The Sexy Brutale Review – Brutally Charming

<p>Murder is afoot at <em>The Sexy Brutale<&sol;em> and you&&num;8217&semi;re on the case&excl; But since you witness the whole thing&comma; you already know the murderer&&num;8217&semi;s identity and precisely how it took place&period; Well&comma; to be more specific&comma; how each murder will have had taken place and will surely take place again&period; So how do you solve the case&quest; By making sure it never happens in the first place&period; Co-developed by <a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;cavaliergamestudios&period;co&period;uk&sol;">Cavalier Game Studios<&sol;a> and <a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;tequilaworks&period;com&sol;en&sol;">Tequila Works<&sol;a>&comma; <em>The Sexy Brutale<&sol;em> is an isometric&comma; time traveling&comma; murder mystery adventure game set within the lavish Sexy Brutale casino mansion&period; Like Tequila Works&&num;8217&semi; 2D zombie survival title&comma; <em>Deadlight<&sol;em>&comma;<em> The Sexy Brutale<&sol;em> is an amalgam of various conventional game concepts brought together in an unconventional way to create something pleasantly familiar&comma; yet wholly unique&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;124154" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-124154" style&equals;"width&colon; 960px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"wp-image-124154" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;04&sol;14141825&sol;TSB-screen-4-1024x550&period;jpg" alt&equals;"The Sexy Brutale&comma; Tequila Works" width&equals;"960" height&equals;"516" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-124154" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">The Sexy Brutale&comma; Tequila Works<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>The game takes place over the course of a single Saturday evening masquerade party&comma; but whereas your protagonist&comma; Lafcadio Boone&comma; finds himself trapped in a time loop&comma; the evening continuously restarts again and again&period; Under direction from a mysterious&comma; blood-soaked stranger&comma; you must utilize this temporal anomaly to prevent the mansion staff from killing off the dinner guests&period; It&&num;8217&semi;s an odd concept to wrap your head around&comma; but think <em><a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;imdb&period;com&sol;title&sol;tt0107048&sol;">Groundhog Day<&sol;a><&sol;em> meets <em>Clue<&sol;em>&comma; with a touch of <em><a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;imdb&period;com&sol;title&sol;tt0096684&sol;">Quantum Leap<&sol;a><&sol;em> heroism&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Every time travel fiction comes with it&&num;8217&semi;s own set of rules and <em>TSB<&sol;em> is no different&period; While simply smashing every potential murderer over the head with a candlestick would sufficiently prevent the murders&comma; <em>TSB<&sol;em> forbids you from interacting with any of the other characters directly&comma; victim or murderer&period; Not only can none of the other characters actually see you&comma; but each of their own masks have a life of their own&comma; aggressively attacking you when you&&num;8217&semi;re in the same room&period; The attacks drain you life&comma; but are really less of a threat and more of a way to keep you at bay&comma; forcing you to resort to more devious means of murder prevention&comma; like spying&comma; eavesdropping and trickery&period; After successfully preventing a murder&comma; you do get to briefly interact with the rescued and gain a new&comma; helpful ability from their mask&comma; such as enhanced hearing&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;124155" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-124155" style&equals;"width&colon; 960px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"wp-image-124155" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;04&sol;14141834&sol;TSB-screen-2-1024x550&period;jpg" alt&equals;"The Sexy Brutale&comma; Tequila Works" width&equals;"960" height&equals;"516" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-124155" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">The Sexy Brutale&comma; Tequila Works<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>The game is divided into several &&num;8220&semi;missions&comma;&&num;8221&semi; each focused on a single murder&period; Sometimes you&&num;8217&semi;ll even dealing with multiple murders&excl; Each of these guests&&num;8217&semi; evening must be watched several times over&comma; first witnessing how the murder occurs&comma; then tailing the victim&comma; then tailing the murderer&comma; all the while keeping an eye out for clues as to how to initiate a &&num;8220&semi;butterfly effect&&num;8221&semi; and save the victims&period; As the game takes place over the course of a single evening in a single location&comma; the individual missions often intertwine&comma; <em>Pulp Fiction<&sol;em> style&period; For example&comma; throughout every mission&comma; at precisely the same time during the evening&comma; you will hear a gunshot&comma; or a bell toll&comma; or the lights will dim&comma; with the causes of these mansion-wide occurrences remaining a mystery until you play that particular mission&period; These nicely tie the individual narratives together&comma; but as is the nature of time loops&comma; they&&num;8217&semi;re inevitably repetitive&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;124157" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-124157" style&equals;"width&colon; 960px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"wp-image-124157" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;04&sol;14141853&sol;TSB-screen-3-1024x550&period;jpg" alt&equals;"The Sexy Brutale&comma; Tequila Works" width&equals;"960" height&equals;"516" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-124157" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">The Sexy Brutale&comma; Tequila Works<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>The ghastly subject matter and explicitly gruesome nature of some character deaths would be disturbing to witness if the grizzly scenes weren&&num;8217&semi;t offset by the adorably stylized&comma; bobbleheaded nature of the characters themselves&period; Coupled with the swinging&comma; ragtime-ish soundtrack&comma; <em>The Sexy Brutale<&sol;em> is incessantly charming&comma; from beginning to end&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>As with most adventure games&comma; the controls are exceptionally simple&comma; affording you only the most basic abilities like movement&comma; object interaction&comma; viewing your map and checking your inventory&period; The plodding nature of Lafcadio&&num;8217&semi;s walk is cute&comma; it would have been nice to include a run button as well&period; What truly moves <em>TSB<&sol;em> beyond the average adventure title is that you must not only explore and interact with the game space&comma; but within the time as well&comma; for objects or rooms that are meaningless at 4&colon;00 p&period;m&period;&comma; could prove to be pivotal hours later&period; The pins and markers occasionally placed on your overhead map can be helpful&comma; but like the rest of the game&comma; are initially confusing&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><iframe src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;youtube&period;com&sol;embed&sol;xNOL3O-a-0w&quest;list&equals;PLslfA38CGv9wUnf86nrbLQpAVHtVVKCfA" width&equals;"560" height&equals;"315" frameborder&equals;"0" allowfullscreen&equals;"allowfullscreen"><&sol;iframe><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Like any other single-player&comma; narrative driven title&comma; the game has little replay value once the campaign is complete&period; But for &dollar;19&period;99&comma; <em>The Sexy Brutale<&sol;em> is something every adventure game enthusiast should check out&period; It&&num;8217&semi;s brilliant combination of macabre themes from things like <em>Clue<&sol;em> and <em>13 Dead End Drive<&sol;em> &lpar;kudos to anyone who remembers that game&rpar; cleverly combined with <em>Groundhog Day<&sol;em> style time travel come together to form an example of the proper&comma; modern evolution of the adventure game genre&period; <em>The Sexy Brutale<&sol;em> is available now on Windows PC&comma; PS4 and Xbox One&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><strong>A PS4 review copy was provided by Tequila Works&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;