New game: "The Séance of Blake Manor"

New game!

Developer Spooky Doorway already made an incredible entry in the adventure game business with their two pixel art style Darkside Detective games. Under publishment of Raw Fury, they have now released a totally different game: The Séance of Blake Manor. It's a first person point 'n click game which combines a mouse interface with directional keys to move around the 3D environment; or you could play it with a controller, of course.

How huge is this place?

We find ourselves in Ireland. It's the year 1897. Detective Declan Ward has been summoned by an anynomous party to Blake Manor. A woman, Evelyn Deane, has disappeared. This is linked to a séance that's planned for the weekend. Ward is tasked with figuring out where Evelyn went.

Cozy...

But that's not all... There are seventeen guests staying at the manor, hoping to participate in that séance. One of them is indeed responsible for the fate of Ms Deane. Yet everyone else has their own mysteries for Ward to solve. Doing so will make them change their plans regarding the séance. And once that happens, the dial on a mysterious, green glowing device drops down.

Looks like something out of Steampunk Ghostbusters...

I've played The Séance of Blake Manor for 100 minutes and already two guests have said bye bye to their séance plans. So I think I'm doing a good job. However, Ward only has a good 45 hours to make sure nobody attends the séance. And contrary to regular point 'n click adventure games, almost everything you do here takes time. Each hotspot you examine takes away one minute of your time. You are assigned different tasks over the course of your stay, and they all have a strict deadline. Miss the deadline, or get caught doing something you shouldn't, and it's GAME OVER! Thankfully there's both a manual save system and an autosave function...

I'd barely done anything!

I think I already have ten save files. The Séance of Blake Manor is making me extremely nervous. It looks and feels a bit like a combination of Return of the Obra Dinn with a bit of The Case of the Golden Idol and some Sherlock Holmes thrown in, and also a bit of Cruise for a Corpse and The Colonel's Bequest, in that you need to go to specific places at specific times to get a whiff of all the secrets. There are maps and timetables and connections on a type of deduction board, and frankly I'm very much overwhelmed by it all. I think I'll be seeing that FAIL screen a lot, but for now let's just hope for the best.

The Séance of Blake Manor is over!

Nothing says gothic horror more than an dreary graveyard...

When I first started playing The Séance of Blake Manor, I wasn't sure I would be able to do the job well. The time limit really bothered me. You can't play this game like you would any regular point 'n click adventure game, both regarding dialogue options and examining hotspots. Everything costs time. It's an investigation game, a deduction game, but also a time management game.

I bet the Ark of the Covenant is in here somewhere...

After I finished the second in-game day, however, and I started to experience a kind of snowballing effect, finally putting things together succesfully, solving mysteries and "saving" people from harm during the eponymous séance, nervousness made place for elation and the accompanying adrenaline rush, causing the game to become quite addictive.

Fill in the blanks!

I was astounded by the amount of detail in this game. Not only graphically; the manor is indeed an amazing setting to roam around in, the characters are very recognizable, and each dialogue topic has its own little icon. But that dialogue as well; you can talk to almost everybody about almost each topic. Not everything is voiced, though: only the important bits show some great acting talent from the entire cast.

A whole lot a lecturing going on...

I started Sunday morning at 11 am, which was pretty late thinking of all the things I still wanted to do that day. So I went about my business, at first much more smoothly than on the Saturday, but then right after lunch I found myself once more standing in the middle of the manor's atrium thinking where I was supposed to go next. While a moment before I was never lost for leads, and more importantly, clear ideas on how to actually follow up on them, with everything starting to make sense to me, there were still a couple of not-so-obvious secrets to uncover, which took some extra snooping and questioning and peering a bit closer in a couple of dark corners of the manor.

We're all in the red now!

