If we had a shekel for every time we’ve paid a shivah call and wanted to make a game of it…we’d be broke. But that hasn’t been Dave Gilbert’s experience.
Gilbert’s brainchild, “The Shivah,” is a murder mystery game in which the user follows a rabbi as he uncovers the truth behind a recent and generous donation to his ailing synagogue. What starts as a shivah call to the widow of a murdered man turns into a full-blown investigation.
Reviews of this award-winning game have been mixed but generally positive. The Onion’s A.V. Club, for example, noted that the game is short, but “sticks with its players—not for its touchy puzzles, nor for its ‘retro’ graphics, which hearken back to the earliest adventure games, but for its content.”
If nothing else, traveling through Manhattan as a rabbi and uncovering multiple murders—at one point with the opportunity to engage in a sword fight—is a solid break from work. Not to mention from sitting shivah.
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