The Black Watchmen

Overview

The Black Watchmen is an alternate reality role-playing game developed and published by Alice & Smith for PC and Mac.

There is a Demo available via Steam, containing the first 3 introductory missions.

Gameplay

The game revolves around solving mysteries, deciphering clues, and perhaps most importantly, doing so in co-operation with other players.

Players may be presented with a fraction of information, which in turn leads them to a certain website, which in turn requires them to crack a login or search the site for hidden information. Or it may involve players having to research a given topic, ranging between anything from video games, to art, to history, to philosophy, to science.

Clearence Levels

"Red" is the most basic level; players will not be contacted in any way, but will have access to both in-client missions as well as live-event missions.

"Orange" is the average level; players may be texted or called at any time during the day. Sometimes these will be automatized, while other times they may be actual NPCs placing calls - in the shape of actors or devs.

"Yellow" is the highest level that players can freely select; it entails not only the texts and phonecalls of Orange, but also physical packages containing either clues, files, or what not.

"Green" is the highest achievable level, but it requires the Agent to actively apply for the status, and gain the favour of the community, as well as passing a medical exam. This is because the Green Level 'Agent' will take part in a live-event mission "in the field", so to speak - interacting with NPCs, intercepting packages, and so forth.

Orange obviously requires the player share their telephone number with the Devs, and Yellow that they share their address.

This information, however, will not be abused in any way - as per the privacy agreement - and players can freely opt out if they so desire; even if they have been accepted into "Green" level.

Gameworld

The "gameworld" takes place either via a client, or in the real world - i.e. "In-Client" and "Live-Event" missions, respectively.

In-Client: These take the form of a client (downloaded via steam), which grants the player an interface with which to access the files (text, audio, video), clues, and so on, and a way of inputting the answers to the mysteries they are presented with.

The missions often stretch far beyond the client, however, often requiring the player to research a given topic, or visit websites that have been set up specifically for the game - albeit these sites show little sign of actually being tied to game, as per the mantra of "verisimilitude" mentioned above.

Live-Events: These missions rely more heavily on "organic" communication; be it constant updates via e-mail, Internet Relay Chat clients, audio, sites such as pastebin, clypit, and so on, as well as players going out into the real world, either in order to perform recon operations in their area, intercept a pickup, and the like.

It is worth noting that geographical location does not influence the chances for events requiring an agents participation (nor the chances of Yellow agents receiving packages); as it is a main component of the game, the Devs strive to incorporate all players who opt in for a given level of interaction.

System Requirements

PC

Mac

Links

• The games official website