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GameClub 2.5 - What did you think of The Sexy Brutale? (Patreon)

Published:
2017-06-05 07:27:57
Edited:
2017-08-10 16:12:44
Imported:
2020-07

Content

Hello! So, hopefully you enjoyed playing The Sexy Brutale - I know I did. 

Now's your chance to chat about the game with fellow players, and talk about what worked, what didn't, and how it could be improved. 

As always, you can post your thoughts in the comments below - but you may prefer to chat in the Discord channel  which will be buzzing with commentary on The Sexy Brutale all day.

And - if all being well - we should have some special guests, too. Some of the designers behind the game will be popping in from time to time to answer questions and talk about the development process. 

If you're trying to organise your thoughts, here are some things you might want to think about:

- Were the puzzles well signposted? Were they too easy, too hard, just right?

- Did the game fully explore the premise at the heart of the game? Is there anything else it could have done?

- Did you enjoy the structure and progression of the game? Was there an alternative way of doing it?

And so on!

Mark

Files

Comments

GameMakersToolkit

So I wanted to start by giving my thoughts, for a change! I really enjoyed The Sexy Brutale. I thought it was very clever and original (even though it's obviously inspired by lots of other games - in combination it becomes original). It was interesting to play a game that put listening and observation as key gameplay pillars. I don't have too many issues with the game as it stands. There was just one ill-conceived puzzle involving a record player, and the game world features two records. I found myself wildly overthinking the puzzle and trying to use both records, when the solution was actually quite simple. That was a bit of a goof. But, really, it's one of those games where you think "oh man, they could this! Or that! Or this!". Like, more ambitious puzzles. A puzzle where you scupper one murder, but realise the killer has a backup plan. A puzzle with multiple solutions. Things like that. I also felt like it was a shame to have everything happen at once, in real-time, in a crazy interconnected mansion - but then only be able to work on one specific murder at a time. It would have been cool to be able to choose which one you want to work on. This would have helped a mild criticism I have with the game, which is that because there's only one or two items to find during each murder section, it's pretty easy. But if you were solving 8 murders at once, items relating to other murders would become red herrings for the murder you've chosen to foil (which is how point and click adventures work). And then - and I know I'm not the only person who was dissapointed that this wasn't part of the game - and then you could consolidate all you have learned to foil every murder at the same time, in one run! It would be hard (perhaps foiling individual murders gives you some helpful item, like a way to slow time for a bit, to ease the difficulty of this final challenge) but an immensely satisfying way to finish the game. So yeah, I admire and enjoy the game, but can't help but imagine what could have been if the developers really, and I mean really, ran with the concept.

Anonymous

I have discussed the game in Discord as well, but I'll repeat here a little too. I really enjoyed how the game clearly communicated where you can go and what you can interact with (items, closets, doors, etc.). Generally, I'll get very frustrated at some point and click adventure type games when I have no idea that I couldn't interact with "that" object, or open "that" thing. I like to know my rules up front with what is possible and then attempt to experiment with those rules. I complete agree with you Mark about the record player puzzle, that was by far my least favorite murder to solve as it was very simple, to the point that made me think, "That was really all I had to do?". The puzzle before it was much more thought provoking and inventive and then they drop this dumb puzzle on all of us. I think by that point many of us were expecting something much more elaborate, or at least comparable to the previous puzzles. I did love the one puzzle where you had to watch the murder occur, and could not stop it even on the first attempt, in order to solve it. I thought that was a good use of building the potential for future puzzles and absolutely fit the theme of the game. I loved the background and environments of the game. The setting was great and the music fantastic. I remember thinking about mid-way through the game that I wish the game would encourage me to explore more, but I think by the end, the game did do a good job of introducing you to most areas of the game. As you stated above, since the murders were generally contained to specific areas for the most part, some areas felt very unused and not really needed, but only act as a bit of set dressing instead. Overall I very enjoyed the game and the story behind the events of this mysterious casino mansion! Thanks for throwing this GameClub together for this as I very likely would have missed this gem.

Anonymous

Initially I thought that this game would emphasise time management heavily, and I was relieved to find out that the structure is segmented into levels, somewhat. It’s a metroidvania in a sense that you open up more and more of the mansion as you progress with the plot, and new abilities allow you to get collectibles in old areas. And you will revisit old areas, which is cool, too. But the game guides you from victim to victim, sometimes giving you a hint where to go and other times just throwing you into a locked set of rooms via cutscene. You can rarely feel the interconnectedness of the mansion, because all you need to solve the given puzzle is right there in the adjacent rooms. I’m not going to whine about it, though. The resulting puzzles are very logical, some of the best I’ve seen, and the final, fifth puzzle does make use of, like, half a mansion, and it felt great to finally solve it. Gameplay-wise it’s a fun idea, nicely executed. It might seem monotonous to go through the motions with each victim, but their stories are engaging enough and their number is low enough not to feel grating. Also, the game is oozing with style. The art is superb, the details in the interior design are so good. The mansion, although an amalgamation of stereotypes, feels cohesive. Kinda like the mansion from RE1. And the music fits nicely. And I like how each area has its own music track tied to the victim’s arc. Also, the raining blood at midnight was really unsettling. The story made no sense right until the plot dump at the end. Honestly, I was fine with it. The characters are well thought-out, so I was interested in their individual story, rather than the greater mystery. I mean, there are ghosts, demon-fish, giant spiders, bloody ridiculous contraptions, there’s no way it was going to be resolved in a rational manner, I thought. The ending was rational in a sense. The whole premise is really good, I find. But so much of it is dumped in quick succession, that it doesn’t feel satisfying. I mean, with detective stories, the most engaging part is guessing the mystery. And here you would feel cheated, because there’s no way to guess that. Yes, you could be suspicious of the body falling from the chapel, or the fact that you’re not killed somehow, but that’s game logic. I knew that the splatoon-girl was the wife and the main villain was the marquis. But I had no clue how it would turn out in the end. Maybe give a few more hints throughout? I mean, the lore in the journal supports the story nicely and all, but I wish the 3rd act was a bit more spread out. Also, that secret ending felt so bittersweet, so good. 100% completion felt alright. Collecting invitations is like solving another set of puzzles, and the cards are just there. Most of them are in plain sight, but it is a bummer, that some of them are tied to the clock. Definitely worth it for the ending. Overall, though, this game felt like a journey. And honestly, that’s how all stories should feel. I wasn’t disappointed. There are some flaws in the narrative, and, perhaps, there could be more variety in gameplay, but it felt good. It’s short and satisfying.

