The Seance of Blake Manor is a supernatural Sherlockian Irish detective thriller

Halloween nowadays is used primarily as an excuse to dress up, eat way too much candy, and watch Hocus Pocus. Over 2,000 years before it evolved into the massively commercialized holiday we currently celebrate, Halloween was a Celtic festival known as Samhain. Marking the time of the year when the Celts believed the veil between life and death was at its weakest, allowing spirits to enter the living realm, the people erected bonfires and donned costumes to ward off evil entities.

Fast forward to the Victorian era, and many of those same supernatural beliefs persisted. It was the tipping point between science and superstition, where literature was rife with tales of magic, monsters, and genial detectives. This historical mashup, Irish studio Spooky Doorway's lead dev Treasa McCabe tells me, makes 1890s Ireland the perfect setting for a good ol' fashioned macabre mystery. After playing the eerily enchanting opening night of The Seance of Blake Manor, the studio's upcoming PC game, while at publisher Raw Fury's Stockholm office, I'm inclined to agree.

I love a good detective story - my glowing Nobody Wants To Die review attests to that - and while The Seance of Blake Manor predates the advent of noir, it encapsulates the spirit of an era hallmarked by the exploits of famous fictional detectives like C. Auguste Dupin and Sherlock Holmes. Protagonist Declan Ward may have missed the memo on the deerstalker cap, but his wicked sharp widow's peak more than makes up for it.

Ward is invited to Blake Manor to help solve the mysterious disappearance of Evelyn Deane, 48 hours before a seance is set to take place. Upon arriving at the hotel, he encounters the bean-nighe or 'washerwoman,' a spiritual omen of death from Gaelic folklore who quickly disperses into a flock of crows - that can't be good. Once inside, Ward is met coldly by the manager; his cheekbones could cut diamonds. Something about him is off, besides the broken monocle and constant aura farming. However, time is of the essence, and each in-game action knocks a minute off the clock. If Ward's to find Miss Deane before it's too late, he can't waste time grilling the man without sufficient reason.

Before I begin casing the joint, I take a moment to appreciate Blake Manor's high-contrast, Hellboy-ish comic book aesthetic. McCabe says studio CEO and lead artist Paul Conway opted for the style as he shared the hobby with his late father; it's a fitting homage. The harsh outlines draw your attention to every cracked wall and broken tile, pulling you into the environment without overwhelming you with visual clutter. This, alongside the 'detective vision,' makes it simple to parse which objects you can attribute your precious seconds to.

Where Nobody Wants To Die foregoes anything remotely granular in its investigative loop, reducing it down to a series of interactive obstacles rather than true, blue detecting, Blake Manor is all about player agency and deduction. Nearly making too much use of that freedom, I narrowly avoid losing the game 15 minutes in, after almost opting to walk in on the hotel manager from his office - I may have broken in in search of clues.

With each minute that passes and each new piece of information gathered, I begin to understand how Blake Manor operates. NPCs aren't static entities that permanently reside in specific rooms; no Colonel Mustard setting up shop in the pantry. The manor is a living, breathing entity that I have to adapt to if I'm to continue my investigation unperturbed. A rota casually left on the front desk tells me where staff will be at any given time, while a room rack in the manager's office lets me know who's staying where. I can foresee the sheer amount of information quickly piling up and becoming overwhelming, but Spooky Doorway's already thought about that.

The evidence UI provides a tidy throughline of inquiry. Here, I can form hypotheses based on available evidence and progress the investigation. Time is lost for incorrect deductions, so it's crucial to get the facts straight. It's approachable and well-designed, though it wasn't always this way. "The mind maps were an absolute tangle," McCabe jokes, "like the ravings of a mad woman. I was told, 'This is not very user-friendly,' [so we] brought in a UX person. They were like, 'Have you considered not having it look insane?'"

Mythos aside, Spooky Doorway's also paying close attention to the historical social structure of its homeland. Suspects are divided in the menu based on class, the importance of which is made apparent after I uncover a forged signature on one of Miss Deane's supposed letters. McCabe notes that literacy rates in Ireland were particularly low, even by the end of the 19th Century, so contextual clues are just as important as the more traditional puzzles you'll encounter. While I didn't get to delve into the more interactive elements of puzzle-solving on night one, I did get to lightly tease my brain with some neatly presented dot-to-dot action during a particularly vivid, and skin-tinglingly hellish nightmare.

Tonally, The Seance of Blake Manor is a complete departure from Spooky Doorway's previous supernatural detective darling, The Darkside Detective, trading the point-and-click's blend of humor for far more stoic dialogue. It's always a risk to try something new, even if the studio's writing within familiar parameters. But so far, the vibes are immaculate.

The Darkside Detective's biggest criticism was its fleeting run time, though I felt its snappy episodic missions worked in its favor. Regardless, you can expect a much protracted experience this time around, as McCabe says Blake Manor will take between 15 and 20 hours to complete. So far, no one has been able to clear every suspect's narrative strand in a single playthrough. Additionally, the game over screen tells you exactly how many people you failed to save, so there's a challenge to be found in saving as many denizens of the manor as possible on subsequent playthroughs.

Spooky Doorway has so far taken to its most ambitious project yet with infectious zeal. As much as I can't wait to meet Blake Manor's expansive cast of potential deviants in this three-dimensional game of Guess Who, I'm all the more interested in how the studio will continue to explore Ireland's rich cultural tapestry. It is, in McCabe's words, "the land of saints and scholars," and a cornerstone of modern superstition that is so far lending itself beautifully to the game's scope. You won't find any leprechauns here, but The Seance of Blake Manor has the potential to be a crock of gold.

The Seance of Blake Manor has yet to receive a release date, but for now, you can wishlist it on Steam here. In the meantime, check out more of the best detective games where you can hone your sleuthing skills.