And yes I call it The Séance at Blake Manor and not of blake manor just because I think it sounds cooler.

I started by writing an entire review of the game, only to realize that I can’t be that charitable to the game or its story. And yet, I appreciate all the work the devs must have put into it. Blake Manor offers no less than a cast of 25 characters all with their motive for murder and story arc, and that alone must be underlined. If you know me you know I love convoluted stories so of course when you tell me there’s 25 subplots that tie into the main plot, I’m intrigued.

But the game fails to deliver on the technical presentation. It get slower as you play (probably a memory leak), the lengthy loading screens get obnoxious considering this is a 2025 Unity title with very small maps (and very little in those maps, as characters stand in one spot and never move), and lots of typos; too many to count, which is always a grade down on text-heavy games.

The game tries to build a bigger setting despite happening all inside this admittedly large manor, by tying it to Ireland, history, large families, folklore, and even the world - mentions to Egypt and China are made. But, it doesn’t engage with these ideas fully. Characters ultimately have very little to say or do - most of the clues you will find by investigating their rooms, and finding the master keys to the four wings of the hotel so you can go into their room is a huge part of the game.

You arrive at the manor at the request of an anonymous benefactor who wants to know what happened there to Evelyn Deane, and you are left to your devices - or most of them. Some people say the game is very on-rails but I don’t think that’s quite the right word. But, it’s also true you don’t necessarily have to think to solve the game, you can just trudge on and skip the dialogue and still make it to the end.

As the weekend goes on and you investigate her disappearance, a lot of different elements start to converge around her. Everyone hated her, and I kinda hate her too. It’s a tough balance to strike: you want characters to be suspects, but you also don’t want to make the victim too much of a jerk. But Evelyn was both. At this point if I was the detective I would be ready to pack it in and just say she went home or something, that’s how unlikeable she was.

For a story that revolves so much around its murder/disappearance victim (for now I’m still investigating a disappearance, not a murder), we also hear a lot about Evelyn but see very little of her. That’s to be expected obviously, but it creates a dissonance and breaks the immersion. I’m not sure how to explain it, but it kinda falls flat I guess to be told so much about this person but never actually meet her or hear from her directly.

I did like the Eldritch artefacts being mentioned, and I kinda want to have a game that revolves around that. For example there is a storyline about an Egyptian vase that makes people obsessed about it. They can think of nothing else and will search the world until they can lay their hands on it. It’s also painted in a portrait of one of the previous Blake Marquise, some one or two generations prior. It already has someone under its spell and they want you to destroy it so as to free them. That was the best storyline, but once it’s over it’s just over - you never need to interact with the character ever again or anything. I would have loved more of that. A whole game around a bunch of cosmic artefacts hidden in a manor each tied to a different guest.

And I think the game would have also benefited from more room to breathe. With everything happening over 48 hours in-game, it has to move quickly. But this is a big story, and it needs room to breathe and be able to pace itself.

Anyway. Despite its shortcomings, I still recommend Blake Manor. Why? Because we just don’t have that many modern mystery adventure games to sink our teeth into. I can only hope the devs take what they learned from this game into the next one if they ever make a sequel. Hopefully they add fast travel in that one.

As much as I worry the payoff will not be satisfying, I still want to see it to the end and judge for myself how it all ties in together.

Otherwise I would also recommend Lorelei and the Laser Eyes. I think it’s the closest game I know to Blake Manor and you will instantly see the difference.