I finally found a game to take me out of my gaming slump. It’s called Betrayal at Club Low. It’s made by a developer called Cosmo D and it’s the fourth (I think?) game to take place in his universe he’s crafting called the Off-Peak saga. I have loved all of his previous games but for some reason it took me a year to get to this one, and boy was I missing out! His games have always been a bit surreal, totally unique and very humorous, and this game takes all of those qualities and puts them on a delicious pizza.
On the surface, Betrayal at Club Low is a RPG point and click adventure where you roll dice to perform actions. You are always rolling your dice against someone or something, so you must roll the higher number or tie to get the outcome you want. As you explore the city, there are many different characters and objects to interact with, often with multiple solutions which really encourages replayability. You have stats such as Music, Wit and Physique amongst others, and you upgrade these skills by increasing the numbers that show up on the die corresponding to the stat. Different actions will use different stat die depending on what you’re doing. You also can make your own pizzas, which are actually dice also. Your pizza dice are your own creation, with each ingredient giving a different buff or a bit of money, and they roll every time you roll. You could make a pizza die with nothing but money, or you can even it out with some health and mentality replenishers.
The main gist is that you are trying to infiltrate a night club. Cosmo D games are always disorientating in the best way because you can get sidetracked trying to convince the chef to let you cook or wrestling a guard to tell you a secret passphrase. Nearly every person has something funny to say with multiple choices of actions you could do, like pickpocket or try to impress them with your music knowledge. However if you fail, you will get Condition dice, which can subtract numbers from your roll or damage your health. They are usually related to your failures, for example if you fail to impress the coatcheck lady with your music knowledge, you will get Embarrassed and feel Awkward which will damage your next roll. She could also get Onto You, which means she will also roll a second die that contains negative buffs towards you.
I am excited to play more because I love this guys games. They are some of the most unique and innovative games I’ve ever played. There is a reason why Betrayal at Club Low won the most prestigious award at this years IGF.
Tonight you're on a rescue mission, infiltrating a nightclub that was once a coffin factory. Will you succeed? Will you fail? Or will your night take an unexpected detour? Roll the Pizza Dice and find out!
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