Dave Gilbert, our neighbor New Yorker and bossman at Wadjet Eye Games, has revealed that he is rereleasing his acclaimed point-and-click adventure The Shivah for iPhone and iPad next week. The cheekily-named Kosher Edition gives a makeover to his 2006 game about a rabbi unraveling a murder mystery. 

Don’t expect the rabbit hole to delve to deeply into midrashim, however. When we spoke to him about religion in relationship to his games, Gilbert admitted that he is more of a cultural Jew, and not very well-versed in the inner happenings of synagogues.

When I came back to New York, as a way to pretend I was working, I decided to make a game. I wanted to make something Jewish as a way to reconnect with that part of myself. It ended up being The Shivah. I had this idea of a rabbi who wasn’t right about his beliefs and was facing the consequences. My mother was like, “What do you know about rabbis!”

The Shivah is worth your attention not only because Gilbert is an expert storyteller and adventure game designer, but also because it’s one of the most refreshing perspectives on the age-old genre out there. In what other game can you say that you get to step into the beard of a rabbi?