Welcome Time Wasters!
This week I adventured into the Town of Salem to play the bluffing game against anyone I was set up against.
Town of Salem is a browser game that is basically a chat room with some extra features. It’s not about having the best gear, highest levels or quickest reflexes. Instead, the game rewards the players that are best at lying and keeping track of details.
Town of Salem allows seven to 14 players to collect together in a town. Each player is given a role in that town. Some players, such as the Jailer, Sheriff, Doctor and others are trying to save the town. To do this, they have to kill criminals and such. This includes the Mafia, Serial Killers and other deviants.
On the flip side of saving the town, the criminals want to take it over and kill all those that are good (or in the Serial Killer’s case, everyone). Most of the action in the game takes place at night. Each role has a different ability that can be used and they’ll have to do their best to reach their goals. Some players can be on the lookout for killers, while killers have the option of taking out a single person each night.
However, players in Town of Salem aren’t told each others’ roles unless they choose to. Revealing a role can be dangerous as it could get the player killed. For example, if one player reveals themselves to be the Lookout and claim to have seen a murder, they will likely die in the next couple of nights to prevent them messing with the Mafia or Serial Killer’s plans.
The good guys of the game have one major tool that assists them in taking out the bad guys. That tool is the noose. Players can compare notes during the day and place allegations on each other. If enough players vote to, they can have another player hung.
This is where is becomes important to lie as much as you can to save your own hide. The Mafia can work together to try and save their own skins and the Serial Killer can bluff his way out of the noose. At the same time, some good players can get caught up in events at night by visiting other players. If the visiting player is killed while visiting another player and someone sees it, it can cast a lot of suspicion on that player.
Players who end up dead aren’t completely out of the game. Every game includes a role called the Medium. At night, the Medium can talk to dead players to see what happened to them. Players can also leave behind Last Wills. Keeping a Last Will and updating it every night can help players out. However, it can also hurt players if false accusations are made in it.
The graphics of Town of Salem are really simple. Players start out looking like pilgrims and have the ability to buy more outfits when they earn coins from winning games. These are just aesthetic and don’t affect the gameplay at all. Players can also choose to spend real money on the game in exchange for coins, but they aren’t forced to.
The audio in Town of Salem is really simple. There are a couple of songs and sound effects, but nothing major. It’s actually so simple that I found myself just shutting off the audio and listening to my own music while playing.
Overall, I really like the idea behind Town of Salem. The game is really fun and addicting. Lying your way out of the noose or putting someone else in it is really fun. There’s also a great sense of accomplishment when players work together to win the game. The graphics aren’t all that great and the sound is also lacking, but the game is definitely still worth wasting time on.
Town of Salem earns 3.5 GiN Gems out of 5!
This looks like a lot of fun. There used to be a text game like this that my friend Chris used to play where someone in the town was a vampire (one of the players) and some people were vampire hunters. Everyone else was just an innocent person, but everyone had little powers like you describe here. That game was all text though. This sounds a lot like that but with a few visual enhancements, more factions and stuff like that. I may have to jump in and try it out. Thanks for letting us know about it.