Review of The Blackwell Legacy by Antrax

First of all, the game is riddled with technical issues. In the hour it took me to complete it, it crashed five times - twice on startup and three times mid-game. Luckily the game autosaves and you can skip most dialogue so this is not too big of a deal.
More annoying were puzzle-related bugs. I saw one dialogue option disappearing, it took three attempts for Rosa to actually take an item she said she was taking and timing was incredibly finicky on a third puzzle. Most solutions are very straightforward, though, which means it’s easy to know you’re doing the right thing and the game is just being glitchy.

The story is well-written and is interesting, but the protagonist is insufferable. Rosa is a very difficult character to sympathize with, and the short length of the game leaves no time for building her as a plausible character.

The puzzles are pretty simple, with an over-reliance on note combinations. Often Rosa refuses to try the obvious until you spoon-feed her, which is okay for inexperienced gamers, but if you’ve played several games in the past, you’d naturally expect the character to figure these things out “on her own”. Again, this is not too bad because the game gives subtle hints that you’re on the right track and Rosa’s just being obtuse.

Overall this game is right down the middle. There are issues, but most have mitigating factors.
Its main problem is that it’s not really a game, but more like a tutorial into the Blackwell series. Even as an episode it’s too short - definitely not worth $15. However, by now it’s sold as a bundle with all other games for $5 or so, which is a more accurate estimate of its worth.

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Time Played: 1-2 hours