Then suddenly I had about three in-game hours to kill, because after I finally succeeded in figuring out each character's backstory, for the last mysteries I needed special access to a location that would only be opened up to me at a designated time. I was scared that I might have missed something earlier, so I went around asking people all the questions I thought weren't important and would only suck up precious time. But in the end that didn't really provide me with any new info, except for some extra topics I could read up on in the library but weren't essential for the investigation.

Great job, Spooky Doorway!

The game's final in-game hours blew me away, once again going smoothly. And as the credits rolled after an astounding 25 hours of gaming, I sat staring at my screen feeling sad, because the game was over. The investigation was done. I had figured it all out. And even though it was a tough job in places, and kind of stressfull as well keeping an eye on the time, I thoroughly enjoyed myself. This was an amazing game with captivating gameplay, and if Declan Ward ever goes on another investigation, a new mystery but in the same style as this one, it will be an immediate buy for me!

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. 

Things are getting kinda weird here...

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!

My Adventure Game Top Ten of 2025

My top 10 of 2025!

Here are my top ten adventure games of 2025. This list is based on my personal enjoyment of all 28 games I've played this year - not all point 'n clicks, but one and all great narrative experiences! We had a crazy year and it's actually impossible to make a ranking like this, because all these games are SO good in their own field, it really just comes down to how much fun I had playing them. So even the lower ones are still top notch!

10. Slender Threads

The nightmarish journey in Slender Threads isn’t for the faint of heart, but those with a morbid sense of humor will love the fun of unraveling the delightfully quirky goings-on in the strange town of Villa Ventana. 

9. Rosewater

Its obstacles may not put up much of a fight, but Rosewater’s sharpshooting lies with its wonderful production value and freedom of choice in this character-driven Western, earning itself a big “Yeehaw!” for fun and replayability.

8. The End of The Sun

Exploring the magnificent mythological world of The End of the Sun rivals any vacation you could ever take deep into Central Europe yourself, especially when travelling through time to uncover the Slavic valley dwellers’ intimate personal stories.

7. Blue Prince

The immense puzzle game that is Blue Prince is so multi-layered, it keeps you busy for well over 100 hours as almost every detail matters in one way or another. You're in the position to inherit a huge mansion, but its rooms change daily and puzzling your way to the grand prize is no easy feat! I still haven't "really" finished it, and I'll probably never will...

6. Kathy Rain 2: Soothsayer

Our hopes for a wonderful sequel have come true, as Kathy Rain 2: Soothsayer balances a great dialogue-based serial killer mystery with entertaining puzzles in another sublime point-and-click pixel art adventure game. 

5. The Drifter

The Drifter is an action thriller with supernatural elements, and the game does an excellent job to translate that into an interactive experience, where we put in a sense of urgency which makes the game feel extremely fast-paced. 

4. Dispatch

Dispatch is an interactive animated superhero series filled with dialogue choices and mission management. You play as Robert Robertson, former superhero Mecha Man, who gets recruited by the Superhero Dispatch Network, where he becomes the man in the chair.

3. The Séance Of Blake Manor

The Séance of Blake Manor is one big investigation game where you have to make deductions and decisions and choose how to spend your time. The initial nervousness quickly made place for elation and the accompanying adrenaline rush, causing the search for a missing young woman in supernatural circumstances to become quite addictive.

2. Foolish Mortals

Foolish Mortals  is going to be right up there with old classics. It features beautiful artwork filled with small animations, excellent voice-overs and straightforward inventory puzzles. The story is very engaging, with lots of characters and great dialogue combining background information with clues to the puzzles.

1. Old Skies 

If you are a fan of Wadjet Eye Games, your zeal will be transformed into divine adoration after playing Old Skies. This is just instant classic to me, and it should be instant buy for anyone who's serious about playing adventure games. It doesn't feel like a game; it feels like a work of art. It's entertainment of a whole other level.

AdventureX 2025 - Episode Two: Listen to those voice actors (and also some extra devs)

Dominic Armato!

