A Little "Unofficial" Update Regarding Blackenrock

Hi, work on Darkling Rooms TLC Blackenrock is in full swing. I thought I would share this collated info to help answer a few questions. We had an amazing time showing Nigel’s adventures to press and gamers and are working to finish off the game before release later this year.

The next crown game introduces many new features to the game world, with a blend of Adventure Game and RPG allowing for much non-linear gameplay. The multiple story threads weave together and around each other, expanding the mysterious world of Saxon. With the 60+ story quests, tasks and ghost hunt ‘case files’ affected by the time of day and night; changing weather; turn of the tide; movement of townsfolk and various story progression, players individual gameplay will hopefully be quite varied.

Don’t be scared by the sound of change or RPG elements, as we demonstrated to people, features are introduced slowly through an introductory period, before players are ‘let loose’ to explore and investigate at their own pace, following whichever story they choose first. Blackenrock remains at heart, a narrative driven adventure game.

The core story focuses on the mystery of Blackenrock, but as Nigel tells us, ‘Blackenrock is only the beginning.’ Gamers will find all manner of adventures for Nigel and his friends and fellow ghost hunting companions to investigate. Whilst exploring one thread, players will unlock others quests along the way. Saxton is a hotspot for all kinds of paranormal phenomena.

Working on the Crown games myself is almost a full time event (with the odd adventure, research trip or weekend off) A little time was taken to work on other non-game projects to generate income and ideas - it’s not often the chance to 3D map and uncover Arthur’s castle comes along after all, and computers can’t be powered by good intentions alone.

With many crown themes and narrative ongoing, previous stories resolved and other tales expanding, Blackenrock has evolved into a fabulous and yet daunting project for a 2 man team to work on. We have relied on help and encouragement from friends and family and hope you’ll be enjoying the game as soon as possible. I would love to work on making the games full time, and hope to in the future, but we do have other jobs and projects.

When returning to the Crown games writer/creator Jonathan sat down to not only pen Blackenrock, but to plot out All of the future Crown titles, including Hallowed Isle. His detailed scripts and storylines have resulted in hundreds of hours work and an engrossing production period. Following this, we also decided to record All the returning voice cast members lines, their future twists, turns and fates, all in one go, as cast were available. No small task - spanning years. This does not even count new characters coming or additions along the way.

The game release has not been put back or delayed intentionally, we are simply still working to create the best title we can. I’m informed a technical error suggested a release date on / via Steam which we have never set, or confirmed - that false information was reposted and shared and the publisher had also mentioned about the error - apologies for any confusion but rest assured Blackenrock is coming as fast as possible.

I have tried not to provide Spoilers * for any of the material in any of the Crown games, as I myself am looking forward to the adventures as much as you are, but I have the privilege of piecing it together too.

To echo Nigel, Lucy and Mr Hadden ‘To the future...’

* Jemima did it 😉

RPG? I wonder what that's going to mean...

Blackenrock is meant to be more like an RPG and therefore opens up the linear flow to leave room for a bit of individuality. So you can track several quests at the same time and the progress in one or the other quest will bring you new clues for other quests or even new side missions. In the various case files in your menu, you can collect and view all the important information, such as newspaper articles, conversations or audio recordings to always have an overview.