TLDR: The Black Watchmen is an alternate reality game - ARG for short. What does that mean? Well, puzzles aplenty and a hefty amount of world building to boot, but most importantly is a demand for creativity. If you're looking for something minimalistic or that holds your hand through everything, this is not the game for you. However, if you are the sort of person who enjoys a challenge, or appreciates the satisfaction of seeing all of your work come together, this game will NOT dissapoint, I promise you.

STORY:
The Black Watchmen - hereafter reffered to as TBW - essentially takes place in the present time and universe. The only 'differance' so to speak is that as part of the shadowy "Agency", you are exposed to a number of underground occult activies. You are guided through a series of missions with a cohesive narrative, detailing what you are supposed to be looking for and why, giving you a sense of purpose as you head deeper down the rabbit hole. Without spolining too much, Alice & Smith have managed to integrate a number of real world events into the occult activies, creating a number of points in the story where the ARG aspect of the game blurs significantly with reality, creating an ever deeper level of immersion and interest.

PUZZLES:
So what ARG would be completed without puzzles, eh? TBW has 25 missions in the first season alone (with well over 40 more missions available through the other campaigns). Each mission can contain 1 or more parts with individual puzzles contained within (some missions have well over 5 or 6 parts to them). The first few puzzles are fairly basic, with an introduction to ARG mechanics (learning simple ciphers, spotting clues out of place from the rest of a picture etc.). After mission 3 or 4 the difficulty increases gradually. It's important to note however that you WILL find some missions harder than others. Some are linguistics based, some mathematical, some scientific and some historical. It is highly unlikely (unless you are that one person who aces each pub quiz flawlessly) that you'll breeze through each puzzle the same. To this end, you may find more time and effort is required in some areas. This brings me to my next point...

COMMUNITY:
The community surrounding TBW and the other games producted by Alice & Smith is one of support and welcomeness. There is a forum which includes previous discussions of missions including hints if required, however much of the day-to-day discussions and assistance take place on a discord server. Should you have any questions about the game prior to purchasing it's definately worth asking in the server to get some advice as there will almost always be someone around who has the answer.

LIVE EVENTS:
While TBW as a game is the series of missions and lore found within the steam package you download, TBW as a permanent ARG is much larger. To that extent, Alice & Smith occasionally hold live events where players can collaborate to move the story forward and interact in the real world. Occasionally this can involve a player volunteering to go somewhere and assist with investigations on-site (just a few months ago one such player travelled to Salem and stayed in a house for two days investigating clues and puzzles while collaborating with dozens of other people across the globe). The most important part of a live event however? The result is not set in stone. With the missions in the game, there is an answer that you will need to find, sure. But with live events, players can screw up, and the consequences or rewards of the community's decisions can and almost certainly will impact the narrative of the story going forward.

In short, TBW is an excellant puzzle game that I'd reccomend anyone tries, especially if they've not been involved in an ARG before since this is an excellant way to get involved and learn the ropes so to speak. The world building and live events complement the puzzles crafted by Alice & Smith perfectly and while there is still tweaking to be done here and there, the developers actively take feedback and improve the game regularly according to community disuccsion.