What better way to start an adventure game forum by having community playthroughs of adventure games? And what better game to get started with than a true modern classic, and the beginning of a wonderful friendship?
![[Image: rb9hDM2.png]](https://i.imgur.com/rb9hDM2.png)
We're going to experiment with the format a bit, so for this one I'll document my playthrough over the course of three postings, and encourage everyone to play along, share your memories, ask for help if you're stuck, review what you particularly love or hate, and most important of all: Have a great time (re-)discovering a wonderful game! Note that while this initial post does not contain spoilers, anything else in this thread might.
Our first game is 2006's The Blackwell Legacy, by Dave Gilbert's Wadjet Eye Games, which was a smashing success and highly rated on Metacritic. Indie games were still commercially establishing themselves - Xbox Live Arcade had only launched a year earlier, and the first Humble Indie Bundle wouldn't arrive until nearly 4 years later. And adventure games were in a bit of a slump commercially. There were still some relatively heavy hitters (like Dreamfall: The longest Journey, the Runaway games, or Fahrenheit/Indigo Prophecy), and there was a pretty large homebrew scene making interesting games in AGS and other engines. But The Blackwell Legacy stood out, as a game that was indie and yet commercial, homebrew and yet professional, interesting and intriguing.
The Blackwell Legacy is a remake of a 2003 game called Bestowers of Eternity - Part One, which never received a Part Two. I have not played Bestowers, but one look at the screenshots shows me that Blackwell Legacy is a massive leap in production values. Sure, both the graphics and the voice acting still had a long way to go, but what's there is actually decent. And the game has not one, but two director's commentary track (the second one was released 5 years after the initial release), plus a voiceover blooper reel. The game is readily available on Steam and GOG, the latter being a bundle of the first four (out of five) games. At the time of writing, GOG's bundle is discounted to $5 from the usual $15.
I can't believe it's going to be 20 years old next year. I do remember excitedly waiting for the later games in the series to be released from 2009 through 2014. So without further ado, let's load up the game and start playing!
Day One
![[Image: FTPpBt8.png]](https://i.imgur.com/FTPpBt8.png)
The game begins with our protagonist, Rosangela Blackwell, standing on the brooklin bridge and scattering the ashes of her late aunt (I wonder if that's legal? Also, from personal experience, I was surprised how dense and heavy ashes can be - I assume their depiction in The Big Lebowski was exaggerated for comedic effect). As she is leaving, mysterious smoke rises from the ashes, and the opening credits roll.
Afterwards, we find ourselves in front of our home and are ready to play the game. The interface is very straight forward: The right mouse button is used to look at stuff, the left mouse button is used to interact with stuff. If you move the mouse to the top of the screen, there's the inventory (we are currently holding a Letter). You can look at stuff in the inventory by right-clicking, and combine inventory items by left-clicking and then clicking on other inventory items. You can not use inventory items on stuff in the scene - the mouse pointer reverts to the normal pointer when you move it down. This is not a bug, but I will admit that it's definitely unusual to not have direct "use item on something in the scene" control.
Since we're about to experience our first puzzle, I am going to stop here for now to give you all a chance to load up the game and play along!
We're going to experiment with the format a bit, so for this one I'll document my playthrough over the course of three postings, and encourage everyone to play along, share your memories, ask for help if you're stuck, review what you particularly love or hate, and most important of all: Have a great time (re-)discovering a wonderful game! Note that while this initial post does not contain spoilers, anything else in this thread might.
Our first game is 2006's The Blackwell Legacy, by Dave Gilbert's Wadjet Eye Games, which was a smashing success and highly rated on Metacritic. Indie games were still commercially establishing themselves - Xbox Live Arcade had only launched a year earlier, and the first Humble Indie Bundle wouldn't arrive until nearly 4 years later. And adventure games were in a bit of a slump commercially. There were still some relatively heavy hitters (like Dreamfall: The longest Journey, the Runaway games, or Fahrenheit/Indigo Prophecy), and there was a pretty large homebrew scene making interesting games in AGS and other engines. But The Blackwell Legacy stood out, as a game that was indie and yet commercial, homebrew and yet professional, interesting and intriguing.
The Blackwell Legacy is a remake of a 2003 game called Bestowers of Eternity - Part One, which never received a Part Two. I have not played Bestowers, but one look at the screenshots shows me that Blackwell Legacy is a massive leap in production values. Sure, both the graphics and the voice acting still had a long way to go, but what's there is actually decent. And the game has not one, but two director's commentary track (the second one was released 5 years after the initial release), plus a voiceover blooper reel. The game is readily available on Steam and GOG, the latter being a bundle of the first four (out of five) games. At the time of writing, GOG's bundle is discounted to $5 from the usual $15.
