

This is important because the animation is choppy and slow - even by adventure game standards. It does a lot of the heavy lifting in carrying the story forward. The voice acting in Moebius: Empire Rising is convincing and effective. Walker acts as Malachi’s conscious, however one-sided their relationship may be.

He treats him horribly, distrusts him, and their chemistry feels feigned if not forced. However, aside from an alluded to homosexual attraction to Malachi, Walker has no reason to continue to stand by Malachi’s side. Walker saves Malachi and never ceases to do so until the end. Walker mysteriously appears to Malachi in a desert in Cairo, rescuing him from a broken down car. This is not to say that Malachi is dealing with completely honorable characters, but a choice in how one conducts business could have enhanced identification with the player.ĭavid Walker, a retired military special agent, is your Watson to Malachi’s Sherlock. Given no other choice (or illusion of choice) but to carry out Malachi’s corrupt actions creates a great disconnect between the game and the player. He has no qualms with stealing people’s cell phones, breaking into their personal safes, or holding women at knife point. He seems to abide by no moral code, personal or otherwise. Malachi’s methods are also unethical to say the least.

This only adds to Malachi’s superior attitude and antagonism with the player, and with no way to misinterpret the clues, leaves the mechanic feeling hollow. It is an interesting concept, but in practice, it amounts to Malachi making snap judgments about a person’s class, personality, and motivations strictly based on their appearance. This process also creates a visual allusion to the BBC Sherlock by focusing on close-up snap-shots of the details that an ordinary person would overlook when observing a person.
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Analyzation takes place by observing an individual, antique, or place closely and deciding how to proceed after all of the evidence is gathered. To gather clues and to evaluate the next suspect (or victim), Malachi must analyze them. Nonetheless, Malachi’s powers of deduction do lead to an interesting game mechanic. However, unlike Sherlock, Malachi lacks the charm that makes the audience forgive him and want to go on a journey with him. In addition to being brilliant, Malachi is desired by everyone, despite his antisocial behavior, which everyone forgives because he is an accomplished genius. This trait suits him well in his line of work, making it impossible to purchase a fake antique from him, but it also leads him to anger his clients and put himself in danger. He is a brilliant savant that relies on his deep intuition to guide his gift of deduction.

Malachi evokes the antisocial, borderline sociopathic tendencies of the titular character of the BBC’s Sherlock. It’s an interesting premise, but a dubious protagonist, foolproof puzzle-solving, and an underwhelming answer to the nature of the Moebius theory itself, leaves much to be desired.įrom the start, Malachi Rector is an unlikeable protagonist. The Moebius theory states that time and space are connected and historical figures are destined to reappear throughout history. When commissioned to work for a mysterious government agency, FITA, Malachi finds himself caught up in a web of conspiracy all bound to uncovering the secrets of the Moebius theory. Malachi is a renowned antiques dealer that excels at pushing people’s buttons and getting into trouble.
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Malachi Rector, is the main protagonist of Moebius: Empire Rising, a point-and-click adventure game produced and written by Jane Jensen, well known for her work on the Gabriel Knight series and the standalone title Grey Matter. As the shop attendant points out, “A man that evaluates antiques for a living shouldn’t have to worry about being beaten by thugs.” That is of course, unless that man is Malachi Rector. While there was quite a bit of bruising as a result of the trauma that hospitalized him, there is no permanent damage. A man arrives back at a New York antique shop from a trip to Spain after spending a week in the hospital.