Anonymous

Screw writing an analysis of the entire game! Let's talk about that one "thing" that as you say bugged you as it bugged me: Solving all murders at once. We have a mansion full of murders, and a Groundhog Day-esque gimmick that lets you learn everything there is to be learnt in the mansion. Each murder happens at a designated time each rewind, clearly shown through music and audio/visual cues like gunshots, broken glass and flickering lights. Awesome. The solution to each murder is relatively simple and it's not that difficult to remember them. All you need to do is to be at the right place at the right time. So we have unique murders, which needs two or three actions done at/before specific times, and the actions aren't that difficult to do. So why can't we have a day in which we solve every murder? Gamewise, it makes sense. The game was *crying* out for this to happen and I was already at the second murder trying to figure out when would be the optimal way to perform solve the puzzle, so that I might do it speedily when the finale came. Saving the guests is the main goal throughout the game but we're constantly reminded that it isn't permanent. So it would be very satisfying to put an end to it (and the game) but doing it all at once. Narravitely... It also makes sense! I had a private discussion on Discord with another Patron where they initially argued that the story heavily weighs on the ending being as it is, but I pointed out that really all the murders do get stopped in one day. Once Lucifadio puts on the King's mask he splits up into clones of himself that stops the murders. Why could the game not simply have let the player do that instead? We got to choose to either forgive Lucas or rewind the day (a binary good/evil decision at the end of the game, good job game) but the Gold Skull could have simply let the player attempt to save everyone, sighing and claiming that it's impossible and they should just let Lucas live with his suffering. That way you would achieve the same goal and giving up would not be Lucifadio giving up but the *player* giving up as well. So that leaves us production, and honestly I think that's the main reason. All murders are set up in a way that, while they react to others in some way (gunshot, trashshute to spiderroom), plotwise they might as have been able to ignore each other. But programming the subtle differences the stopping of murders would make would likely have been a large project, not to mention perfectly timing everything so that it even would be possible to begin with.* Had this game been given a bigger budget and longer time I am sure that not only would we have been able to see more polish applied in places, but also a final mission that a game like this deserves. *I attempted to solve all murders in one day, doing the required tasks up until the point of actually pressing the button (like visiting the rifle with the bullet but not clicking it). Even if you assume that you can get the bullet out of the safe immediately instead of waiting for the clock guy to throw it out, you will get a bit too late to save Violet in the guest rooms. Looking at the map at this time reveals that the singer murder critical moment happens at this time, so it /is/ impossible to do all murders in one day. Where is that sprint button?

Anonymous

Sorry for being late here, I was busy yesterday (maybe have these feedback threads be on the weekend in the future?) I thought Sexy Brutale was...a mixed bag. It had a very good premise, the style and presentation were great, and the story had its moments, but it didn't achieve its potential. Far from it. Gameplay wise, it's too segmented. It's incredibly rare for an NPC to ever leave their little corner of the mansion. There aren't really any puzzles that make you fully explore the place. The closest it comes is towards the end with the slot machines that unlock the elevator/furnace. Even then, it doesn't get as elaborate as it should have. And the puzzles are relatively simple, too. I think a core problem is how short the time limit is. There isn't enough time to have elaborate puzzles, especially because they want to make it easy to wait for certain times if you mess up and need to start over. What they should have done is have time move much slower, so the day takes longer. They could then give you more options with skipping to specific hours (maybe just let you pick an hour to jump to) to avoid the problem of having to wait too long to get to certain time periods. One thing they could have done would've been to slowly give you more time in the day. They start out doing this, but they give you the entire day to work with after the tutorial. If they actually gradually unlocked later periods in the day, they could play with that in interesting ways. Old areas could "unlock" new content because you could see events you couldn't before. I'm unsure whether the idea to force you to stay out of sight was the right decision. It really limited the puzzles they could make if you couldn't actually interact with any of the characters. My biggest complaint with the game though is with the plot twist. (I'm going to assume anyone reading this has either beaten the game or doesn't care about spoilers) I'm not a fan of how the entire game was imaginary. I feel like it lessens the impact of the events of the game. We aren't actually dealing with people's lives, we're playing through a man's daydream. And it means the choice in the end isn't really that difficult. You can either tell a man who has felt guilt for decades that he should move on with his life, or tell him to stay miserable forever. It's pretty easy to go with telling him to forgive himself. Another reason why I dislike the twist is because one of the main ways the game rewards you for exploring and collecting things is by giving you lore information about the mansion and its guests. But that lore information alternates between giving information on the real Sexy Brutale, and lore about an imaginary exaggerated Sexy Brutale. For one, this is confusing. But the bigger problem is that I don't particularly care about the lore details or the backstory of a fictional character's daydream. I wish they had at least made the events in the game partially real, even if they kept it symbolic. For example, they could have had Lucas be dead, and then the game would take place in a hell or purgatory that he has to go through. That would allow the game to be an exaggerated and symbolic version of his life, but it would feel real, and it would feel like the events had more consequences.