Trying to explain The Sexy Brutale is no easy task, set
within the walls of the titular Sexy Brutale, a lavish mansion/casino based in
somewhere here in England, where an elite clientele have been invited to a
masquerade ball by the strangely absent owner, The Marquis, all is not what it
seems however, as the mansion’s staff are murdering each guest in strange and
elaborate ways, and it’s down to you, Lafcadio Boone, an elderly priest with a
pocket watch able to rewind time, and a mask blessed with strange abilities, to
save the guests and discover what is really going in the mansion. You start the game face down on the floor as a bloodied
woman approaches you, she touches your mask and bestows you with protection
from the events surrounding you, she hands you a broken pocket watch and sets
you a task, save the watchmaker and potentially the rest of the guests whilst
you’re at it, the woman disappears and with that, the pocket watch activates,
rewinding time back to midday and placing you in the building before everyone
is unfortunate enough to find themselves shuffled off this mortal coil. You’re initially given just a 5 hour (5 minutes irl) window
to prevent the murder of clockmaker, Reginald Sixpence, the game gently guides
you through your first investigation, as you listen for distant footsteps and
conversations, peak through keyholes, and find clues about how to prevent
Reginald’s imminent murder by gunshot to the chest, whilst strictly unable to
interact with the murderers or victims directly, you can influence items or
surroundings that might aid in helping them stave off meeting a grizzly end. You wander from room to room and notice Reginald rummaging
through a safe, he doesn’t find what he’s looking for, but you see an item fall
to the floor, he leaves the room and you enter, on looking at what he dropped,
you discover it’s a blank gun cartridge and add it to your inventory, on
further wandering you stumble on the murderer helping himself to a weapon from
a rack, he leaves the room, you follow, but it’s too late, a gunshot rings out
and dear Reginald is dead, again.
I won’t go any further in spoiling more of the beginning for
you, but this gives a fairly accurate idea about how things go in The Sexy
Brutale, a murder occurs and you must work backwards through the events leading
to it, not only that, but once you know what happens, it’s a race against time
to prevent said deaths, listening to conversations between the conspiring
murderers might give you a clue about a weakness in their plan, or finding an
item somewhere might spark an idea for something you saw elsewhere within the
house, the problem is, if you pick something up and don’t work fast enough, the
murder will happen and you’ll have to rewind back to the beginning of the day,
which will reset you to where you began, item-less and alone. Synchronising with the various clocks in the house allows
you to change your starting location, and once you’ve seen another person going
about their business somewhere adds them to your map, consulting that will show
you everyone’s routes and knowing where others are at any one time is
essential, if you need to get something from a room but a murderer is between
you and that item, you need to think, can I get to that room before they do, do
I have time to see if they leave, or is there a way I can lure them out? The game creates these elaborate puzzles from numerous
seemingly-unrelated pieces, drip feeds them to you without giving any hints
until the last minute (literally), and then it clicks, the realisation about
how it all fits together becomes apparent and it all makes sense, half of the
enjoyment in this title is in the investigation and discovery, the rest is the
story, characters, and the mystery surrounding the events you’re all
unfortunate to bear witness to. From the bizarre gas mask wearing staff that
cross your path, to the guests you’re out to save, all have their own history
and stories, their pasts intertwined with The Sexy Brutale, Reginald Sixpence, who
built the many clocks around the house, master goldsmith, Aurum Runes, the man
behind the majority of the extravagant contraptions that litter the building, even
former head of security, Clay Rockridge, each with their own role in this
macabre Groundhog Day-like adventure, and all finding themselves at the
receiving end of a grisly death, unless, of course, you do something to prevent
it.
Much like everyone else in the game, as you’re all supposed
to be attending a masquerade ball, you find yourself wearing a mask, these are
each imbued with abilities taken from their wearer’s own characteristics, with
yours able to take on the powers of the guests you save, this then aids you in any
subsequent rescues, the skills of extraordinary hearing, picking locks, or seeing
and speaking to ghosts, each plays into solving new puzzles or opening previously
inaccessible areas of the building itself. You explore the mansion one room at a time, and the
attention to detail for each is a real joy, the chapel with its stunning
stained glass window casting a glow over the altar, the in-house bar with amply
stocked shelves and enormous decorative snake overhead, to the guest rooms
featuring fish tanks containing some very unique species, strange and bizarre
paintings on the walls, and the numerous book shelves filled with countless
literature and trinkets. There’s a tremendous sense of depth to the world within this
game, the visual style gives everything a near-physical look to it all, as if
it were the most detailed diorama anyone had ever made, the isometric view
gives you the feeling that you could reach in and pick up the characters and
move them around with your hands, but subtle and smooth character animations
breath their own life and personality into its inhabitants, with the lighting
and effects adding to this, candles flickering softly, sunlight shining through
the windows, changing in brightness and colour as the day draws on, even ending
with the appearance of blood raining from the skies as the clock fast
approaches midnight. The sound also compliments the visual style of the game,
playing more like a silent movie than a standard talkie affair, the music plays
the part of background, narrator and guide, soft atmospheric tunes set the tone
during scenes, fading to grand organ music or a dramatic orchestral cue as you
bear witness to a murder, changing then to the main theme, a rousing piano-lead
jazz-style beat, even alternating to slightly different versions depending on
the room you enter, and there’s even an absolutely beautiful song you’re
treated to upon rescuing resident singer Tequila Belle. Whilst this game may find its roots from
classics like Knight Lore, Head over Heels, and Alien 8, it sets itself apart
from anything up to this point by bringing new and refreshing ideas to the
table, wholly original gameplay and a world you can spend as little or as much
time with as you like, you set out aiming to save these people with little
motivation as to why you’re doing it, but through these deeds, you come to
learn about each of them, and start to unravel what is really going on, it’s a whodunit,
it’s a whydunit, and it’s an undone-it.
The Sexy Brutale is out now on PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One