The rain taps fast on the window. You walk into the hall and see something in the distance. It is a man arguing with a young boy. As you approach you see the man strike the boy and send him toppling down the stairs then they both vanish. What did I just see? Was that real? Then I look to the left and a painting of the man stands there. A man who has been dead for decades.
Set in 1920’s Scotland. One of the oldest families in Scotland, the Gordons, have many secrets, lies and unusual deaths. You play the game as David Gordon following the events after his father has recently committed suicide. David has lived in India his entire life but must journey to his father’s house, The Black Mirror House.
This isn’t the first time The Black Mirror house has been seen. There have been three previous games and the first one was set in the manor. It is so interesting to see how the series went from a 2D point and click which was released in 2003 to a 3D game in 2017. It is also nice for fans of the original game to see how the Black Mirror House has changed in the past 14 years.
There he meets hesitation from his family members who are strangers to him but they each have their secrets and David has to find out what they are hiding. I really enjoyed the mystery side of this game. They were a little predictable but they made the characters backstories better and made every character relevant to the storyline.
The game reminds me of Cluedo but in 3D and more in-depth. There are mysteries in every room of The Black Mirror House and with each clue you are brought closer to another death in the house. I really liked that no one was safe in this game. You had no idea who would be dying next. One thing I felt was missed for a story based and option for dialogue game was ramifications for what you say. What you choose doesn’t have an effect on the characters and finale.
The soundtrack, sound effects and lighting had a huge effect on the mood of the game to make it more horror. However, a lot of the time you are walking round in the darkness guessing where you are going. You spend a lot of the game waiting for Dr Farber to catch up with the candle to light what is around you.
The camera is quite hard to control as in a room there might be 3 different camera points that switch as you enter a certain part of the room. The problem with this is that it changes your walking controls so you end up randomly walking in a different direction.
Overall I really enjoyed this game. I think the mysteries alongside the soundtrack and lighting made the game an amazing addition to the gothic horror genre. There was one bit of the game where you are crawling through a walk space in the house and there is a shadow at the end of the corridor that really had me on the edge of my seat. There was many jump scares as well that gave the game so much more weight.
It is a great story based game with a lot of information and things to find out. The puzzles are quite challenging but they were very interesting. It only took about six and a half hours so it isn’t an overly long game but it is just enough to really get stuck into and complete.
GameCritUK 