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The Way of the Rabbi

The Shivah, an original and mature adventure game with a New York Rabbi investigating the killing of an ex-member of his synagogue, now with highly enhanced pixel-art graphics, is available on GOG.com for $2.49 (50% off the full price) until 9:59 AM GMT May 8th.

For any Jew, it's a great mitzvah to visit the house of a departed acquaintance during the week of mourning--the Shivah, and pay respect to the avels. But when you are a Rabbi, it's more than that: it's a duty. Especially, if the deceased unexpectedly left you a large sum of money, even though you didn't part ways in friendship. If the police suspects you had something to do with a murder, it would be meshugge not to try and clear your name. But when you are a Rabbi, it's more than that: it's a duty. Your synagogue looks up to you, after all. They may like you, or not. They may respect you, or not. They may listen to you, or not, but there must be no doubt in their minds that you are a good Jew. It's natural for any man to ponder upon the nature of morality and reassess the important things in life, when faced with a dark mystery and a gruesome death. But when you're a Rabbi, it's more than that. It's a duty. You have to face your doubts and fears before you help others to do so. Yes, life isn't easy at all. But when you are a Rabbi, it comes with some extra challenges.

The Shivah is a point-and-click title designed by Dave Gilbert of Wadjet Eye Games, one of the modern adventure game power-houses. Initially executed in Adventure Game Studio it received a lot of praise from both gamers and gaming media, despite the simplistic visuals of the original 2006 version. It was welcomed as a mature and thought-provoking experience, as well as an unique insight into the contemporary Jewish culture. Pair that with a gripping, non-linear crime story and you've got a title unlike any other. Now, seven years after its initial release, this intriguing title is making a comeback, in the so called "Kosher Edition", sporting higher resolution pixel-art graphics made from scratch to make the game look as good as we came to expect from Wadjet Eye titles. MP3 soundtrack included!

As Rabbi Russell Stone attend The Shivah of Jack Lauder, and solve the mystery of his untimely death, while facing some of your own demons, for $2.49 (50% off the full price) until 9:59 AM GMT May 8th.
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tfishell: We're getting Tex Murphy today, right? That's good, but I can't help but be saddened about the lack of highly-desired classics (even while, obviously, understanding the legal issues with many). Pinball World had only 9 wishlist votes; I hope the next release will have at least 200. :-/
I'd rather have the lowest voted for game on the wishlist than another batch of day one indie releases and indie backlog.
The trailer of the game reminds me a little bit the first time i encountered DRM in a game. Many years back i purchased a game in retail store. After installing the game i found out it runs on Steam only :( Before i didnt even knew exactly what Steam was. "DRM. Why do bad things happen to good people?".
Post edited May 07, 2014 by Pixelion
I've just finished the game so I'll drop my sincere recommendation. For that price you get a very good deal. As usual Wadjet Eye Games created a very realistic main character and it's worth to check the story for him.

Sure the game is very short, much shorter then any Blackwell episodes. If you are used to Wadjet Eye Games you can easily finish it in one hour or even less. Then you can spend a few more minutes to check other endings but that's still not much.

Puzzles are also typical for that developer so you can expect a little drawback - that the game will bluntly throw hints at you (even before the game actually starts!) but I like them a lot anyway because you can't solve them accidentally - you have to be sure what are you doing. There is one unfortunate exception - one event is triggered when you finish everything else but it's completely unrelated to any of your actions. So if you get stuck be sure to visit every possible location (fortunately there are just a few of them) because something may change. Personally I don't like such tricks but it's not something really big so devs can be excused.

The story is nice but nothing really special. But as I said earlier - the main character is very well created and I had a nice time learning his point of view. For me it's actually the strongest feature of the game.

The game also includes a few references to Blackwell series which is a nice touch.

Tl;dr the game is very interesting and for that price you can't go wrong
Post edited May 07, 2014 by Ghorpm
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Johnmourby: Ah, this game. I got in so much trouble when this game came out for saying that Jews are awesome :)
You horrible, horrible person.
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Ghorpm: I've just finished the game so I'll drop my sincere recommendation. For that price you get a very good deal. As usual Wadjet Eye Games created a very realistic main character and it's worth to check the story for him.

Sure the game is very short, much shorter then any Blackwell episodes. If you are used to Wadjet Eye Games you can easily finish it in one hour or even less. Then you can spend a few more minutes to check other endings but that's still not much.

Puzzles are also typical for that developer so you can expect a little drawback - that the game will bluntly throw hints at you (even before the game actually starts!) but I like them a lot anyway because you can't solve them accidentally - you have to be sure what are you doing. There is one unfortunate exception - one event is triggered when you finish everything else but it's completely unrelated to any of your actions. So if you get stuck be sure to visit every possible location (fortunately there are just a few of them) because something may change. Personally I don't like such tricks but it's not something really big so devs can be excused.

The story is nice but nothing really special. But as I said earlier - the main character is very well created and I had a nice time learning his point of view. For me it's actually the strongest feature of the game.

The game also includes a few references to Blackwell series which is a nice touch.

Tl;dr the game is very interesting and for that price you can't go wrong
You had me at finish it in an hour or less :)
This game has piqued my interest, but I'm torn between buying or not!

I did manage to nab one of their other games Resonance for free during the insomnia sale. Maybe I'll try that tonight and use that to decide on whether to get this title as well. Hmm...
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jackster79: Oh what the hell. For less than a good-sized McD sandwich I will be getting mucho gaming goodness.
My exact thoughts*, plus I've been missing this game in my point & click collection for a while so: instabuy.


* although over here I can't get a good sized sandwich for that price, the tiniest McD hamburger costs $2.86
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Johnmourby: Ah, this game. I got in so much trouble when this game came out for saying that Jews are awesome :)
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mkell_226: You horrible, horrible person.
I hope you're joking. In a world with racists, misogynists, 9/11/holocaust deniers, war-mongers and religious/anti-religious intolerance I'm a horrible person for having a positive opinion of another race? You jest good sir ;)
It's hard to resist buying such an intriguing game when the price is only $2.49. I've bought the 2 gems (classic and indie) this week, I don't know if that ever happened before.
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Johnmourby: You jest good sir ;)
My deadpan's that good eh? =]
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Johnmourby: You jest good sir ;)
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mkell_226: My deadpan's that good eh? =]
It's more that on the internet telling apart humour and real attacks on ones person in the name of bigotry/meanness is a hard task for even the most socially adept ;) It's why I always use emoticons. Even if I'm not funny at least I wont be mistaken for an asshole =)
I don't like this game. Am I a racist?
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mkell_226: My deadpan's that good eh? =]
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Johnmourby: It's more that on the internet telling apart humour and real attacks on ones person in the name of bigotry/meanness is a hard task for even the most socially adept ;) It's why I always use emoticons. Even if I'm not funny at least I wont be mistaken for an asshole =)
True, but I'd hoprf that the phrasing itself would've been enough of a giveaway.

Ah well...
Post edited May 07, 2014 by mkell_226
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Johnmourby: It's more that on the internet telling apart humour and real attacks on ones person in the name of bigotry/meanness is a hard task for even the most socially adept ;) It's why I always use emoticons. Even if I'm not funny at least I wont be mistaken for an asshole =)
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mkell_226: True, but I'd hoprf that the phrasing itself would've been enough of a giveaway.

Ah well...
No harm done. I did wonder about the phasing. But where there is uncertainty it helps to ask for clarity =)
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Johnmourby: ...
Maybe one of these days I'll figure out what "hoprf" means!