I can't believe it's going to be 20 years old next year. I do remember excitedly waiting for the later games in the series to be released from 2009 through 2014. So without further ado, let's load up the game and start playing!
Day One
The game begins with our protagonist, Rosangela Blackwell, standing on the brooklin bridge and scattering the ashes of her late aunt (I wonder if that's legal? Also, from personal experience, I was surprised how dense and heavy ashes can be - I assume their depiction in The Big Lebowski was exaggerated for comedic effect). As she is leaving, mysterious smoke rises from the ashes, and the opening credits roll.
Afterwards, we find ourselves in front of our home and are ready to play the game. The interface is very straight forward: The right mouse button is used to look at stuff, the left mouse button is used to interact with stuff. If you move the mouse to the top of the screen, there's the inventory (we are currently holding a Letter). You can look at stuff in the inventory by right-clicking, and combine inventory items by left-clicking and then clicking on other inventory items. You can not use inventory items on stuff in the scene - the mouse pointer reverts to the normal pointer when you move it down. This is not a bug, but I will admit that it's definitely unusual to not have direct "use item on something in the scene" control.
Since we're about to experience our first puzzle, I am going to stop here for now to give you all a chance to load up the game and play along!
This post was last modified: 09-27-2025, 03:15 PM by MenhirMike.
What a great start.
So, Rosangela just scattered her late Aunt's ashes, and we'll find ourselves in front of our home, ready to rest and relax. Except that some kid is blocking entrance to our front door. He says his name is Jim Burdo, and he's the replacement doorman because the regular doorman is on strike. And he doesn't recognize us and won't let us enter our home. We can plead with him, threaten violence, offer to walk up and show that our apartment key works in our door, but no dice, Jim is determined to not let us in. Unfortunately, Rosangela doesn't have her ID on her either, so we're S.O.L., until Jim tells us that if we have someone to vouch for us, that would be the ticket. We learn that Rosangela had lived in that place for 5 years, but doesn't know a single one of her neighbors.
![[Image: o5SzWix.png]](https://i.imgur.com/o5SzWix.png)
As someone that used to live in an apartment complex, I never related with an adventure game protagonist more than with Rosangela right now. Most apartments I lived in where revolving doors where people stayed a year at most, and I know more of the regulars at my local pub than neighbors in any place I've lived in the past 15 years.
Speaking of relatable, the game (and series) is set in real-world New York City in the modern day (well, 2006-ish) and features several real-world locations. The director's commentary is highly recommended on a second playthrough, Gilbert gives good insight and is delightful to listen to. I've never lived in New York City, but I wonder how many Yankees get a kick of seeing their city in the game. Seeing New York in fictional media is probably about as rare as weekdays ending in "-day", but still, it's always nice to see a slice of home?
Anyway, back to the game. Jim Burdo tells us that our next-door neighbor Nishanti Sharma should be at Washington Square Park. This opens up a new location to travel to, and we just solved the first puzzle of the game, a dialogue puzzle. But before we go to the park, the game also reminds us that we have a Letter in our inventory, which we can right click to read.
It is written by Dr. Donald Quentin, who was our aunt's primary care physician at Bellevue Medical Hospical, and asks us to pay him a visit. The obvious way forward is to go to Washington square park, so let's head to the Bellevue psychiatric hospital.
![[Image: rGfHhAe.png]](https://i.imgur.com/rGfHhAe.png)
Man, talk about a dump! With the flickering lights and the torn of flooring, it definitely fits the cliche. Talking to Dr. Quentin reveals that our Aunt - Lauren Blackwell - has been in the psychiatric ward for 20 years. Rosangela visited her throughout that time because Lauren was the only family that Rosangela had. We learn that Lauren was mostly catatonic throughout the time, and the clinic could never find out the reason behind her ailment. And to drop another worry on us, Dr. Quentin mentions that we might have hereditary dementia because both our grandmother (Patricia Blackwell) and her daughter had the same mental collapse. It is also revealed that without sedation, Lauren had massive outbursts and had to be restrained. Both women mentioned the name "Joey" in one of their lucid moments. And we're being told that some documents of our aunt are being sent to our home.