Highlight of AdventureX 2025, responsible for a full auditorium, was a presentation given by none other than Dominic Armato, voice actor of Monkey Island's Guybrush Threepwood. He talked about impostor syndrome, a heavy case of self-doubt that makes people think they aren't skilled or talented at all, making them constantly fear exposure as a fraud. It even got emotional at one point. After his talk, Dominic was so kind to see his fans, take pictures and sign stuff. He signed my boxes of Curse Of Monkey Island and Escape From Monkey Island! At the Sunday afterparty, we saw him again and had a nice chat, where it became very obvious he would love to return to voice work for adventure games. So if any developers are interested in hiring him: you know where to find him!

I knew Ivy Dupler would be coming to AdventureX, since she posted that on her socials. For two days I'd been keeping an eye out for her. I spotted her once, but she was having lunch and you don't disturb people when they're eating. Finally on Sunday afternoon I saw her again, but she was already talking to one dev or other. Then I saw my chance when she was standing with a dev team I was already familiar with and had grown to love deeply over the course of this weekend: David and Sophie Younger of Inklingwood Studios! So I grabbed my chance, joined the conversation and was able to get my much anticipated selfie with one of my most favorite voice actors, who played the lead in Midnight Margo and had roles in many, many other games, including Twilight Oracle, Kathy Rain 2, Rosewater, Lamplight City, Monorail Stories, and the upcoming Nighthawks!

Ivy Dupler!

 

Most special was meeting recent BAFTA Breakthrough Sally Beaumont near the end of the Sunday afterparty! As with Julia Minamata, she seemed to be all over the place during AdventureX - though she did always wave at me as she was hurrying down some hallway - and she was also part of the comedy writing panel. And suddenly there she was, and we could have our photo moment. There are so many games she has a part in - PRIM, Hob's Barrow, Loco Motive, Harold Halibut, Lucy Dreaming, Blake Manor, and many more - but of course now she's most famous for not only voicing Fia Quinn in Old Skies but also writing for the game alongside Dave Gilbert!

Sally Beaumont!

And while I don't have a photo with her, I also had a short chat with Brogan Farr during the Saturday afterparty! I don't know her very well, but somehow we connected on the socials a little while ago. She has a role in Duck Made of Wood's D3AD HAND, which I played a little of at AdventureX (but more on all those demos in my next blog post!)

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Of course it's only after you hit the publish button and share your blog post about meeting a bunch of adventure game devs on the socials, that you start to think: "Wait a minute, I've met several more people! I just didn't take a picture with them..."

Indeed, I also met the team of Tag of Joy, who made Crowns and Pawns: Kingdom of Deceit, a game I very much enjoyed due its style similar to Broken Sword and Secret Files. This very hip developer team is currenty working with Bill Tiller on a sequel to A Vampyre Story! I better hurry up and finally start playing the original game!

I also met publisher Chris Tikkos of Dionous Games, which was a very hearty encounter. Dionous Games got me into game testing, when they posted an ad looking for testers for Not Another Weekend, which led me to test Lucy Dreaming by Tom Hardwidge, who then suggested I'd become reviewer for the Adventure Game Hotspot! And of course with him being part of the organisation, I met Tom on several occasions during the weekend!

Tom Hardwidge!

A very special meeting was with Kevin Wickenden of Polytely Games who developed Last Christmas, and with whom I once made the jam game The Crete Escape (together with a bunch of other people).

I'm probably still forgetting some others I met, so lets hope my memory will come back when I'm writing my third blog post when I talk about the demos I played!

AdventureX 2025 - Episode One: Game Devs on Parade

Adventure gaming paradise right up these stairs!

I won't lie to you. What I was looking forward to most, attending AdventureX in London for the very first time, was finally meeting all those people I've been writing about and sometimes even directly talking to online for the past two and a half years. When I got back home, I had a hard time explaining to my family and friends why it was such an amazing experience to me, and putting into words what exactly makes it so special. The only way I knew how to do that, was to compare it to a more wider form of popular media where people are revered for their creative output. And the best I could come up with, is this: “It’s the equivalent of going to the Cannes Film Festival, with the big stars accepting you in their midst so you can hang out with them, and they show you sneak previews of their next movies.”

