The Black Widow gives you a Ouija board to talk to the spirit of a murderer

The Black Widow is a game that lets you talk to the dead. All the dialogue is word-for-word from the trials of a woman named Louisa Collins, a convicted murderer from the 1880s. Developer Flux gives the player a virtual Ouija board and a chance to ask an animated portrait of Collins questions about what exactly transpired — and whether or not she’s innocent of her crime. The game is slated for release in 2018 for PC, Mac, iOS, and Android devices.

When I played a demo at the IndieCade Festival, Flux ran with the theme and built a Ouija board controller for The Black Widow. It fit over the keyboard, and instead of using a planchette to select letters, I simply pressed them to spell out my questions. A virtual Ouija board was also on the screen for players to tap or click. Above it, a sepia-tinted Collins (portrayed by actress Amber Cunliffe) gazed solemnly at me, waiting to hear what I had to say. I could ask her a few key words that garnered a response. Each time I stumbled across a pertinent detail to her story, a light would blink on at the bottom of the screen.