Hello detectives,
The Séance of Blake Manor’s distinct art style and dark aesthetic is a large departure from the colourful and chunky pixels of our previous series of games, The Darkside Detective.
It’s one of those projects that began as an art experiment that fit with a lot of themes we had been thinking about. The evocative mix of 2D and 3D art was the perfect setting compelling to bring the eeriness and mystery of Blake Manor to life.
After some time and taking inspiration from some of our favourite artists such as MIke Mignola, Tim Sale and Eduardo Risso, we were able to settle on the art style showcased today.
We feel like the comic-book aesthetic, with dark shadows and vivid reds really leans into the mystery of the Blake Manor and hints that there is much more below the surface for Declan Ward to discover.
Throughout the design process of the game, we have always wanted to convey the mood of Blake Manor, the guests and staff and the many supernatural elements that you can discover at the hotel.
How would you describe the art style of The Séance of Blake Manor?
I like to think of it as a baroque comic style, draped in darkness, imperfection and vivid colour.
Was this the art style that you always had in mind for this game?
In many ways the art style inspired the game. We had long wanted to make a larger and more contemplative experience than the comedic adventures of The Darkside Detective. Many of Blake Manor's collective elements had been floating around for a while. We knew we wanted to combine Irish mythology with an interactive narrative and interesting mechanics, but it properly found its feet when we started to play around with the comic book aesthetic
We had worked on other 3D prototypes in the past, but our previous efforts didn’t feel very compelling or special, and they did not demand a story from us. When we started working in the comic style and mixing 2D and 3D together, some visual magic happened that became a good foundation for exploring some spooky possibilities.
What were your most important considerations when it came to the art style of the game?
I think readability is always the most key consideration in any video game artstyle. The player at a glance should always be able to read a scene and know its geography. Blake Manor looks like a drawing when you stop and look around, but you are never in doubt about what you are looking at, unless that is the point.
Every scene has a lot of black baked into it, this helps to emphasize areas of light and adds an important layer of gloom and spookiness that would otherwise be missing from such a clean style.
The other main consideration is making everything as imperfect as possible. The art is sharp and minimal, but whenever we could we would damage and add nicks and imperfections to our linework. The balance was adding the imperfection, but keeping the are sharp and clean as much as possible too.
What were your inspirations for the art for The Séance of Blake Manor?
I’ve always loved comics, ghost stories, old horror movies and generally anything set in the Victorian era. The classic ITV Sherlock Holmes series from the 1980s was always a favourite of mine. When I started to pull on those threads I found an interesting mix of things to play with.
Obviously many other games have used a comic book aesthetic before us, but I looked at the work of some of my biggest inspirations, Eduardo Risso (100 Bullets, MoonShine), Mike Mignola (Hellboy, Bram Stoker’s Dracula), David Mazzucchelli (Batman: Year One) and Tim Sale (Batman: The Long Halloween). Their deceptively simple and bold styles always evoke mystery and atmosphere for me. Their work is special, and most of the time it is equally elevated by what they do not draw instead of what they do. They are very economic with what they put on a page, yet their art conveys so much to the reader.
I found there were aspects to their work which would translate well to a 3D world and help to set an atmosphere. So many choices and imperfections that could be injected into the scenes allowing each moment in the game to feel like a drawing and also an interesting environment to wander through.
Do you have an art element of the game that you are particularly pleased with how it turned out?
I am quite happy with how we’ve utilised in-game comics to tell the story. The game obviously has a comic visual, but by using comic panels and cutscenes we’ve been able to expand our canvas and sell more dramatic moments or focus in on details.
The very consistent style allows the story to jump between 3D and 2D and it never feels jarring. It gives moments in the game a unique depth and more range then had we relied on animated 3D cutscenes which would have been very challenging for our small art team.
Did you want to use a completely different visual style from your previous games? If so, why?
Art style can be a vehicle to tell the sort of stories you want. In the Darkside games, the big blocky pixels and rich assortment of colours added to the goofy, comedic atmosphere, and felt like a comfortable fit for the classic adventure game audience. Those characters work perfectly in their little abstracted world.
The Séance of Blake Manor evolved from the dark and bold comic art I was experimenting with. It lent itself extremely well to the sort of story and experience we wanted to explore. The sharper resolution, atmospheric staging and dramatic cutscenes were the sort of canvas that allowed us to build an intriguing and spooky mystery and to take huge swings with our mechanics and storytelling.
Paul Conway CEO & Art Director
The Séance of Blake Manor is coming 27 October 2025. Play our demo and wishlist now.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1395520/The_Sance_of_Blake_Manor/