The Black Mirror
Encyclopedia
The Black Mirror is a third-person point-and-click
horror
adventure game
developed in 2003 by Future Games, a Czech
company. Its original name is Posel Smrti (Death's Messenger). The game features 150 locations and 5 hours of spoken dialogoue. A sequel, Black Mirror II, was released in 2009.
of the Gordon family located in England
. Samuel Gordon is forced to return there after 12 years absence following the death of his grandfather, William Gordon. Despite occurring under mysterious circumstances, William's death is considered a suicide by everyone except for Samuel. Plagued by sudden nightmares and excruciating headaches, Samuel is determined to find the true causes of his grandfather's death. The exact cause of the death was the fall out of a window. Soon, strange and unexpected deaths occur. Samuel's investigation reveals that his grandfather has interests in the "world of darkness". The quests of the game lead to "Dark Mirror", a portal to an unknown world. This portal teleports him to the top of the Gordon's castle from where he falls as his grandfather and dies. Elements of black magic are obvious at the final chapter. The "Dark Mirror" is depicted as a book on a pentagram
. Samuel must use five keys on each of the five corners. He also sheds his skin with a knife, in order to open the portal, pouring some blood on the book.
The game is divided into 6 chapters:
A second and final sequel by Cranberry Production, Black Mirror III, was released in 2011.
Point-and-click
Point-and-click is the action of a computer user moving a cursor to a certain location on a screen and then pressing a mouse button, usually the left button , or other pointing device...
horror
Horror fiction
Horror fiction also Horror fantasy is a philosophy of literature, which is intended to, or has the capacity to frighten its readers, inducing feelings of horror and terror. It creates an eerie atmosphere. Horror can be either supernatural or non-supernatural...
adventure game
Adventure game
An adventure game is a video game in which the player assumes the role of protagonist in an interactive story driven by exploration and puzzle-solving instead of physical challenge. The genre's focus on story allows it to draw heavily from other narrative-based media such as literature and film,...
developed in 2003 by Future Games, a Czech
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
company. Its original name is Posel Smrti (Death's Messenger). The game features 150 locations and 5 hours of spoken dialogoue. A sequel, Black Mirror II, was released in 2009.
Plot
Black Mirror is the name of the ancestral manorManor house
A manor house is a country house that historically formed the administrative centre of a manor, the lowest unit of territorial organisation in the feudal system in Europe. The term is applied to country houses that belonged to the gentry and other grand stately homes...
of the Gordon family located in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. Samuel Gordon is forced to return there after 12 years absence following the death of his grandfather, William Gordon. Despite occurring under mysterious circumstances, William's death is considered a suicide by everyone except for Samuel. Plagued by sudden nightmares and excruciating headaches, Samuel is determined to find the true causes of his grandfather's death. The exact cause of the death was the fall out of a window. Soon, strange and unexpected deaths occur. Samuel's investigation reveals that his grandfather has interests in the "world of darkness". The quests of the game lead to "Dark Mirror", a portal to an unknown world. This portal teleports him to the top of the Gordon's castle from where he falls as his grandfather and dies. Elements of black magic are obvious at the final chapter. The "Dark Mirror" is depicted as a book on a pentagram
Pentagram
A pentagram is the shape of a five-pointed star drawn with five straight strokes...
. Samuel must use five keys on each of the five corners. He also sheds his skin with a knife, in order to open the portal, pouring some blood on the book.
The game is divided into 6 chapters:
- Chapter I: Return of the Future
- Chapter II: Back to the Light
- Chapter III: Hidden Legacy
- Chapter IV: Forgotten Bound
- Chapter V: Confession of the Truth
- Chapter VI: Look Through the Mirror
Reception
The game's reception has been mixed. While most critics praised its dark atmosphere - created mostly by meticulously drawn backgrounds, music, ambiance and realistic animation and sound effects - the quality of the English voice-overs was unsatisfying to many. Other points of criticism include the game's rigid linear structure, pixel hunting elements and, most especially, the game's ending.Sequels
German-based Cranberry Production developed a sequel, Black Mirror II, in 2009. It takes place in the 1990s, twelve years after the original game. Solitary Darren meets the cute Angelina while he is working at the local photo shop of Biddeford, a small town in New England. Angelina also catches the eye of Darren's despotic, unpopular boss. To add to the mystery, there seems to be a third person interested in Angelina — Darren sees someone chasing her. He decides to investigate these incidents, and his research soon lead him to several locations, such as the small English village of Willow Creek that players will know from the first game.A second and final sequel by Cranberry Production, Black Mirror III, was released in 2011.
External links
- The Black Mirror at MetacriticMetacriticMetacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...