Developer: Cavalier Game Studios, Tequila Works
Publisher: Tequila Works
RRP: £14.99 (Steam)
Released: 11th April 2017
Available on: Steam
Played Using: An Xbox 360 Control pad
Approximate game length: 8 Hours
A scream echoes down the hall, you ignore it. You’ve heard it a hundred times before. A gunshot rings out, once again you ignore it. You’ve helped these people already, there are others that need you, or will need you, possibly have needed… it’s hard to know which tense to use when time travels involved. The clock strikes midnight and all is still. Suddenly its midday and the screams start all over again…
What is The Sexy Brutale? Well its a murder mystery game set in a mansion in which you relive the same day over and over until you manage to save all of the guests from their gruesome fates. The locked mansion murder mystery is by no means a new concept and has been recreated within the video gaming sphere a few times, the Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, had a mission doing exactly this premise. However, those didn’t have the ‘groundhog day’ mechanic.
As was mentioned earlier, the same day repeats over and over, except its not a full day. You wake at midday and have until midnight to do attempt to stop the various murders (an in-game hour lasting about one minute). Of course, it isn’t actually possible to stop them all at once, the timings are too short to be able to get from one incident to the next. It’s at this point that the repeating days mechanic becomes very useful, you can focus on one guest at a time and stop the murder. BUT… there are a few of caveats;
1. You can’t be in the same room as anyone else (unless you’re hidden) otherwise the masks that each guest wears will chase you and cause you to restart the day.
2. This next caveat links to the first, you can’t stop a murder directly.
3. Any items that you acquire (bar a few special ones and some collectibles) will be removed from you and put back where you found them should the day restart.
So you do everything right and the victim is saved, HURRAY! The day restarts and… they still get killed. That would sound annoying except its actually nothing to be concerned about, you only need to save each guest once.
I have to say the music in this game is great wonderful, the electro swing beats really go well with the general aesthetic of the game as a whole. Actually the sound design as a whole is rather amazing, none of it sounds low quality or without polish. It’s clear that the developers have gone to great pains to get every sound pitch perfect.
Final thoughts time! Yeah, this game is great and if you like puzzles and a well written story I think you’ll find yourself really enjoying this. I certainly don’t regret a single moment I spent with it, even when I was completely stumped by a puzzle I never felt frustrated. So this is a high recommendation from me!
If this appeals to you perhaps try;