Dave Gilbert of Wadjet Eye Games!

It already started the evening of our arrival in London. At a local bar where we knew a bunch of adventure game community people had gathered, we tried to work up the nerve to go talk to Dave Gilbert of Wadjet Eye Games, when the man himself actually walked up to us instead, apparently knowing fully well who I was! (Which might have something to do with the fact that I was one of the testers of his most recent game Old Skies...)

Adam Riches of Robust Games!

Later that night, a smaller group went to a karaoke room and we joined as well, invited by Laura Cress. Suddenly I found myself sitting next to Adam Riches of Robust Games, whose Loco Motive won the 2024 AGOTY Award, as well as Dave and Treasa McCabe of Spooky Doorway (attending AdventureX to promote their new game The Séance of Blake Manor), among many others (I think there were indeed more people present than were actually allowed in that room...)

David and Sophie Younger of Inklingwood Studios!

So yes, the first day of AdventureX I wasn't able to play any of the demos because I kept meeting people I wanted to talk to and get a selfie with. Pure fanboy style, and I won't apologize for that! Almost immediately I ran into David and Sophie Younger of Inklingwood Studios (as well as Adventure Game Geek!), who had kindly brought me the big box of their game Foolish Mortals which I had ordered from their website (having it delivered to Belgium from the UK would easily cost me the prize of another box at Customs... Thanks a lot, Brexit!)

Jake Prytherch of Beyond Booleans!

I bumped into Jake Prytherch of Beyond Booleans, who makes Lovecraftian horror games like Abscission and Carnival, an upcoming developer who not only still has lots of other stories to tell, but is also a great and very down to earth guy, a real pleasure to hang out with and lots of fun, especially when he's telling the story of how he once met David Hasselhoff! (He's got an amazingly cool picture with him!)

Francisco González of Grundislav Games!

It was great to meet a mix of game developers who only recently started, like Jake, and established names like Francisco González. I remember how nervous I was playing Rosewater this year, hoping to finish it and write the review in time for its release, thinking I wouldn't make the deadline and worried that my words would never do the game justice. But he was very happy with what I'd written! Phew!

Helen Greetham of The Wonder Room!

It took me until the second day before I found the nerve to introduce myself to Helen Greetham of The Wonder Room (previously known as Afoot Games) who made the Sherlockian adventure The Beekeeper's Picnic which I reviewed both for the Adventure Game Hotspot and the Adventure Games Podcast. Such a lovely young lady!

Charles Cecil of Revolution Software!

Revolution Software was at AdventureX as well, to show off Broken Sword 2: The Smoking Mirror Reforged, but Charles Cecil was also giving a presentation. While I was making my rounds of the venue, I suddenly spotted him coming in from the street so I lurked a bit so I could introduce myself as well, namedropping my fellow Adventure Games Podcaster Laura Cress, who I knew had spoken to and interviewed him several times already, to break the ice. I'll never forgive myself that I had to get rid of the boxes of both Lure Of The Temptress and Beneath A Steel Sky when moving house several times... But how could I know back then what a treasure these boxes would turn out to become?

Julia Minamata!

As the weekend drew to a close, at the end of the Sunday evening afterparty, when I thought there would be no new encounters, who suddenly walks past other than Julia Minamata, whose Crimson Diamond was a revelation last year, a return to the text parser in a game inspired by The Colonel's Bequest. I had spotted her around AdventureX before, but always seemingly in a hurry and I didn't dare bother her. But it was great to talk to her and discover she started work on a new game! (I hope that wasn't a secret...)

Look out for two more blog posts (hopefully) soon, one of course about the demos shown at AdventureX, and one about the famous voice actors I met!

