Review of The Black Mirror by emric

this is great dark mystery adventure game from back in 2003. very atmospheric and immersive. graphics, sound and story all quite strong. the actual writing was mostly fine (occasionally disappointing). unfortunately the main character is an arrogant prick at worst and generic & wooden at best. for me, the strength of the story overshadowed this shortcoming easily enough, but for others it could be quite a deterrent. the gameplay is a bit quirky. there’s a half-dozen or so instances of punishing pixel-hunting. hotspots become inactive after you’ve read their description, but then may become active again later when they become important. this tested my patience sometimes, and would’ve been a major issue if the available gameplay areas were any larger. but to the game’s credit (or possibly my enduring patience) i never had to consult a walkthru. it was odd that they decided to include two puzzles which for most players would require external research (i.e. exiting the game and googling western zodiac symbols for one and order of planet sizes for the other). the ending will polarise players, but i think i’m happy they went that way. it’s a satisfyingly lengthy adventure (took me just over 20 hours) which i’m very glad i played. after 7 years, a sequel was finally released and i look forward to playing it next

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Time Played: Over 20 hours