Blackwood & Bell Mysteries on Facebook puts a magnifier on story

Playdom helped jump start the hidden-object genre on Facebook, and now it looks to keep it rolling. The Disney-owned developer announced Blackwood & Bell Mysteries on Facebook, its next seek-and-find game on the platform set to launch on Feb. 22. Blackwood & Bell aims to evolve the hidden-object genre by injecting more story into the play with a "darker Victorian mood," according to Playdom.

The game follows two detectives in that era, James Blackwood and Catherine Bell, as they team up to solve various mysteries and wicked crimes. (The former is British while the latter is American, which we imagine will somehow play into the story.) Across four chapters initially, players will piece together the objects they find and recreate the scenes of the crimes in their evidence yard, which looks similar to to property management hook in Gardens of Time.

Players will venture deep into abandoned ghost ships and haunted Victorian mansions to--what else?--find hidden objects. But with features like an evidence yard, we imagine players will use said objects as clues to solve the crimes at hand. Like games in the genre before it, players can send challenges to one another. But Playdom claims to offer a wide variety of play modes in the Headquarters tab of Blackwood & Bell.

Zynga's recently echoed the hidden-object trend on Facebook with Hidden Chronicles, which is now the third most popular game on the network. That said, it's tough not to see Blackwood & Bell as Playdom and Disney's attempt to reinstate its position as top hidden-object game developer on Facebook. See for yourself whether that's the case starting Feb. 22.

Click here to play Blackwood & Bell Mysteries on Facebook Now >

Are you psyched for another hidden-object game from Playdom? Do you think this could help Playdom reclaim the top spot in the genre on Facebook? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment.