By the way, there was one thing I forgot to point out in the final update – the date printed on the eviction notice: 12 October 1976. That gives us a nice reference point. Robin was born on the 10th of August 1961, putting him at 15 years old during the events of the game. The Blackwoods died 13 years ago.
Anyway, time for the last visit.
We're treated to a conversation between a newspaper journalist and his boss. Again, weird English isn't mine.
But sir, that story is long forgotten now. No one cares anymore about –
They will as soon as the estate is demolished! Two weeks from now that place is going to be smashed to bits, and such an event will revive all the rumors and madness.
Michael Arthate supposedly solved the Blackwood enigma but for some reason never shared his solution. Perhaps I could persuade him...
You can forget about that. Mr. Arthate rarely speaks to the press, and less so about this story. Not even the most experienced and reputed reporters in the field have convinced him to talk.
Nice one, Michael. Leave a feral, mentally disturbed boy trapped in the basement of an abandoned house and inform no one. Absolutely splendid job, old chap.
I'm glad to hear you think so highly of me, sir. Perhaps he decided that preserving the mystery would be in the best interest of everyone...
No, I think he's a very unstable fellow and his solution was probably as far-fetched as what townpeople were rumoring back in the 60's. You know, a family curse or aliens from outer space possessing Blackwood...
Yes, thrilling. What about Jerry Carter?
Jerry Carter was convicted to eight years in prison, with a serious charge of fraud, but only spent four inside and is now doing community services under probational liberty. He has never crossed a single word with Michael since his stay in Blackwood Manor and probably doesn't know a thing about the mystery.
Real estate agents getting what they deserve... brings a tear to your eye, doesn't it.
I can't say I'm excited about this, but I don't have much of a choice I guess.
No, what you have is a potentially great article on your hands. Do your best, as this is probably our last chance to shed some light about what happened inside that house.
Fine. I'll drive there tomorrow...
One new thing about Last Visit is that all the comments made by the main character are voiced (Michael's weren't). It makes sense, as there aren't too many of them. This is a short expansion.
The garage is inaccessible, but there's an empty can lying on the ground. We engage in some hardcore investigative journalism, and grab it.
The fountain outside the front entrance is dry. Next to the stairs, we spot something interesting.
Looks like Robin's escape route.
Ah, he's still there. Terrific.
Moving towards the greenhouse:
Naturally. That makes perfect sense.
Impossible to walk past here, yes siree.
I shouldn't be complaining; the fewer places we have access to, the smaller the chance of more ridiculous item hunts.
We're allowed to fill the can we found with water from the impassable pond. Straight away, we try pouring it down the hole onto Robin's head:
Nah.
The front door. Notice anything unusual? The handle seems to have switched sides. They still didn't manage to get it aligned with the keyhole, though.
Vandals have really had their way with this place. Our trusty grandfather's clock is knocked down, and there's graffiti on the walls.
We can't even call Jerry.
We take a quick survey of the ground floor, and find that the study, the kitchen and one of the two staircases leading up to the second (first) floor are inaccessible to us:
All in all, there's not much to do on our return visit to Blackwood Manor. There are no objects to be found on this floor, and barely anything to look at.
Let's see if the entrance to Robin's cell is still open.
It is.
The door is off its hinges. I don't like that.
Here's another thing I forgot to take note of the last time we were here: traces of blood coming down from the window. When Michael was here, there were pieces of meat lying directly beneath it. Straight from Bob's Iguana Stand, no doubt. The point is, somone was feeding Robin. I mean, obviously someone was feeding him or he'd be dead, but it raises the question: who? The likely suspect is Doctor Milton, unless James Blackwood faked his own death as well, and the body in the crypt is actually the maid, or Mr Skellington the butler.
Let's go see how Robin is holding up, shall we.
There's a shiny object lying by the edge of the hole. Do we dare?
That's no cat, mister. He doesn't attack us, though, for some reason.
Let's flush him out. We go to try pouring water down his chimney again...
...and the game crashes. This time reverting to an earlier save doesn't work, and I have to download some patches for Scratches, which my copy of the game didn't have, as I may or may not have acquired it by dubious means. (Hey, it's not even for sale on Steam anymore!)
No matter; we're back, and ready to try again.
This time it works. I daresay Robin could use a shower, so really we're just doing him a favour. We then refill the now empty can because that's the sort of thing you do when you're playing adventure games.
Back in the cell, we're now allowed to grab the shiny object, which turns out to be a doorknob. It came at the cost of making Robin hide somewhere else in the house, primed to scare the bejesus out of and/or kill us, but that's fine.
The knob fits on the door to the kitchen.
We're barred from taking the back exit or going into the maid's quarters, but the door to the basement isn't there.
The basement looks more or less the same as it did the last time we saw it, except that there are some boxes strewn about. Inside one of them we find a bottle of cleaning fluid.
On the furnace is a rag, which we also take. Time to head upstairs.
We discover that the attic is also out of bounds now. Let's check out Michael's room first.
There's nothing there. Now the bedroom with the safe.
Nothing there either. The gallery, then.
It's smashed up right proper, and all the exibits are stolen. Let's go look at the mask.
It's not there. That's another bad sign, if you ask me. All right, just the upstairs bathroom left.
It's dark and grimy. We try to look in the bathtub:
These guys are hopeless. Going to an abandoned old manor and not thinking to bring a flashlight...
Anyway, it doesn't matter, because no light is no problem. We'll just take the cleaning liquid and the rag to the grimy windows. That's not enough, but mixing it with the water from our trusty can does the trick:
Oh, there it is. This must be when the spoops set in. I'm expecting surprise sneak attack when we exit the door.
No? Fine, there's something else we need to do then.
We walk around the house aimlessly for a bit, but again, there's nothing to interact with, no more objects to pick up. Maybe we ought to have scrubbed the mask clean as well? We head back to the bathroom, rag to the ready.
The curtains are drawn again. Uh oh.
Oh, hi Robin.
Say, you wouldn't have time to answer a few questions about the –
Yikes!
N– no...!
Run away!
Mustn't slow down, the deep baritone moans of the mutant are audible right behind us. Yes, this kid sounds like an orc – evidently he's past puberty by now.
He's coming! He's... he's riverdancing! We're doomed!
We lose our footing and tumble over the railing.
In the nick of time, the door behind us clicks open, and a mysterious figure enters.
Who are you? What are you doing here? Can't you see this place is dangerous?
The intruder spots Robin.
Oh, Robin. I had to see you before I return to my dying bed...
Robin isn't the sentimental sort, and goes for the throat.
Aaargh!
While Robin is busy doing what Robin does best, we make a run for it.
The Blackwood estate has now been demolished, and I have arrived to a conclusion. It is clear that the Blackwood family, with the help of this Dr. Milton, kept their son hidden from the public, as he was suffering from severe malformations.
It is unclear whether he was truly dangerous or the Blackwoods were simply psychotic. Quite possibly one thing led to another... and this situation ended with the death of Catherine Blackwood.
We can finally give some closure to this sad episode in the peaceful town of Rothbury. And yet, there's something I can't quite explain... a missing link, something that just doesn't fit. We may never know what the real heart of the mystery is...
And there you have it. One walking-simmy epilogue that spells everything out for us nice and pointlessly, and replaces Robin's formerly creepy model with some kind of weird goblin. Good job, Augustín Cordes.