![[Image: mf2foSe.png]](https://i.imgur.com/mf2foSe.png)
So while this visit at the hospital gave us more questions than answers, it does reveal a lot about our family and lets me know to expect another lore dump once we manage to get into our apartment. Let's tackle that problem, and head to Washington square park.
Man, I LOVE the music in this location. It's the perfect cozy park music, until it suddently turns a bit dark and foreboding. There is a dog park that is closed until further notice, so nothing to do but go to the fountain where we hear a flute playing. This is Nishanti, playing a Bansuri flute in front of a crowd. Rosangela does not want to barge in and talk to her while Nishanti is playing, which is yet another thing I can relate to. I notice a dog that's leashed to a trash can, and that seems to want to follow us around. Eventually I figure that if I walk around the light pole, the leash stretches to it's full length and the dog barks. That's right, rope physics!
![[Image: qYSw42m.png]](https://i.imgur.com/qYSw42m.png)
This is Nishanti's dog, Moti. And unlike people, the dog seems to like us! Nishanti of course recognizes us immediately as her next door neighbor, and offers to vouch for us. I only just met her, and I already like Nishanti a lot! During this park section, Rosangela complains about headaches and slightly faints once, which worries Nishanti. Back at our home, Jim Burdo lets us in, Nishanti invites us to stop by whenever we want, and we offer her to call us Rosa.
Finally, we made it home, and this is what I'd consider the end of the tutorial section of the game. Next up will be the event that really thrusts us into the plot, so I'll leave that to tomorrow's post (also because I had some unexpected stuff come up today and couldn't write everything up as much as I wanted to).
![[Image: W7CqHoN.png]](https://i.imgur.com/W7CqHoN.png)
As someone that used to live in an apartment complex, I never related with an adventure game protagonist more than with Rosangela right now. Most apartments I lived in where revolving doors where people stayed a year at most, and I know more of the regulars at my local pub than neighbors in any place I've lived in the past 15 years.
Speaking of relatable, the game (and series) is set in real-world New York City in the modern day (well, 2006-ish) and features several real-world locations. The director's commentary is highly recommended on a second playthrough, Gilbert gives good insight and is delightful to listen to. I've never lived in New York City, but I wonder how many Yankees get a kick of seeing their city in the game. Seeing New York in fictional media is probably about as rare as weekdays ending in "-day", but still, it's always nice to see a slice of home?
Anyway, back to the game. Jim Burdo tells us that our next-door neighbor Nishanti Sharma should be at Washington Square Park. This opens up a new location to travel to, and we just solved the first puzzle of the game, a dialogue puzzle. But before we go to the park, the game also reminds us that we have a Letter in our inventory, which we can right click to read.
It is written by Dr. Donald Quentin, who was our aunt's primary care physician at Bellevue Medical Hospical, and asks us to pay him a visit. The obvious way forward is to go to Washington square park, so let's head to the Bellevue psychiatric hospital.
Man, talk about a dump! With the flickering lights and the torn of flooring, it definitely fits the cliche. Talking to Dr. Quentin reveals that our Aunt - Lauren Blackwell - has been in the psychiatric ward for 20 years. Rosangela visited her throughout that time because Lauren was the only family that Rosangela had. We learn that Lauren was mostly catatonic throughout the time, and the clinic could never find out the reason behind her ailment. And to drop another worry on us, Dr. Quentin mentions that we might have hereditary dementia because both our grandmother (Patricia Blackwell) and her daughter had the same mental collapse. It is also revealed that without sedation, Lauren had massive outbursts and had to be restrained. Both women mentioned the name "Joey" in one of their lucid moments. And we're being told that some documents of our aunt are being sent to our home.
So while this visit at the hospital gave us more questions than answers, it does reveal a lot about our family and lets me know to expect another lore dump once we manage to get into our apartment. Let's tackle that problem, and head to Washington square park.
Man, I LOVE the music in this location. It's the perfect cozy park music, until it suddently turns a bit dark and foreboding. There is a dog park that is closed until further notice, so nothing to do but go to the fountain where we hear a flute playing. This is Nishanti, playing a Bansuri flute in front of a crowd. Rosangela does not want to barge in and talk to her while Nishanti is playing, which is yet another thing I can relate to. I notice a dog that's leashed to a trash can, and that seems to want to follow us around. Eventually I figure that if I walk around the light pole, the leash stretches to it's full length and the dog barks. That's right, rope physics!
