Written by: Rik
Date posted: September 22, 2018

Although The Blackwell Legacy is the first game in the series, the adventures of Rosa and Joey first took form in developer David Gilbert’s 2003 freeware release Bestowers of Eternity. Indeed, Legacy could be considered a loose remake of Bestowers: the artwork, sound and interface are noticeably more rustic, but the seeds of Blackwell are certainly sown here.

The general thrust of the opening scenes is largely the same, and you encounter some of the same characters and situations. In places, dialogue is revisited word-for-word, while in others you can see where things have been reworked between the two games. It’s shorter, too: without giving too much away, the circumstances of how Rosa and Joey meet are slightly different here, and you don’t really get to any of the actual ghostly investigation, which presumably was planned to follow in future instalments.

You’re definitely not missing out on anything if you don’t play Bestowers: there are no extra story elements, it’s not a prologue and if you’re going to experience certain events for the first time, then you should definitely do so in Legacy. Think of it more as an interesting DVD extra – the unaired pilot of a show that got recast before a series was commissioned – that you play after you’ve completed Legacy with the commentary on, and it’s worth a look if you’re interested.