The Sexy Brutale
Genres: Puzzle, Mystery, Point & Click, Story Rich, Atmospheric, Adventure
Release Date: 11-4-2017
Developer: Cavalier Game Studios
Our verdict
8/10
- Difficulty: Easy
- Players: 1
- Playtime: 6–8 h
The Sexy Brutale is an isometric time-loop mystery set at a masked ball in a casino mansion. The same twelve hours repeat, and on each loop the staff murder the guests in the same way. Wearing a protective mask, you spy, eavesdrop and learn each victim's routine so you can prevent ten different murders. Each life you save gives you a new mask power. It suits solo players who like detective stories and clockwork set-ups more than hard logic puzzles.
Players love the premise and the style, from the art to the soundtrack and the odd cast of guests. Reviewers say the puzzles are fair and never obscure, so few need a guide. The flip side is that many also call them easy. Each murder is a self-contained case, and the mansion opens up less than the loop idea promises.
The recurring complaints are an ending and final twist that several reviewers found flat, some rough animation and audio cutting out, and tedious card collecting if you want everything. A first run takes about six to eight hours. At its current low price it is good value, but Outer Wilds fans hoping for a deep loop puzzle may feel let down.
Pros
- Twelve-hour loop where you spy on guests to stop ten murders
- Each rescued guest unlocks a new mask power
- Striking art style and soundtrack
Cons
- Each murder is a separate, fairly easy puzzle
- Reviewers find the final twist flat; collecting all cards is tedious
About
All the guests are being murdered — horribly! — at this extravagant masquerade party set all across the sprawling and bizarre Sexy Brutale casino mansion.
Then at midnight, the clock re-winds and the grisly pantomime all plays out again in exactly the same way.
You awake on the floor of one of the rooms wearing a mask with a bloody handprint across it. It protects you from the worst of the evil that lays across the mansion, but you can only watch, and spy, and try to learn each guest's secrets so you can save them from their bloody fate.
10 unique and grisly murder scenarios
- Witness evisceration by arachnid! (highly creepy!)
- Observe expiration via immolation! (they burn!)
- Behold perishing through perforation! (the spike goes right through!)
...and so many more murderous mysteries to solve!
Everything in the mansion happens on a 12 hour loop, simultaneously
- What is the gunshot heard across the mansion at 3:45?
- Where is the bell that tolls after 6pm?
- Why are the lights flickering every day after noon?
...it will not stop until you stop it!
Is everyone in this place a weirdo?
- Clockmaster Sixpence - a genius mechanic who cannot outsmart a bullet?
- Blind artist Trinity - so beautiful and talented, but gets into a sticky situation?
- Brutish bouncer Clay - not strong enough to stomach a shot of pure spider venom?
...they just won't stop being murdered by staff in gas-masks!
Every life you save grants you a new ability!
- Not a second to lose? The Clockwork Mask grants control over time!
- Murderers whispering their secrets? The Moth Mask picks up the quietest of sounds!
- Ghostly goings-on? The Voodoo Mask opens your eyes to beyond the grave!
...but for every new power comes new responsibilites!