This is Nishanti's dog, Moti. And unlike people, the dog seems to like us! Nishanti of course recognizes us immediately as her next door neighbor, and offers to vouch for us. I only just met her, and I already like Nishanti a lot! During this park section, Rosangela complains about headaches and slightly faints once, which worries Nishanti. Back at our home, Jim Burdo lets us in, Nishanti invites us to stop by whenever we want, and we offer her to call us Rosa.
Finally, we made it home, and this is what I'd consider the end of the tutorial section of the game. Next up will be the event that really thrusts us into the plot, so I'll leave that to tomorrow's post (also because I had some unexpected stuff come up today and couldn't write everything up as much as I wanted to).
Missed this one back in 2006. I'll play along. I've played to where you have, and I have these thoughts:
- Its shocking how dated a game from this millennium can feel. Time flies, huh? 20 years indeed. Unfortunately, my current gaming setup is controller-based, which is not ideal here. I played with controller for this session and it worked but sucked, I'll see what I can do for next play session. This is a Me problem.
- Its also not only the lack of controller conveniences which date this game. Little story details, like a teenager with a mobile phone being something the protagonist doesn't expect, also feel dated.
- I have to admit, there's been no real hook so far. Auntie's madness and subsequent medical abuse sucks for her, but that's about it really. I've read the story description given on online storefronts so I know there's more to this and you make it sound like the plot kicks into gear soon. Good. About time.
- The pixel art is nice. I'm liking the character overworld art most of all. The portraits are a bit static but I do like the hue shifting in the shading. The environment art is fine - a bit bland but fine.
- I ended up doing things in the opposite order - solving the dog puzzle and then visiting the hospital. Its nice to have options on what order to do things.
This post was last modified: 09-28-2025, 08:41 AM by gary.
![[Image: untitled.webp]](https://i.postimg.cc/QdRgk9xG/untitled.webp)
Never played this one and it's the occasion !
Played until where you are and here is my first impression :
-The game is pretty. There is not too much details and the portraits can be a little stiff, but I think it work well here. Even if the backgrounds have a little scaling problem (the trashcan bigger than you is a bit funny to me). The voice work is... ok. Not bad but not good either. Voices are matching characters so far tho.
-Like gary^ I've done things in a different order : first the dog puzzle, then the hospital. I've read about it in the letter, and it's nice to be able to do things in the order you want.
-I'm not really impressed by the story and the puzzles so far, but as we are still in the very beginning of the game, I'll see when we get farther. No point in reviewing this when only the tutorial has been played !
So far so good !
Played until where you are and here is my first impression :
-The game is pretty. There is not too much details and the portraits can be a little stiff, but I think it work well here. Even if the backgrounds have a little scaling problem (the trashcan bigger than you is a bit funny to me). The voice work is... ok. Not bad but not good either. Voices are matching characters so far tho.
-Like gary^ I've done things in a different order : first the dog puzzle, then the hospital. I've read about it in the letter, and it's nice to be able to do things in the order you want.
-I'm not really impressed by the story and the puzzles so far, but as we are still in the very beginning of the game, I'll see when we get farther. No point in reviewing this when only the tutorial has been played !
So far so good !
I am playing this game with the commentary on since it's a replay, AND I AM LOVING THE HELL OUT OF IT. SO MANY NICE DETAILS AND INFORMATION.
Also, Jesus Christ I somehow did the dog puzzle, but I feel there's a real possibility someone would get stuck here and hate the game.
Also, Jesus Christ I somehow did the dog puzzle, but I feel there's a real possibility someone would get stuck here and hate the game.
I guess this could be a good opportunity to have a playthrough with the commentary track on. I don't think it had registered with me how long ago this game came out!
Despite playing quite a lot of Wadjet Eye's output, their games have not clicked with me. And I'm at a loss as to exactly why. All the ingredients seem to be there, yet I just don't connect for some reason.
Despite playing quite a lot of Wadjet Eye's output, their games have not clicked with me. And I'm at a loss as to exactly why. All the ingredients seem to be there, yet I just don't connect for some reason.
Hi LeftHandedGuitarist! And gary and Sunny!
This game captured something a lot of people were looking for at the time, curious to see how it comes off twenty years later.
The visual style is a bit sparse. It looks good, it's consistent but not very exciting. Which may add to the experience of the game, there is a coziness to it. It's easy to read. And the appartment is pretty cute. I like the plants.
This game captured something a lot of people were looking for at the time, curious to see how it comes off twenty years later.
The visual style is a bit sparse. It looks good, it's consistent but not very exciting. Which may add to the experience of the game, there is a coziness to it. It's easy to read. And the appartment is pretty cute. I like the plants.