John Saul's Blackstone Chronicles
Encyclopedia
John Saul's Blackstone Chronicles: An Adventure in Terror is a 1998 computer adventure game
developed by Legend Entertainment
and Red Orb Entertainment
, and published by Mindscape
.
The game is based on serial novels that were written by John Saul
, titled Blackstone Chronicles.
A sequel to the novels, the game takes place several years after the sixth book, and continues the story of Oliver Metcalf, his family, and the town of Blackstone.
Exploring the mansion, Oliver encounters several spirits of patients who are bound to the asylum by their possessions, including a teenaged girl with hysterical pregnancy, a schizophrenic who believes she's English royalty, and a depressed woman who was treated with steam baths and hydrotherapy. Oliver discovers that his father psychologically tortured to suicide or allowed several of his patients to be killed under the guise of accidents during treatment. This is counterpointed by the sterile and rose-tinted explanations from the museum equipment for the same procedures or implements(Lancets are described as an attempt to bring the bodies humours into balance, where the spirit of a patient with alzheimers declares they were used liberally so patients could not defend themselves). Disheartened by the failure of traditional medicine, Olver's father gradually turned to more and more extreme methods, including totally dismembering and vivsecting an 8-year to cure his gender confusion. Eventually his treatments turned to outright torture, as a punishment of undesirable behaviors to eventually remove them.
Over the course of the game, Oliver collects several personal items that influence him, causing him to nearly kill himself in several psychiatric methods (ECT, self-injecting nuerotoxins, locking himself in a fever box). His father Malcolm implies this is caused by the inherent evil contained within the items, although its heavily implied that Oliver developed these traps himself while under Malcolms control, through a long, complicated sequence of post-hypnotic suggestions.
Oliver's father eventually reveals his plan. While Oliver has been trapped in the asylum and continued to refuse Malcolm's demands that Oliver take vengeance on Malcolm's enemies, Malcolm returned Joshua home, and instructs him to murder his mother with a straight razor, as a punishment of Oliver for his disobedience to his father and to make Joshua a monster with Malcolm's similar outlook. With the help of the spirits trapped in the asylum, Oliver destroys the artifacts of his father throughout the asylum, banishing his fathers spirit.
Adventure game
An adventure game is a video game in which the player assumes the role of protagonist in an interactive story driven by exploration and puzzle-solving instead of physical challenge. The genre's focus on story allows it to draw heavily from other narrative-based media such as literature and film,...
developed by Legend Entertainment
Legend Entertainment
Legend Entertainment was an American developer of computer games, best known for their complex, distinctive adventure titles throughout the 1990s....
and Red Orb Entertainment
Red Orb Entertainment
Red Orb Entertainment was a division of the Brøderbund software company created to market its gaming titles, distinguishing them from its considerable library of edutainment titles, which it marketed to schools...
, and published by Mindscape
Mindscape
Mindscape is an international software publishing company, previously part of The Learning Company. They are now affiliated with EA . As of 2004, the group has offices in Europe, Asia, Australia and South America. It has an annual turnover of €38 million and employs 150 people. Mindscape...
.
The game is based on serial novels that were written by John Saul
John Saul
John Saul is an American author of suspense and horror novels. Most of his books have appeared on the New York Times Best Seller List.-Biography:...
, titled Blackstone Chronicles.
A sequel to the novels, the game takes place several years after the sixth book, and continues the story of Oliver Metcalf, his family, and the town of Blackstone.
Plot
The game starts with Oliver arriving at the Blackstone Asylum, which has been purchased and is being turned into a Museum of Psychiatric History. That doesn't sit well with Malcolm Metcalf, Oliver's father and last superintendent of the Asylum, who died some forty years before. All of the activity involved in transforming the Asylum has awakened its residents. For reasons not yet known to Oliver or the player, his father's spirit has taken his son, Joshua, and hidden him somewhere in the Asylum, apparently to coerce Oliver there.Exploring the mansion, Oliver encounters several spirits of patients who are bound to the asylum by their possessions, including a teenaged girl with hysterical pregnancy, a schizophrenic who believes she's English royalty, and a depressed woman who was treated with steam baths and hydrotherapy. Oliver discovers that his father psychologically tortured to suicide or allowed several of his patients to be killed under the guise of accidents during treatment. This is counterpointed by the sterile and rose-tinted explanations from the museum equipment for the same procedures or implements(Lancets are described as an attempt to bring the bodies humours into balance, where the spirit of a patient with alzheimers declares they were used liberally so patients could not defend themselves). Disheartened by the failure of traditional medicine, Olver's father gradually turned to more and more extreme methods, including totally dismembering and vivsecting an 8-year to cure his gender confusion. Eventually his treatments turned to outright torture, as a punishment of undesirable behaviors to eventually remove them.
Over the course of the game, Oliver collects several personal items that influence him, causing him to nearly kill himself in several psychiatric methods (ECT, self-injecting nuerotoxins, locking himself in a fever box). His father Malcolm implies this is caused by the inherent evil contained within the items, although its heavily implied that Oliver developed these traps himself while under Malcolms control, through a long, complicated sequence of post-hypnotic suggestions.
Oliver's father eventually reveals his plan. While Oliver has been trapped in the asylum and continued to refuse Malcolm's demands that Oliver take vengeance on Malcolm's enemies, Malcolm returned Joshua home, and instructs him to murder his mother with a straight razor, as a punishment of Oliver for his disobedience to his father and to make Joshua a monster with Malcolm's similar outlook. With the help of the spirits trapped in the asylum, Oliver destroys the artifacts of his father throughout the asylum, banishing his fathers spirit.