The Shivah
A point-and-click adventure featuring a rabbi investigating a murder.
The Shivah is a 2006 point-and-click adventure game created by Dave Gilbert, with contributions from voice actors and artists. Its protagonist is a rabbi, and the story engages with Jewish faith and morality. A remastered version, *The Shivah: Kosher Edition*, came out in 2013, featuring updated graphics, music, and newly recorded voice work.
In terms of gameplay, the player controls a third-person character by clicking on objects and people to interact. During conversations, a portrait of the other character appears on screen. Instead of typing or choosing exact dialogue lines, the player picks from general response types, such as "calm response" or "Rabbinical response"—the latter always answers a question with another question. The protagonist can die at certain points, but the game immediately returns the player to just before the fatal choice. There is also a combat scene resolved through dialogue choices, similar to the insult swordfighting in *The Secret of Monkey Island*. The game connects to Gilbert’s *Blackwell* series: many characters and names appear in later *Blackwell* games, and the *Kosher Edition* includes a cameo by *Blackwell* protagonist Rosangela Blackwell.
The plot, described by Greg Costikyan as exploring "the nature of morality," takes place in Manhattan. The player character is Rabbi Russell Stone, a disillusioned man whose synagogue is losing members and money. Police inform him that a former congregant, Jack Lauder, has been murdered. Because Jack’s will leaves Stone over $10,000 despite a bitter falling-out eight years earlier—when Stone refused to officiate Jack’s interfaith marriage to his wife Raj—Stone becomes a suspect. To clear his name, Stone investigates. He visits Raj during shivah, who directs him to the family business. He learns Jack had been attending a synagogue run by Rabbi Amos Zelig, who was willing to perform the interfaith marriage. An unsent email from Jack to Stone reveals Jack had softened over time and wanted to reconnect. At Zelig’s synagogue, Jack met accountant Ethan Goldberg, who was also recently murdered. Goldberg had advised Jack against taking money from an investor, but Jack accepted it anyway and began repaying a man named Joe DeMarco. Stone discovers Zelig was the investor. Confronting DeMarco, Stone learns DeMarco committed the murders for Zelig, who had ties to organized crime: Zelig would fin
- Developer
- Dave Gilbert
- Publisher
- Wadjet Eye Games
- Release Year
- 2006
- Genre
- Point-and-click adventure
- Platform
- PC, iOS
- Notable For
- Rabbi protagonist, Jewish themes, multiple endings
Lore & Background
The game takes place in Manhattan, New York City. The playable character is Russell Stone, a hard-hearted rabbi experiencing a crisis of faith compounded by his synagogue's declining membership and financial woes. The police inform him that a former member, Jack Lauder, has been murdered, and Stone is suspected because Jack's will left him more than $10,000 despite an acrimonious falling out eight years prior. Stone sets out to investigate Jack's murder himself. He learns that Jack had been visiting another synagogue run by Rabbi Amos Zelig, who was willing to conduct an interfaith marriage that Stone had refused. Stone uncovers that Zelig was involved with a loanshark named Joe DeMarco, who committed the murders on Zelig's behalf. The player can choose whether to kill DeMarco, and the final confrontation with Zelig leads to multiple endings depending on player actions.
Reader's Guide
The Shivah is significant as an early independent adventure game that won the Monthly Adventure Game Studio 5th anniversary competition in June 2006. It helped launch Wadjet Eye Games, through which Dave Gilbert published his subsequent titles. The game's choice of a rabbi as protagonist drew media attention, and its exploration of morality and faith was noted by critics. The remastered Kosher Edition received average reviews on PC but favorable reviews on iOS. The game is short, completable in one to two hours, and features three possible endings. Its ties to the later Blackwell Series, also by Gilbert, include shared characters and a cameo by Rosangela Blackwell in the Kosher Edition. The Shivah won an Adventure Game Studios award for Best Dialogue Writing, and Gilbert received a Lifetime Achievement Award.
Did You Know?
- The game was originally developed for the Monthly Adventure Game Studio 5th anniversary competition in June 2006, which it won.
- The player can choose between 'calm response' and 'Rabbinical response' in dialogue, the latter always answering a question with another question.
- The Kosher Edition features a cameo by Rosangela Blackwell, the main character of the Blackwell Series.
- The game includes a combat scene resolved through dialogue choices, similar to the insult swordfighting of The Secret of Monkey Island.
More in AGS Award winners 1-21
Spotted an error? Know more?
This is a living reference — every entry is fact-audited, and reader corrections feed straight into our audit queue. Suggest an edit · See this site's audit record