Do I need to play the games in order?
I highly recommend it. The game assumes you know the basic concepts of its world, concepts that are only explained in the first game, like who Rosa and Lauren are, how Joey's tie works, why Joey is even here, and so on. In addition, the stories build one on the other, so this one will mean the most when you know the history of these people and what's happened in former games.
Guide listing help
Unlike normal walkthroughs, in Nice Game Hints you can select just the puzzle you want hints for. Here are listed the puzzles for "Do I need to play the games in order?" in The Blackwell Deception. The guide you choose only contains information about that puzzle, reducing possible spoilers for other puzzles.
Hints written by Lynn S. Hendricks
Lynn S. Hendricks
Among other things, I write hints for games like Nancy Drew. And I love words!