I rush to the dining room on my way to the kitchen, and as I picked up a Cake near the pumpkin in the boar's mouth, I hear the soft clacking of claws scraping rapidly against the marble floor. My eyes widen and I cover my mouth to muffle a scream before jumping into the closest hiding place available, which turned out to be the inside of a large silver platter. As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, the pattering footsteps came closer, and I felt its presence moving from side to side in front of my hiding place. By now, my heart was beating so frantically I could almost swear that it could hear me. No… We’re so close! I can’t! I just can’t die yet! In the darkness, I felt the waves of terror wash over me as I clutched a piece of paper with our next mysterious Clue on it.

"Inside the place where folks show their grief, you'll find my shiny motorized teeth.."

What did any of it mean?!

“You’ll all pay for slapping me…” It was barely a whisper, but I heard an ominous voice floating towards me from the glass cabinet in the corner I had seen earlier, which held stacks of antique china.

It felt like an eternity before the footsteps finally started moving away, the echoes gradually receding into the distance. All I could hear now was the sound of my own heartbeat as I hugged my knees and willed myself to lift the lid of the platter to take a quick peek outside. No one else was in the room, but I could hear the soft murmuring of voices approaching the dining table from the prep room.

Just as I was about to leave my hiding spot, I hear some softer footsteps pattering towards me. Deciding not to reveal myself, I settle back into my hiding place at the same time that I hear a loud crash coming from just a few feet away and a woman's bloodcurdling scream pierced the frigid night air, making my blood freeze. I cover my ears at the sound of her agony and shuddered as I tried to catch my breath.

Then, all was quiet, and for a few moments, there was absolute silence.

Fighting down my rising sense of panic, I carefully listen for any signs of life but it was as if the entire place had suddenly been deserted. Did this mean it was safe for me to climb out? When I still heard nothing, I crept out of my hiding place, and nearly stepped onto the woman that was lying on the ground.

Oh no oh no oh no oh no!!

“Hurry- help…me…” the woman rasped, even as I ran to her, trying to revive her within the 2 seconds that she still had left, even though I knew it was impossible. When her pulse disappeared and a crimson pool began to spread across the checkered dining room tiles, a chilling announcement flashed before my eyes, followed by the sound of cruel laughter. It announced that another guest was dead, but the memory of the first announcement raced through my mind.

I’ve claimed my first victim, and you might be next. Finish the scavenger hunt first, and I’ll let you live. Everyone else… loses!

Wiping tears from my eyes, I began to rush down a nearby hallway with abandon, following the dim light of the candles. I ran so quickly that I tripped over my own feet and fell flat on my face, but I immediately forced myself to get up. Tripping was okay… tripping didn’t hurt like falling through a hole in the ground or through the creaking floorboards, or walking into acid, which had happened earlier when I got lost in the maze of corridors and accidentally burned my feet in the giant puddles of who knows what in an eerily glowing Evil Laboratory. I had been in a rush then, running away from the Devil that also electrocuted itself as it chased me, but I managed to get it to run across some spikes near the Teleportinator. Using the Teleportinator, I was warped somewhere else within the Mansion, but of all the places I could have been teleported to…

It was unbelievable, but this Mansion actually had a Torture Chamber! I could barely believe my eyes when I first saw it, and I was so disturbed by the painted red walls that I tried to flee from the room and fell right through another hole in the ground. Later, a giant Rat attacked me in the Sewers, bowling right over me, and once again, I fell into the green goo that also gave me an electric shock. It had taken me a long time to find my way back to the Main Hall after that, but at least I made it out of all of the winding corridors and the Sewers, the musty Storage Closets, and back to the dining room… I had survived all of that, so there was no way I could die from just falling on my face (yet again)… right?

That’s right! The clue! I fumbled around in my pocket and pulled out the paper with the clue on it. I still had no clue what it meant, but I had to finish this so we could end it all and-

Slash!

What just-?

Before I could register what had happened, I found myself sailing through the air, finally landing a few feet away on the ground, all of the treasures that I had painstakingly collected scattered all around me. My life was literally ticking away before my eyes, but there was no one else around to help me. Where was everyone else?! Were they all in hiding? I glanced at the guest list and gasped when I saw giant red X’s covering most of the guests’ faces. That could only mean… It couldn’t be…!

Then, I heard it... the soft clacking of claws scraping against the floor...

The last thing I see before my vision dims is the face of the horned Devil grinning wickedly at me as it turned back into my teammate. Wait! That meant the Devil was-!!

