The Black Mirror

Brief Description of The Black Mirror

Samuel Gordon has returned to the family home, Black Mirror Castle, after the death of William. Samuel is suspicious of the death, and begins to investigate what happened to William and what was he last working on.

The scenery of this game is lush and detailed. The people on the other hand seem to be laid over the background and they aren't nearly as compelling. The game story is great though, you play on because what's happening is intriguing.

Game play and hints

The game is completely mouse driven. There is a set of gears in the upper right corner which is the main menu. Along the bottom of the screen is your inventory. These only appear when the cursor is in the correct position.

The puzzles to solve in this game make sense in context and aren't of the "throw this in to make it a longer game" variety. Usually either you should find clues on how to solve the puzzle or it makes sense. There were two though, that I had to pause the game to find out more information before I could solve the puzzles (hint: do you know the zodiac symbols?)

This is a game where left and right clicks may do different things. Any object you may interact with on the game screen will change the cursor to red. A basic strategy for the game is to left click on an item until nothing new happens, then try right clicking. If the cursor goes back to silver, you have done all you can with the object.

Samuel may refuse to interact with an object until he has a reason to do so. He won't pick up and keep a key to the cellar until he must enter it. This means that you may have to closely examine an area several times because Samuel has been ignoring an item. Samuel also knows when he shouldn't leave an area until particular things are accomplished which means you can be certain that he's only willing to leave if you have done everything there.

Save early, save often. There are a number of places in the game where death is possible. They usually come with very little warning that something ahead may be fatal, next thing you know, you're looking at the gravestone of one Samuel Gordon.

Gripes about The Black Mirror

The voice actor for the main character enunciates beautifully, clearly and with no heart. You cannot fault his diction, but it's hard to connect with the character because he has so little emotion.

Yet another game that suffers from sound loops that are much too short in places. The atmospheric music is generally good, but much too short in a few locations that you travel to a lot.

Come back later...there are a few times when you ran around in circles because you are waiting for someone to finish something. This is not fun.

The ending of the game. I won't explain why, but it is a gripe.

Conclusion for The Black Mirror

This game does have good puzzles, interesting storyline and moves along fairly well. It also has some "hunt the pixel" times when the object you need is quite small, some gore/gruesome scenes and sudden death does lurk around some corners.

Highly recommended for experienced adventurers, not recommended for the faint of heart or impatient players. The end of the game wasn't what I expected at all.

Some final thoughts on the game.

Another fine adventure game. A bit too gruesome for younger players, and not meant for the faint at heart either.