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First impression
Blackwood Crossing is yet another odd installation of games I have played recently. Visually, it didn’t call me, but the reviews did. I wanted to give it a try hence if the reviews are correct; this game has a great story. I’m no longer attracted to games like this that have graphics as from year 2007 PS3 —title. It simply looks awful on my big TV, and it also feels very cheap. Why they don’t make better visuals, too? I would love to play games with great story and, at least, decent graphics. We live PS4 era and year is 2018, and soon PS5 takes the crown, and this is what we have? I didn’t buy PS4 Pro to see shitty graphics in 4K.
Story
When I finished the game I had to google ‘Blackwood Crossing story explained’ since the end wasn’t completely clear to me. Actually, the whole story wasn’t clear to me. The plot is about a girl and her brother (played as a girl) and how they go somewhere (destination not clear) by a train. Soon weird things happen in the train; the girl sees her dead parents and grandparents, but they’re wearing masks. One super freaky kid with a bunny mask appears, too, and beckon her to come along.
The girl goes and walks around the train seeking her brother, but he seems to be hiding all the time (although she can hear him speaking to her no matter where she is). By doing tasks and seeing even odder things as the environment changes. The girl and boy go all sorts of places that resembles their life/past that is experienced indirrefently such as in a dream. All places seem familiar, but with a twist.
It’s very hard to explain everything with words since the game is very hazy. Shortly, it’s bizarre events (maybe a dream which the girl is having), memories and places and unsolved problems from their past. In the end, the story is beautiful and thoughtful as much as I understood it (I had to search the meaning of it to get full answers, but it seemed nobody understood it either. It was mostly speculations).
Gameplay & Controls
Blackwood Crossing is played from first person view with easy controls. It’s more like walkthrough simulation with some puzzles. The gameplay is easy going, but yet the controls are a bit awkward and walking is very slow, which can annoy when walking far distances. There isn’t much to tell about the gameplay and controls since they are extremely simple.
Sound
I had sound issues from the get go. The music was so loud that my eardrums popped. When changing the music and effect volume lower, it didn’t do anything. They seemed to be just placebos? If the audio settings did change something it wasn’t the right ones. I simply lowered my headset volume and had to be happy with that. The sound had other issues as well, every now and then; characters’ voices got lost in the loud background music.
Difficulty
This is not difficult at all, it’s more so technically challenging at times. It took me awhile to solve the first puzzle which was, for me, the hardest one. Controls was easy, but the puzzles were a bit unclear. It was more difficult to understand what is happening around than playing.
Last impression
Blackwood Crossing has meaningful story, (as much as I got it) but everything around it was scary and oppressive. The weird characters and that little boy with bunny mask from some supernatural horror movie. It was hard to understand if all that was intentional or not. This piece is bizarre from start to finish and I usually like bizarre things — not this one, though.
The game is around couple hours long and doesn’t include anything extra, yet it costs 15€. I would never recommend anyone to buy this with that price. Ever. This is worthy of 3–-5€ and not a penny more!! The awful graphics and the low quality visuals with a slightly awkward controls shouldn’t be expensive.
I love story based games and I always want mysteries and plot twists and that was the reason why I bought Blackwood Crossing. It just didn’t live up the reviews I read online and I’m mostly disapointed and missing my 15,95€.
The graphics are surely from 2007 and
the atmosphere and environment are freaky and pressuring.
One More Level 