"MWUAHAHAHA~"

Devil's Bluff began as a Kickstarter and the game was officially released on Steam on October 24, 2015, although quite a few changes to the game were made afterwards when many players reported that the Devil was too strong and it was probably not a good idea to allow everyone to start off in the same room (because that meant no one would have to leave the first room to capture the Devil, which also defeated the purpose of the scavenger hunt). As of this review, the developers have fixed those issues and are still trying to expand their horizons by moving Devil’s Bluff to other platforms, although it has been a while since their last update to the game.

If this game appears to remind you of a mix of Clue (figure out who is the killer before killer gets you), Big Brother (the “unsteady” alliance system), Scream (the gripping tension and suspense), and even Scooby-Doo! (the slapstick and art/aesthetics), then the developers succeeded in achieving their goal of integrating all of those elements into an experience that you might literally have to “die for” in-game.

Story - 6

A group of friends gather for a light-hearted costume party at the top of a hill called Devil's Bluff, in the “world’s most haunted" Mansion. Halfway through the party, they decide to hold a scavenger hunt so they break off into sets and pairs, but at some point during the scavenger hunt, some slaps were exchanged and in that moment, someone decided to become “overly competitive.” No one realizes what is going on until people slowly begin to disappear into the darkness...

The only ways to get out alive is to team up to finish the scavenger hunt, or capture the Devil before the Devil cuts you down from where it lurks in the shadows.

Graphics  - 9

Personally, I was drawn to this game because the graphics looked very unique and cute for a game that was supposed to be about murder and mayhem. The character designs, in particular, were refreshing in that none of the characters look anything alike, and even their animated movements were different, even though they all have the ability to slap others (each character is given 2 different motions to slap or hit others, whether it’s by using their hands, their police batons, their magic wands, or their umbrellas). The 2D sprites are actually quite detailed even though they are only mirrored for the majority of the game, and they often continue to move even when one is standing still. For instance, the character that many refer to as “Pikachu” will take off his/her mask if he/she has been standing in the same place for a few seconds, and the “Witch” is always floating around on her broomstick, which actually casts a shadow underneath the character. Also, when the female Devil is standing still, she pulls out a plushie of a bunny, hugs it, and then proceeds to eat the plushie with a few large bites. Similarly, when “Pikachu” manages to capture the Devil, he/she will sit down in a chair and drink a steaming cup of coffee or tea. It’s this level of detail that first attracted me to the game when I watched a friend play Devil’s Bluff, and it was also because of these amazing details that I decided to join the game and stayed longer to discover just how awesome and incredible the rest of the game could be. Thus, I gave the graphics a fairly high rating of 9. It seems to me that the artists put an appreciable amount of time and effort into designing each of the characters to give them all unique personalities and colors, which is tremendously helpful in making them easily distinguishable from each other. Since each person can only select 1 character per round (so that everyone can be easily identified even though everyone is also anonymous), and there are a total of 12 (unnamed) characters to choose from, this gives players the opportunity to try out different characters each round to experience the game from other perspectives. As of this review, the characters still don’t have official names, so many of the players that gather together to play Devil’s Bluff had been creating their own names for the characters (so one may hear unofficial names for the characters like Lady Frankenstein, Witch, Librarian, Police Lady, Gangster Lady, Pikachu, Frankenstein, Wizard, Nerd, Prisoner, Gangster and Cthulhu).

Another important aspect of the game would be the backgrounds, since the main point of the game is to walk around to various parts of the Mansion to find items to finish the scavenger hunt based on the clues that are given to each team. To me, having beautiful and interesting backgrounds is always a plus for any game, and this game just about outdid itself with the intricate details and the sheer diversity of its backgrounds. As with the characters, every room is unique, filled with the baubles and treasures that correspond to each of their themes, which heightens the experience of actually being in a Mansion filled with more secrets than meets the eye. Since the Mansion has six floors, with two of the main floors having around 8 or so rooms, players actually have plenty of space to just wander around and explore the rooms with relatively normal names like Trophy Room, Butcher Room, Servant’s Quarters, Study, Janitor’s Office, Boiler Room and The Drinkery, and stranger names like Club Kitty, Bootentacle Gardens, Crawley Family Cemetery, and Evil Laboratory.

Sound - 8

One of the key features of this game is the use of sound to locate your allies, enemies, and the Devil itself. Players can talk to each other via proximity-based audio chats (the closer you are to another player, the louder they sound) to try to help each other out in times of need, to share intel with their teammates or other guests, and to eavesdrop on any other conversation within the vicinity, but it’s also fine to just listen quietly to the people chatting for the sounds of the Devil attacking someone.