AdventureX 2025 - Episode Three: Demos Galore!

James Lightfoot with Sleeptime Village!

After meeting all those game developers and voice actors, finally we reach what AdventureX is all about: both aspiring and seasoned devs showing off their latest creation to the public. There were thirty of them and I'm sorry to say I never got close to playing them all. Decisions, decisions, you know... With so much to do and see and so many people to talk to, so many presentations to attend, these games quickly (and sadly) moved to the background. So I tried my best to reserve all Sunday morning for them.

First I played The Midnight Barber by Omaet Games. A great dev who looked happy someone had found his stand hiding behind the huge white pillar blocking his view, patiently explaining what his game was about and how it worked. So I sat down an enjoyed slowly unfolding a story in a fantasy version of Barcelona in the 1970s by Guitar Heroeing my way with a pair of scissors and a spray bottle. The dev assured me the rhythm game would get more challenging as you progress, so I'm looking forward to jam on those controller buttons, even though I had a bit of a hard time taking in what was going on in the conversation while focussing on my dexterity.

Next I moved on to Ashwood Conspiracy by Yawning Dog Studios, which reminded me of the style and atmosphere of some Cosmic Void games. You play as Marcus, whose uncle has died and you inherit what's left in his storage unit. There are inventory puzzles but also codes to break, which seems to turn this game into a huge escape room. It was a bit too crowded around the demo chair for me to fully concentrate on solving the code puzzles, so I had to cut my session short but not without promising I would continue the demo in the serenity of my own home.

The Tragedy at Deer Creek by Sparrowland fully impressed me. These two brothers have crafted an intriguing story about a photographer travelling to the Alaskan frontier to document an abandoned settlement. It was a bit frustrated at first when the main character refused to pick up anything, which a normal point 'n click adventure protagonist wouldn't have any problem with. It's only after you stumble upon some obstacle and she actually has reason to gather helpful items will she do so. The character animations were a bit slow in my opinion, and I didn't like how you couldn't use the right mouse button to examine hotspots but instead had to use the left one to choose whether to examine or use. The dev was very happy with my feedback, though, and who knows, they might even "fix" some of these issues.

While I was looking for the next demo to play, Duck Made Of Wood almost literally grabbed me and put me in his chair to play D3AD HAND, a comedic point 'n click about a Russian guard at a missile base. I must admit I hadn't played it earlier because the game's militaristic cover didn't really appeal to me. But the game quite surprised me with funny writing and cool puzzles: a gear puzzle, some code breaking, and discovering a password. Here as well I cut the game short after I puzzled my way inside the missile base, where I was left on my own devices with only a cat named Stalin as companion, to continue at a later time at home.

I had already played some demos before coming to AdventureX, like Sleepytime Village by Lightfoot Bros Games and Your Crown Is Mine by Lyyycaena. I even reviewed The Beekeeper's Picnic several times. There were also lots of games of which I already knew I would be playing the full game eventually; they no longer needed to convince me with their demos, so I felt comfortable skipping them for now: City of Voices, The Séance at Blake Manor, Shadows of the Afterland, Ghost Haunting, Legends of Castile and Broken Sword: The Smoking Mirror Reforged (even though I haven't played the first Reforged yet...) I did want to play We Stay Behind by Backwoods Entertainment, but it was always occupied and I didn't get a chance.

And that concluded my first visit at AdventureX! I had a blast of a time these two days. The organisation made sure of that, but also all the people I talked to, not only the game developers and voice actors, but also complete strangers who came up to me and told me how much they liked my reviews and playthrough posts. I definitely wasn't expecting that!

And now I return to my latest review job, and I also hope I can play a couple more games before the end of the year so I can compile a decent top ten and have a good discussion with my fellow podcasters, bloggers and reviewers about which game will deserve the title of Adventure Game Of The Year!

Thanks for reading my blog!