Game review Sexy Brutale: a detective in the tradition of Agatha Christie

Today I would like to tell you about a very unusual video game titled Sexy Brutale. In the modern game industry, it often happens that the great games, devoid of a large marketing budget, are behind the popularity and national recognition. Simply point, no one knows about them, as the small studio are not able to convey information to the millions of gamers around the world. In the case of a detective adventure games Sexy Brutale has turned out about the same story. It is my duty to correct such injustice with this review.

For the development of Sexy Brutale meet just two studios. First - British Cavaliere Game Studios, founded by immigrants from Lionhead Studios. These people were at the origins of the famous role-playing Fable series. Second studio - Spanish Tequila Works. Developers of Madrid in 2012, released a very stylish horror Deadlight, and recently in sale of their incredibly beautiful game Rime, inspired by the cult adventure ICO. It turns out that both teams are very small, but it is capable of much. Just like to convey to people the beauty of their great games, if you can not invest millions of dollars in expensive advertising? This problem is not hearsay familiar to many indie developers.

Let the name Sexy Brutale not fool you. In the game there is absolutely nothing sexual or overly brutal. The story tells about a huge mansion-casino, where a marquis annually invites to masquerade a few of his friends. Sexy Brutale - is, in fact, the name of the estate, and the plot it has a very mediocre attitude. Although spectacular phrase excellent "catches the eye". With this you can not argue. In the course of the next ball to the estate of the Marquis something went wrong. Guests begin to die one by one, at the most improbable circumstances. it becomes clear that to their deaths involved staff Sexy Brutale, but who give them orders from the start? And for what so brutal performance has been organized?

The main hero of the game is becoming one of the friends of the Marquis named Lafcadio Boone. He wakes up in one of the guest rooms and see the strange girl from head to toe drenched in blood. She puts on his face white mask and assures that only he is able to save the poor Marquise guests from a terrible death. From that moment on Lafcadio begins to race against time, trying to avoid the seemingly inevitable tragedies. Help him in this magical pocket watch, capable of paying back the clock. Something with which to face the player, very similar to the movie "Groundhog Day" with Bill Murray. The main character is stuck in one day. He is always seeing someone else's death, but every 12 hours while returning to the beginning, and Lafcadio again tries to prevent the killing of all the means available to him.

Murder Guest Manor met with all due respect to the classical detective story like "10 Little Indians". One woman was found hanging on the bell in the clock tower, a gambler poisoned poison, without departing from the table with a tape measure, another guest someone shot at point blank range with a gun, and two more were burned alive in the elevator, the crematorium. In all this ugliness is necessary to understand the player. You will need to save ten of innocent lives. Detective arsenal includes the ability to peep through keyholes in adjacent rooms, as well as to eavesdrop on other people's conversations and draw from them useful information. From time to time the player will have to use ingenuity and solve all kinds of puzzles, including those involving the use of objects and mechanisms, just like the classic quests. However, remember that all you found objects (with rare exceptions) will be selected at the time of rewinding to the beginning of the day.

Visually, the game resembles the old isometric adventure. You move from room to room, explore the environment to find various caches and collect collectable items such as playing cards and invitations to guests. The interior of the estate is made with great attention to detail. Artists tried their best and created a fabulous atmosphere. Graphically, the game is somewhat reminded me of a wonderful adventure by Tim Schafer Grim Fandango: just as dark and grotesque at the same time the characters, as well as death in the center of the main plot. Graphic Sexy Brutale technology are plain, but at the same time, the game looks very nice and harmonious. I was very surprised by the quality-designed character animation. Nowadays, even the big studios so infrequently bother about that.

The estate Sexy Brutale has a place not only the detective component, but also shred something supernatural. In some areas the main character will be confronted with the ghosts (some old estate can do without the ghosts?), Giving him tips on passing the game or just chat about his afterlife. Being in the same room with the killer or the victim, the hero begin to pursue the evil spirits, prisoners in their masks (something definitely wrong with all these masks!). At such a moment should hastily retreat into the adjacent room safe and wait until the characters leave the desired room. Very convenient that the game on the map marked his stay characters in different rooms, so that eventually you will build for an interactive atlas of moving characters on the estate.

If you can manage to save a man from death, in gratitude, he gives you his mask. Along with her main character gets a new ability that allows to get into the new estate premises. For example, learning to pick locks, to see hidden from the naked eye thing, or hear the slightest noise over long distances. These skills are preserved the main character even after the day starts from the beginning. Also saved and all the knowledge he received. For example, you overhear your password from the safe, and you can open it without problems the next day pereprohozhdeniya. In some cases, you will want to quickly rewind the time to come to a certain hour. One of the rescued people received from masks allow you to navigate directly to the 4 o'clock or 8 o'clock in the evening.

We would like to praise the music game, written by a team of four composers. Songs intertwine a different genre and create an incredible atmosphere, perfectly complementing the unfolding detective on the screen. Here you and fervent jazz, and dark ambient, and even the most beautiful compositions with vocals, full of characters during the game. Once a musical number, by the way, it becomes the cause of one of the many deaths Sexy Brutale, so the music is woven into the game even more than you can imagine. A surround sound was very impressed me more. When using high-quality headphones, you can accurately determine the direction from where you can hear every rustle.

On the downside of the game is the fact that the characters are almost never disclosed to us. Yes, you can read their biography, but otherwise it seems that in front of us just dolls, divided into two categories of "victim" and "murderers", but not bright distinctive personality in a special menu. And really want to understand what the characters actually what their inner world. On this the developers apparently did not have enough time, effort and budget. Another notable drawback is the fact that the conversations are carried in front of you in real time, so it is very easy to miss something important. In the dialogues of the characters may hold clue miss that, just turned away for a moment to one side, then pereprohodit have all day to begin with. A lot of upsets, and the fact that the game really go without haste for about 5-6 hours, and if you are strong in quests, you can finish the passage of hours of 3. In order to find all the hidden secrets in Sexy Brutale will have to spend about 9 hours.

Pros:

• An intriguing plot with unexpected adult dramatic denouement.
• time management mechanics perfectly woven into the gameplay.
• It is the original atmosphere of the game creates an unusual mood.
• Great music and work with sound.
• The game resonates with the classical detective story by Agatha Christie.
• The simple, yet addictive puzzle game.

Cons:

• Sometimes it is easy to miss important dialogue.
• The characters are very poorly disclosed.
• The short duration of the game.

Sexy Brutale The developers have done a truly excellent job on his game. This chamber, a fascinating story, impregnated with the spirit of Agatha Christie's detective and mysticism, certainly appeal to all fans of high-quality quests and puzzles. In addition, for a long time I have not seen decent games in which the manipulation of time would be so qualitatively were involved. Small Spanish-British masterpiece gone unnoticed in comparison with other high-profile release spring 2017, so I highly recommend you read it, if you're tired of the mainstream and want something extremely unusual. Put the game 8 out of 10.