Eville (Beta) Review (PC)
Release Date: October 11th 2022
Developer: Vest Games
Publisher: Versus Evil
Platform: (Initial Release) PC, Xbox Price: $14.99
Everyone once in a while I get a game, I don’t know what to do with. Eville is just such a game, and it has taken me weeks to figure out what to say about it. Neither fish nor fowl, Vest Game’s Eville is interesting. There is much to criticize in this social deduction game, but it has the singular virtue that I keep coming back to it, furthermore, my oldest actually “borrowed” my laptop just to play the Beta with her friends. With the Game dropping this week, let’s look at this imperfect yet compelling game.
Ever since Among Us' went nuclear a while back there have been a whole raft of “social deduction” games. As with any other bandwagon, only a few managed to gain much traction. Vest Games' Eville attempts to take the social deduction genre to new heights, but it’s confusing and convoluted play cause the game to stumble but, interestingly, not fall.
Eville is an eight-player online multiplayer game where two players are “conspirators” who work together to murder the other players. The non-conspirators attempt to uncover who the conspirators are, so they can put them in a cage and burn them, so it’s the usual “Do unto others only first” trope that defines the genre. Conspirators usually attack at night when players are isolated in their homes, and occupy their time during the day foraging and trading items to upgrade their equipment and protect themselves. At the beginning of each round, the players are randomly assigned one of eight-character roles, which each have their own abilities.
Visually it's impressive, particularly when compared to more cartoony games in the same category, and can be a bit creepy. Crafting brings a welcome difference, and an experienced victim can prove a frustrating surprise for a less experienced killer. The wild card is of course your opponents, who this being the internet range from genius to potato. This is expected, but it is particularly troublesome in this sort of game where the non-conspirator players tend to be more of a menace than the murderer taking a “Kill ‘em all and let God sort them out” stance and survival is as much about not being burned “just because” than avoiding the murderer.
As for the game play itself, the day night cycle is rather quick and often I can’t do what I want to do before night falls because the game sends me home whether I like it or not. I understand the need for pacing, but I would rather have gone up on the roof and watched to see who was about, rather than waiting for Michael Meyers to come crashing through my front window.
The tutorial is also rather thin, it gives you a good general idea, but I still spent a week trying to figure out what I was supposed to be doing. Unlike Among Us, there aren't any standing tasks that need to be completed, so you usually wander aimlessly around. You can forage different items, sell them, or craft them into potions, but finding the ingredients is often difficult. The map is such a maze that it's hard to find anything even if you’ve been there before, this was such an annoyance I kept expecting to find a big piece of cheese down an alleyway.
So, why do I like this game? Well, despite its problems, it's visually pretty and the flaws don’t actually ruin the game. There are some unique and tense moments in almost every game, and that variety keeps you coming back. My biggest complaint is that it’s a great effort, but it could have been so much more, and I hope the developers keep tweaking it. As for me, you will probably see me on the streets of Eville.
The Good:
· Well-conceived
· Visually appealing
· Fun to play
The Bad:
· Odd mechanics
· Clunky tutorial
· Steep learning curve