One can usually identify the Devil with its distinctive sound of claws clacking and scraping along the ground, its diabolical laughter, and the transformation sound it makes when it changes from a normal character into its Devil form (which sounds and looks a bit like a whirlwind). If you are aware of these sounds and you are constantly monitoring the chats for frightened laughter and screams, you will have a better time of avoiding the Devil. Be advised, however, that since even the person playing as the Devil could be talking in the chat to mislead the players, you will have to apply some critical thinking skills to not be taken in by the “Devil’s bluffs.”

As for the music for Devil’s Bluff, I enjoyed it and it sounded nice when I first joined the game, but shortly after learning how to play the game, I turned off the music and only kept the sound effects on in order to hear the Devil approaching.

Addictiveness – 9

Devil’s Bluff is one of those games where initially, you sit down to play a round or two and before you know it, hours have flown by and you wonder later where all the time went. To me, it’s more of a challenge to get a game going than to continue the rounds, because each game room can hold a maximum of 12 people, but it takes quite a few people (about 6 or so) to be able to start the game. Once a group has been gathered, however, and the game actually begins, it’s hours of fun and laughter (and revenge of course), which leads to more and more rounds until most everyone is satisfied with having been on the winning team or having played as the Devil at least once. With the changes that the developers implemented to level the playing fields and make the Devil easier to capture and more difficult to play, one could easily spend hours on just testing out each of the different characters (including the Devil) to see how different and amusing the game becomes when one opts to use a different character.

Depth - 7

From a conceptual standpoint, the game isn’t very complicated, but for such a simple-looking game, all of the possibilities that it presents and offers is actually fairly astounding. Since the game is pretty open-ended and leaves the results of life and death to be determined by the Devil and the players themselves, the numerous ways the game could end includes everything from having the players finish the entire Scavenger Hunt to end the game as quickly as possible, having the Devil kill every guest in the Mansion to win, having the guests band together to capture the Devil so they would win, having an all-out brawl between the guests with no one attempting to do the Scavenger Hunt at all because they’re so engrossed with slapping each other and opening trapdoors under each other just for fun, or even just having all of the guests walk around the Mansion to explore every room to see what special secret passageways they could find. Thus, I gave the depth a rating of 7 because the game can become much more complex depending on the motivations and abilities of the players that one encounters for each round.

Difficulty – 7

It didn’t take me very long to learn how to play the game since the game had fairly simple objectives: find all of the items mentioned in your clues to complete the scavenger hunt before the other teams, and either try to avoid or capture the Devil while you’re at it. While that doesn’t sound too difficult, you would still have to apply some strategy to make sure the Devil doesn’t go after you immediately, and you will often find yourself having to work with others even while you’re not completely sure that you should trust them. First and foremost, however, you would need to learn what each of the Clues mean, the locations that they refer to in the Mansion, and what each item or “Loot” that you are searching for could be. This took me the greatest amount of time to learn since most of the Clues are different for every round (and thus I raised the rating for difficulty to 7).

Without giving too much of the gameplay away, here are a few things which might be of interest to most players:

- Hidden Passageways that can assist a player with escaping from the Devil

- Hiding places located throughout the Mansion that one can use to hide from the Devil

- Trapdoors, springs, and spikes that can be activated to electrocute other players

- Items only the Devil can use, which includes a Skeleton Key

- Teleportinators that can randomly teleport a player to parts of the map so that the Devil would have a difficult time locating someone again

- The ability to slap others to get them to follow you (more like chase you to slap you back), and force the characters that have been slapped to stay down on the ground for a few seconds, which is also an effective way to momentarily stun the Devil

All of these factors and more combined allow for extremely diverse gaming styles to clash at this deadly costume party. Whether one chooses to remain in hiding for the duration of the game or to round up a group of people to help them capture the Devil, there is almost always something new that could be learned from every new round of Devil’s Bluff that you play.

Overall - 8.5

If it wasn’t that the game is one that must be played with others online and thus you would have to find or gather a group to be able to begin to play it, I would give the overall rating of this game a 9 or higher. However, since the players/groups have been fairly inactive recently, trying to even get a game started (as of this review) has been increasingly challenging, so I can only give the game a 8.5 until the game can be started with less than 6 or so people.

Thus, my final ratings for this game are as follows:

Graphics - 9
Sound - 8
Addictiveness - 9
Story - 6
Depth - 7
Difficulty - 7

Overall - 8.5

Thank you very much for reading my first review, and I hope you enjoyed it! =)