Hello detectives,
The Séance of Blake Manor is full of many interesting and mysterious characters, and we wanted to tell you a little more about some of them.
Our next spotlight is Detective Declan Ward, brought to life by James Farrelly.
About Declan Ward
Detective Declan Ward set off to Blake Manor at the request of a mysterious stranger to investigate the disappearance of young socialite Evelyn Deane. Pushing aside issues from his past with Miss Deane’s father and the death of his brother Eamonn, Declan arrives ready to solve the many mysteries that await him.
During his time at Blake Manor it becomes clear to Declan that not only is there much more at play than he initially realised but that his brother’s death has affected him more than he knows.
We wanted our protagonist to be out of place at the event, very out of his comfort zone. With the event taking place in the west coast, we decided to have him be from Dublin. Since the event was so deeply entrenched in various kinds of spiritual beliefs, it made sense for him to be a devout Catholic. Finally, we settled on a working-class background for him so he would be at odds with the upper echelons of society that had gathered there.
We wanted him to also be struggling with grief, himself, so he could empathise with our cast and their various troubles, as well as hide a few of his own. To that end it was essential that he should not be a police officer – otherwise he would be dutybound to report many of the side stories, itself an act of judgement. Having him be a firefighter worked as an alternative path to establish a sense of duty and community in him, part of which drove him on. That also let us tie him in with the tenement fires of that time, which served as a way to again highlight some of the class struggles of that time (a downside to having the game set in the manor was that you see nothing really of the outside world at that time) as well as link him to Deane’s father, which created this throughline of “why am I doing this”.
On a side note, we did toy with allowing the player to decide Deane’s fate at the end, based on what you had learned and how you felt about her and her family but that didn't feel right. Again, we also toyed with choosing to report others to the authorities which also felt off.
About James Farrelly
During the auditions we listened to a lot of great actors but many of them were playing the role with quite a tough, almost gangster, read. We didn’t feel those performances worked in the moments that Ward is scared, or questioning his fate, or listening to people confess their darkest secrets with gentle compassion. James’ performance felt like he could take us on Ward’s complicated journey through the manor.
James Farrelly is a Dublin/Wexford based actor and comedian who really encapsulated everything we wanted Ward to be.
Can Declan solve this case and find peace about what happened to Eamonn?
The Séance of Blake Manor is OUT NOW.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1395520/The_Sance_of_Blake_Manor/