Sunday morning at "The Séance of Blake Manor"

When in doubt...

After the quick Friday evening arrival, I woke up Saturday morning at The Séance of Blake Manor, surrounded by a coachload of suspects, one of whom is supposedly responsible for the disappearance of Evelyn Deane. So I went around questioning them. Until I found a key. And then another. And suddenly I had access to a whole bunch of rooms of the other guests. And people who read my blog and reviews probably know how much I love snooping around in places I shouldn't be.

Yay, maps!

I felt a bit like Grace Nakimura sneaking into each and every Rennes-le-Château hotel room in Gabriel Knight 3: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned. I found lots of documents and clues, but I didn't feel like I was making much progress. After "saving" the first two people, nothing much happened, for a very long time. The game did urge me to investigate rooms and suspects even further, but I didn't know where to go, what to do or who to talk to in order to succesfully complete those tasks. It is indeed one big investigation game where you have to make those deductions and decisions and choose how to spend your time. And I had this constant feeling that I wasn't very good at it. Probably because all other mystery games often hold your hand and guide you along a bit too much.

I often feel so lost in this game...

Then finally, I made some headway near the end of Saturday when I could connect some dots and uncovered some secrets. With five people "saved", either by them chosen not to attend the séance or protected from its evil effects one way or another, and with a bunch of mysteries solved, I feel like I'm getting the hang of this game. I even "cracked" some codes, but still not enough to my liking; there are at least two more locked places which I hope contain the final clues I need to wrap up some of the mysteries.

Lots of stuff hidden in and around this mansion...

Right when I was finally able to search Evelyn Deane's room, the clock struck 9 pm and the game automatically transported me to the masked ball. I was kinda bummed out by that, and seemed once again proof that I was being too slow. I had hoped to skip out on the ball and burgle some more rooms instead, but at least the whole scene took a Lynchian turn, and I saw some of my assumptions about the supernatural goings-on in this manor confirmed. 

So after 14,5 hours of gaming, it's now 11 am on Sunday morning, a brand new day, and I got lots of new leads to follow. I also know one extra location will upon up to me soon, so I hope I can finally go "save" the majority of the guests now!