User:ThomasO1989/drafts/Blackwell series

Blackwell is a series of five graphic adventure video games from independent game developer Wadjet Eye Games, created by Dave Gilbert. The plots of the games generally focus on Rosangela Blackwell, a spiritual medium, and her spirit guide Joey Mallone, who work to help ghosts transition to the afterlife.

The Blackwell Legacy
The series begins in 2006 with Rosangela "Rosa" Blackwell, a young freelance writer living a solitary life in New York City, scattering the cremated remains of her recently deceased aunt and only relative, Lauren Blackwell. Lauren had spent the last 25 years of her life in a comatose state at the Bellevue Hospital Center following a violent psychotic tantrum. Lauren's primary care physician, Dr. Quentin, warns Rosa that Lauren's disease could be genetic as Lauren's mother Patricia had experienced the same breakdown years before. Letters archived in Lauren's file detail Patricia's deterioration; Lauren's withdrawal from the family; and Lauren's adoption of young Rosa following her parents' deaths.

Rosa experiences headaches throughout the day, which culminates in the appearance of a ghost named Joey Mallone in her apartment. Joey explains that Rosa is a "medium", a person who must help other ghosts accept their deaths and "move on" to the afterlife, and that both Patricia and Lauren were also mediums and he was their spirit guide. Joey adds that their rejections of their mediumship had eventually led to their mental collapse and he had become Rosa's spirit guide following Lauren's death. Joey himself is physically unable to move on for unknown reasons. Rosa reluctantly accepts Joey and proceeds to investigate the death of NYU student Alli Montego, whose ghost haunts the Washington Square dog park.

Rosa and Joey discover that Alli and two friends had summoned a restless, wailing spirit called the "Deacon" using an ouija board, who began haunting and then eventually driving each of them to suicide. One friend, Susan Lee, survived her attempted suicide and was placed shortly thereafter under psychiatric care. Rosa and Joey help Alli move on and visit Susan in the hospital. There, they find the Deacon haunting Susan and help him move on as well, allowing Susan to fully recover. The game ends with Joey telling Rosa that Lauren rejected her mediumship after choosing to adopt and care for Rosa.

Blackwell Unbound
Blackwell Unbound takes place in the year 1973, and features Lauren Blackwell as the main protagonist alongside Joey. The game opens with Lauren and Joey investigating the murders of two people, a saxophone player and a reclusive woman. The cases appear unrelated at first, but Lauren connects both individuals to The New Yorker journalist Joseph Mitchell, who had written profiles on both people. Lauren and Joey also discover that both individuals were strangled to death by an insane elderly woman who refers to herself as the "Countess". The Countess claims that she is also a medium like Lauren despite lacking a spirit guide, and believes that she is "saving" those she kills. Lauren and Joey conclude that the Countess had somehow formed a bond with Mitchell, using him as a spirit guide substitute and killing whomever he writes about. Mitchell realized that his subjects were being murdered and quit writing as a result.

Lauren is unable to catch and apprehend the Countess. She visits Mitchell and convinces him to write a story about herself in order to lure the Countess out of hiding. Shortly afterward, the Countess appears at Lauren's apartment and attempts to kill her, but Lauren overpowers and pushes her off the apartment balcony to her death. Lauren reflects and worries about the possibility of losing her sanity like the Countess, to which Joey re-assures that he will not leave her. The game ends with Lauren deciding to reconnect with her brother and attend his wedding.

The Blackwell Convergence
The Blackwell Convergence is set several months after the events in The Blackwell Legacy.

The Blackwell Deception
Rosa and Joey investigate a series of deaths linked to a street psychic named Lisa Tenzin.

Development
Gilbert planned on a sixth Blackwell game, but the ideas were folded into Epiphany.