The genre of point and click is now on its way to extinction, having given away masterpieces that perhaps the new generation know only in name.
There are the various Deponia, it is true, and occasionally some indie. Some want to see modern heirs in the graphic adventure of Telltale Games, and at least in part they are right.
Black Mirror takes care of the deficiency (no, the Sky TV series has nothing to do with it), developed by King Art Games, the guys from Raven and The Book of Unwritten Tales, and published by THQ Nordic. If you remember a homonymous title published in 2003 on PC, forget it.
Black Mirror is a reboot, a new beginning. It inherits part of the mechanics of the predecessor, and its atmospheres, but does not require previous knowledge of any kind.And it is a real pity that as a first beginning it does not set up other solid foundations than the plot, nor a satisfactory technical sector.
A LITTLE ‘CRIMSON PEAK, A LITTLE’ LOVECRAFT
If you’ve seen Guillermo del Toro’s Crimson Peak or read any of Lovecraft’s stories, you’ll find yourself at home with Black Mirror. A house not too hospitable, bound by the tentacles of restlessness and madness. The atmosphere is in fact that of the best gothic / horror stories, seasoned with expert raids in the paranormal and psychoanalysis. David Gordon, the protagonist, is forced to carry on his shoulders an ancient curse that weighs on his family. And the return to the family home, lost in the Scottish mountains, is certainly not the best route to healing.
The narrative compartment of Black Mirror is the backbone of the entire production, what has allowed us to promote it with a discrete vote, despite the obvious defects of which we will tell you. We do not want to anticipate anything, nor spoil the pleasure of discovery, but it is important to emphasize the goodness of a direction that reveals itself intelligent, able to manage the complex rhythms and thesis of the narration. It is 1926, and David Gordon returns home.
A house he has never seen before, in which he has not lived, but of which he nevertheless remembers. Remember episodes of restlessness, traumas that have seen him as a protagonist. His father disappeared a few weeks ago, and for legal reasons our hero is forced to attend the family reunion.
That something does not go, at home Gordon, is clear right away. You can sense it from the mansion invaded by the shadows even in the middle of the day, from the arrival to late at night, from the few and terrified words of servitude. From the butler who invites you to stay in your room until dawn, because
“there is something much more dangerous around a pendulum clock that sounds at will”. In fact, it seems that something, or someone, wanders among the woods, the rocks, and the house. We have the task of unveiling the mystery, collecting clues, linking documents, questioning those present, exploring the surroundings, one chapter after another.
The story of David Gordon is compelling, tense, obscure, focused on the dangers of the outside world but also on those that come from within, from visions and nightmares. If you love graphic adventures, it will be hard not to get caught up in the title. And if it does not take you, it is likely that they will give you a hand the many problems that afflict it.
PLAYSTATION TROPHIES 4
Black Mirror will delight trophy hunters: there are only 22 goals, but above all gold and silver, and platinum is not lacking either. Above all, it seems that only one of them is missing during the adventure, but in case it is easily recoverable in the first moments of a new game. All the others will simply request to complete the story, one event at a time.
THE DEMONS ARE SCARY, BUT THE TECHNICAL PROBLEMS ARE NOT FAR BEHIND
If Black Mirror belongs to the vein of graphic adventures, the gameplay is almost perfectly adapted to modern times, from the management of the character in the third person to the presence of interactive films, which sometimes also offer skimpy QTE sessions.
Inventory management and interaction with on-screen objects are those of current adventure games, but at the same time it has the flavor of times gone by: this skilful balance permeates Black Mirror with added value, especially for the nostalgic. For example, the puzzles and puzzles proposed along the way are “old school”, particularly satisfying to solve, and on more than one occasion they will keep us locked up for a while.
But there is no lack of appeal, to act as a counterpoint, a basic system of choices and junctions, even if more often than not so elementary (and superficial) to be counted very little. Our task is to explore room and room for the family home and the surrounding area, interact with characters and objects, survive our visions, and shed light on the Gordon’s curse and the end of our father.
