I've played my fair share of retro point-and-click adventure games, so when I peeped moody aesthetic screenshots of this cult classic 2003 horror adventure from Czech developer Future Games, I wondered how it'd slipped past my radar.

One Halloween Steam sale whirlwind later, and I was transported to Black Mirror, the remote ancestral Gordon family manor in Suffolk, 1981. After a 12-year absence, protagonist Samuel Gordon is drawn reluctantly back by his grandfather's mysterious death. Dismissed as suicide by everyone else, Samuel is convinced otherwise and begins his own informal investigation. This leads – naturally, given their sizable wealth and gothic English estate – to the revelation of an ancient family curse. As Samuel confronts the darkness that shrouds his family history, more bizarre, unexplained deaths gather pace around the manor, and he must race to break the curse before Black Mirror claims another victim.

The most striking thing about Black Mirror – and what drew me to it in the first place – is its lushly detailed pre-rendered environments. I strongly appreciate this hand-drawn style of background, allowing for more charming, realised worlds, over fully 3D environments, especially when 90s and noughties game engines aren't quite equal to the task (cough, Gabriel Knight 3. 3D just 'cause you can isn't the asset developers seem to think it is). The main drawback to this is when 3D character models don't quite integrate into the scenery; the models aren't glaringly out of place here, but the game doesn't offer anti-aliasing to smooth out the rough edges and the characters' oddly pipe-limbed, clay-like forms and plodding movements detract from the realism a tad.

The game boasts 150 locations (though I suspect this refers to screens rather than distinct locations), and they're a treat to behold. From the imposing gothic manor itself framed by skeletal trees and portentous skies and the grand, ornately decorated rooms within to the Tudor-style houses and pretty old-worldly charm of local village Willow Creek, Black Mirror excels at atmosphere. The settings are also cast in dramatic light and shadow and set off by atmospheric effects including rain, fog and storms. Meanwhile, realistic animated touches like leaves rustling in the breeze and blackbirds circling the spires and turrets of the manor lend to the game's tense ambience. As I've mentioned before, after almost two years of Covid-related travel restrictions, immersive game worlds like these soothe the caged adventurer's soul.

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