Well, this is the first game in the series that takes a bit of a step back.

The art just isn't quite as good as Convergence. The portraits lost their animation while talking, which, given how much talking there is in the game, makes everything feel more static. The character sprites also seem to have gone in an odd direction, maybe more cartoony? Whatever the case, I'm not the biggest fan of Rosa's new sprite in particular, which is unfortunate since you're looking at it for 90% of the game.

The individual cases and their side stories overall didn't feel quite as compelling as previous entries to me. The writing was still good, I think it was mainly that "college student" and "office temp" aren't quite as inherently interesting as "formerly homeless artist" or "jazz musician" for me. I think it was more of an atmosphere thing than a writing thing.

Some of the puzzles were a bit more intricate than necessary (e.g., getting the key from the nursing home), and from time to time the solution was a bit obscure. That said, I only resorted to looking things up in one instance, and I'd actually already solved the puzzle, I just didn't know how to reset it to do the correct solution.

Of course, those are relatively minor issues. Deception had double the runtime of previous entries (~6 hours), which gave it more room to breathe and feel like a complete experience in its own right. The main characters and overall plot was great. Joey, in particular, really had some good, emotional beats this time around. The introduction of the big bad may be a little cheesy by some standards, but I loved it.

All in all, it was still a great experience, and I may not have even had those minor quibbles if I didn't like the previous games in the series so much.

Dosud nejlepší epizoda, která již není jen "sympatická a s příslibem", ale konečně je ten příslib i naplněn v podobě kvalitní adventury. Děj konečně působí celistvě a jako skutečně vyšetřování "na vlastní pěst", hádanky jsou logické (až na jednu podpásovku) a využívající netradičních mechanik (kombinování poznámek je zpět!), je třeba se více než kdy dříve uchýlit ke spolupráci obou hlavních protagonistů a i styl podání příběhu již není tak "prvoplánově" laciný, kdy si postavy spíše potřebné řekli, než aby se to skutečně událo. Vše je tedy změna k lepšímu a tak jediným krokem zpět je podivná animace postav. Všichni chodí jak na chůdách a nikdo neohýbá kolena, což působí značně znepokojivě. Každopádně spokojenost a nejlepší možná pozvánka na závěrečnou část pentalogie.

👾 The Blackwell Deception (🇺🇸 2011)

Another solid graphic adventure on the Blackwell series. It doesn’t build much on the lore of the previous entries though. Enjoyable.

🎮 Played on Steam Deck

Rating: 👻👻👻🗽▫️

One hell of a ending with this game. It opens the way up for a sequel that is currently in the making. You find that many of the stories are all linked in one way or another and learn more about the spiritual world. Another great game from Wadjet Eye Games.

Edit: There's not much I can really add to this review without creating spoilers, but like the previous ones you solve the issues that are keeping the dead bound to this realm, but also, learn of how things are linked between this game and the previous ones!