as it moves the franchise forward
- After a pair of games with some pretty mediocre pixel art, Blackwell Unbound finally manages to be easier on the eyes. The environment and character art see some notable improvements here
- The soundtrack is as good as ever. The walking basslines and wailing saxes bring those noir undertones to the foreground. Seriously, the saxophonist was on point the entire time
- The VA work is of the same amateurish quality as the previous two titles in this series. It sounds like a bunch of community theater people with those snowball mics from 2004
Story & Vibes
- The narrative makes a big step forward this time. The cases in the previous games sometimes felt a little disjointed or wandering despite their short runtimes. Here, though, the initial mysteries all blend together in a satisfying (if slightly telegraphed) climax
- The vibes become a little more tense this time around as some cracks begin to widen in Joey and Rosangela's partnership. They tend to be more curt and frustrated with each other in their dialogue, and by the end of the game, it becomes apparent that Joey isn't being totally upfront about his history
- As a result, there's a certain sense of unease that permeates this act of Blackwell
Playability & Replayability
- It's a point-and-click adventure game. You know the drill
- As such, there's not too many comments I can make on this front. I will say that the puzzle design is fairly bad in this game. The answer to several puzzles involves using the search engine on your computer. "Just Google it" is never a satisfying solution
- Probably not circling back to this one; I'd rather see where the story is headed in the next two games
Overall Impressions & Performance
- I'm invested because I'm interested to see where the story goes, but even after closing the book on the Blackwell series' third game, I'm beginning to wonder whether all the good elements are ever going to come together at once. A game with the personality of Legacy, the puzzles of Unbound, and the cohesiveness of Convergence would be really good, but as it stands, these have all been 6-7/10 games so far
- I played it on the Steam Deck; the trackpads make point and clicks really easy to play on the couch
Final Verdict
- 6/10. I'm continuing to keep my hopes up that I'll eventually really like a game in this series. I like the premise and the overarching story, but Convergence fails to impress as it moves the franchise forward
Oproti „druhému“ dílu zlepšení po všech stránkách, ale oproti prvnímu ústupek v délce i obtížnosti (a to rozhodně nešlo o kdovíjak dlouhý či náročný titul). Dvě originální mechaniky (propojování vodítek v bloku a fingování rozhovorů pro možnost dialogů s Joeym mezi lidmi), které to nejvíce odlišovaly od zástupu tuctových XY indie adventur, jsou ty tam. Zbývá sympatické duo hlavních hrdinů a jejich vzájemná škorpící se chemie a… A to je tak nějak vše.
Third instalment of the mystery solving sereis. You can see the lore expanding and how it ties the previous entries together in an effective way.
Played on Steam Deck
Played on Steam Deck
In this game, you can see how the series has improved the in-game art and somewhat looks better than Gemini Rue, though I had no idea which one is better. A very fun game with same controls as last time, only now you can't combine notes in the note book and draw up conclusions.
It's tricky for me to review these games individually, but this one was just as excellent as the rest...really where the series truly got going