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Ex-Snatcher team takes stab a steampunk mystery Blackmore on Kickstarter

Japanese independent developer iQiOi, led by Jeremy Blaustein (known for his work on the English version of Snatcher, as well as a slew of other properties in Konami’s stable), is reimagining Victorian-era London with a gritty steampunk vibe to explore their own version of the Whitechapel Jack the Ripper slayings in Blackmore, a new adventure now in the crucial final stage of its crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter.

Players will assume the role of Emma Honda-Blackmore, an English-Japanese pioneer for women’s equality by virtue of being the first female medical doctor, who gets pulled into the grizzly slayings and begins to unravel the mystery behind them. Blackmore is a classic point-and-click adventure, with plenty of exploration and puzzle-solving. Additionally, Emma will need to gather clues using gadgets invented by her late father, and will need to participate in forensic investigations that will keep her on the trail of the notorious serial killer. Among her bag of tricks are a high-tech monocle that can take close-up photographs of objects and characters, and her robotic sidekick, Descartes.

To create the game, Blaustein has enlisted the help of several returning members of the Snatcher team to handle music compositions and character designs, and has already secured the vocal talents of such well-known voices as David Hayter (Solid Snake, Metal Gear Solid). As a Westerner living in Japan, Blaustein is intimately familiar with both distinctive cultures, and feels confident he has written a game that will work in a Western market while still maintaining its Eastern design elements for a unique combination not frequently found in adventure games.

Blackmore is expected to ship March 2015, and will be released on Steam as well as “other distribution methods” for both PC and Mac. A downloadable copy is available starting at $25 at the game’s Kickstarter campaign page, which has a way to get yet if it’s to meet its $200,000 goal by March 12.

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