Blackwood Crossing is the first title of the independent English studio PaperSeven , formed in 2011 by former members of Black Rock Studio. The game takes months attracting attention and raising expectations where it is presented. His incredible graphic section in the purest Disney Pixar style and its apparent interesting and emotional history, have made fans and critics wait for him with open arms. So much so that the title won the Gamescom UK Indie Game of the Show award last year 2016.
Scarlett and Finn in Wonderland
We are introduced to this story by waking up in a moving train, with the premise of looking for our little brother in a game of hide and seek through the wagons. We embody Scarlett, the teenage sister, in the first person. From the beginning we will see how the ideas of play and travel are constantly mixed, as well as mystical, surrealist or magical elements that will soon appear.
Therefore, it will be clear from the beginning that it is not a regular train trip. Following the call of our little brother, we will find a mysterious character with rabbit head, immediately remembering the one created by Lewis Carroll in his famous work: Alice in Wonderland.
It is not the only character in the game that presents the curious characteristic of wearing the head of an animal, since less Scarlett and Finn,
all the members of the work have their faces covered by a mysterious and characteristic mask. Without going into destripes, we can move forward that we will meet the closest relatives and relatives of the sibling couple, such as their grandparents, their parents, the teacher and the “bully” of Finn’s school and Scarlett’s boyfriend.
The story that is presented to us will be tinged little by little with darker tones. The happiness and color of childhood will be clouded as we introduce the events occurred in the family, making a parallel with the real transition between adolescence and adult life that we all have to go through.
The bond between the brothers protagonists was always strong, due to the family situation they faced, but the difference in age and the always difficult step of Scarlett by adolescence made her move away a bit from the world of constant play of her little brother .
As we explore the history that Blackwood Crossing presents to us, we must make up our mistakes and repair this relationship, thus understanding all of Finn’s thoughts and reaching the end of the plot with all our attention.
A trip to remember
As for playability , the title does not stand out especially, since it presents very simple mechanics that will help the player to go through the story in a simple way.
They present us basic puzzles such as linking characters listening to their words, collecting photographs and ordering them to give logic to a story or something more magical like absorbing fireballs or darkness (called Umbra) to drive them away or make them disappear. The objects that we collect will be stored in a simple inventory, usually limited by zones or scenes.
We can also choose the way to respond to certain dialogue options between Dulce, Sarcastica or Mandona for example, although this detail has no impact on the plot.
An interesting wink that appears in the game are the posters of famous movies (always of suspense or fear) that appear in the levels, offering an achievement to whoever manages to find them all. The silence of the lambs or Scream, always adapted with the characters of Blackwood Crossing , are two examples of this.
Another wink, this time to the world of video games, we find it in a scene where we built some blue butterflies with our brother, giving way to a beautiful scene and that more than one will remember the also emotional title Life is Strange .
The game scenarios are closed and quite limited (about four in total, although they will vary in form). We will go through them in a loop, finding at first a colorful world, as a child would see it, and then moving on to a more realistic and dark, more adult vision. This little variety of scenes and the delimited history make the title present a short duration: it can end between an hour and a half and two hours .
