Will I Rage? Town of Salem Review

When I first started playing Town of Salem my expectations were admittedly not too high. I had never played the party game "Mafia" or "Werewolf" before. I wasn't even sure what Town of Salem was about. So I went into this game with no expectations and in hopes I had found a new and fun game for myself, my friends and fans of my stream to play together. First I'd like to say there is a bit of a learning curve when you start the game. You have to learn the roles, when and how to lie correctly and more importantly how to properly use both your death note and your will. Leaving information (or false information) for the other players in case of death is a very important part of the game. Don't get frustrated. Play a few rounds and soon you will understand exactly what is going on. Now to answer the question...........Will I Rage? Town of Salem!

Gameplay

Rating: 5/5

The game play in Town of Salem is it's bread and butter. This is not a huge graphical blockbuster game. If that is what your looking for you can probably skip this review and go buy The Division. If your looking for a smart, extremely fun experience you can enjoy alone or with a group of friends without the stress of "hardcore" or "elitist" game play this is the game for you (although there is ranked play which is a plus for more serious players). What the game lacks in the graphical area (which it does not need) it makes up for with extremely fun and addictive game play. You take either a Town, Mafia, or Neutral role. Whichever role you get you have to perform that job. Investigator will find clues and be able to find mafia, serial killers, etc. A Jester must deceive the town into executing him, etc. The tricky part starts when people begin to lie and deceive the town. Everyone gets to vote once per round on a member of the game to execute. Then that player must make his case to why he shouldn't be executed. The best way to prove your innocence is to post your will which "should" show your activity every day. If you are hung, you can hang out in dead chat and even give clues to the medium to tell the live players. All in all as far as game play goes Town of Salem is flawless in my eyes. It plays at a perfect pace. My only peeve is some players just randomly lynch people for no reason......but lets face it, your not going to find a troll free game that plays online. Another cool thing is the item shop in game. There is nothing that gives anyone any sort of real advantage. However you can earn "gold" from completing games (or purchasing for real money if that's your thing) which can be used to buy houses, characters, death animations and more. It's a good micro-transaction model that I have dropped a few bucks to myself to support the game.

Graphics

Rating: 4/5

This was a hard area to rate. This game does not, and has never been about groundbreaking graphics. I've rated this based not on the "quality" but how the graphics actually fit with this unique game type. I honestly love the graphics. The game has a cartoon-ish feel as you look over the small town of Salem.  The actual "levels" used are determined by the game host and which backgrounds he has unlocked and has chosen. It's basically the same layout with different looks as seen below in the dark forest background. Characters are crisp and mostly cute as are the other decorations you can purchase with gold. All in all I'd say that even though the graphics are not ground breaking they fit the theme and style of the game perfectly, enhancing the experience almost perfectly.

Audio

Rating: 2/5

If you read my reviews you'll notice that I am much more focused on the audio in games more than a lot of other reviewers. With this said I have to say that the one thing that I wasn't overly impressed with about Town of Salem was the audio. Honestly, I'm pretty sure the audio in this specific game wasn't a high up on the priority of things to do. The music while it fits the theme great becomes repetitive to the point of muting very quickly. The sound effects are a bit kooky but that too fits the game. I love a game with an amazing audio track however I do understand that with indie game developers in genres that don't require amazing sound, that sound is usually the low point in the games budget.

Value

Rating: 5/5

There are two options when it comes to picking up Town of Salem. The first, and the one I'd suggest is on steam at Town of Salem on Steam. You get the game on your steam account and get to support the developers. Even better it comes at the low price of $4.99. The second option for people wanting to play but can't really afford the 4.99 is playing the browser based version for free on the blank media games website Browser based Version. Either way this game is about as good of a value as your going to find for the hours of entertainment it will provide.

Overall Rating: 5/5

The only real flaw I found in this game is the audio but even then it's on par with similarly styled games. The game is fun, addictive, fresh and a blast to play with friends in queue alone. Mix that with the ability to play absolutely free, or for a small 5 dollars for an actual app version on steam is a killer deal. On top of all that the developers listen to their community and are constantly adding things such as the mobile version of Town of Salem that is currently in beta. You can check out the blank Media Games twitch.tv channel where the devs play with fans every week to see just how interactive they are with their community.