Blackwell Unbound

Blackwell Unbound is the 2nd title in Wadjet Eye's Blackwell series. This is a prequel story, and we now control Rosa's aunt, Lauren. Right from the start, you are introduced to a new mechanic - you can now switch control between Lauren and Joey. Joey is a ghost who acts as a spirit guide, and his aim seems to be to help ghosts leave to the afterlife. Joey phases through walls but can't interact other than using his ghostly power of blowing on things. He can also talk to ghosts. The game does not explain how Lauren first met Joey, and instead, Lauren is comfortable with their ghost-appeasing quest.

Lauren is a chain-smoker and the game keeps count of how many she smokes across the game. I assume there was a way to limit it - maybe reducing the time you control Joey.

One of my complaints about the first game is that the objective was always linear, and the majority of the game was focussed on helping 1 ghost. Now, you are given the objective of helping 2 ghosts, and can switch between these objectives. There is a connecting thread, so there is a certain place you have to discover in order to reach conclusions for both.

Just like the previous game, there's not many items involved, and instead the puzzles involve acquiring information. There is a notebook that sees you combining facts to deduce new information. You use your notepad interface to select topics to discuss and can select the same entry to explore the subject further.

Since it is set in the past, instead of researching using a computer, you need to look up information in a phonebook. This brings back the typing interface that you saw in The Shivah. The phonebook mechanic can be quite clunky for a few reasons. Firstly, it is easy to get confused when you misremember the name/spelling or make typos when entering. Secondly, there's a few instances where it doesn't seem obvious to even find the phone number for the person/place. Thirdly, it is positioned on a table which is really easy to mis-click on the sofa behind it. Finally, sometimes you end up looking up a place/person, travelling there, discovering the name of something else, so have to return to your apartment to look up the next place. It's a bit of tedious travelling.

There's no animated character portraits when characters are talking which is a bit of a step back. The voice acting is still inconsistently recorded and still has breathy dialogue for some characters.

In the options, you can enable Director's Commentary, and there's the one from the original release, in addition to the modern commentary for the re-release. It is not just Dave Gilbert, but there's commentary from the artist as well.

The game feels like it has more substance to it, but then I actually completed this a bit quicker at 3.2 hours. I think it improves on the first game in some ways but not in others. I quite enjoyed resolving the saxophone-playing ghost story, but the ghost at the construction site had some weak moments.

The twist is a good idea, but then the way Lauren resolves it seems out of character. The game also doesn’t explain Lauren’s health issues which the first game implied had a link to Joey. I wonder if this will be explored in the later instalments.