If you have been addicted to the board game Mafia (or Werewolf), you may start celebrating, because the browser version has been released! Inspired by the Starcraft Mod Mafia, Town of Salem is a simple but hard to master online party game of lies, deceit, survival and truth.
Salem Witch Trials, anyone?
The main theme and the graphical design “Town of Salem” focuses on resembling its namesake(if you don’t know where that town is, I recommend reading The Crucible). Both the in-game and lobby designs need some improvement; there are very major mistakes, like having a small chat box, even though chatting is a very important element. The graphics? Horrible. But of course, they are not what makes this game fun.
Gameplay, please.
In a nutshell, the gameplay is mostly text-based. There are three factions in the game, Townies, the Mafia and the Neutrals. The Townies and Mafia are enemies,and try to kill each other, while the Neutrals have their own unique purposes on each role -like surviving to the end of the game- and they act accordingly. What makes this game a game of lies, deceit and truth is that no one knows who is who, until that person is dead.
The game has a day night cycle; everyone gathers to the town square during the day and go back to their houses for the night. It is possible to lynch someone in day if enough votes are received, but at night, no one can communicate with others except the mafia members, who coordinate their next move together and pick their targets. Deaths at night are announced at the start of the day.
Everyone has a last will that is revealed to the town when they die, which is a vital weapon, since your role, and therefore your side, is revealed to the town after your death. The roles that are able to kill others are also granted a death note, which is revealed to the town, when they succeed at killing someone.
There are currently 30 roles in the game, and most of them have their unique abilities, such as being able to talk to the dead at night and being able to reveal yourself as a Mayor, who is a town member, in day. Some are immune at night such as the Serial Killer and some are able to investigate one person at night, such as the Sheriff.
Lies!
As the amount of roles increase, things get complicated and lies become the most of the game. As one reveals himself as a Townie Vigilante, and accuse another player of being immune (which means the accused one is a Godfather, a Serial Killer or an Executioner), you may find yourself wondering if the one who revealed himself as a Vigilante is actually an Executioner, trying to get his specific target lynched, or a Jester, trying to manipulate the people to lynch him.
He may even be a Mafia member who tries to secure his survival in day, by making others believe that he is a Jester. But wait, if there is no one else claiming the vigilante role; what if he is telling the truth?
After hanging the framer, you realize that he was indeed a Vigilante and wrote to his last will that the town should hang the immune player. The day after that, the town decides to listen to their fellow dead vigilante and lynch him. It turns out that he was a town member as well.
By thinking about the possibilities, you realize that probably, while the Doctor was healing him, the Vigilante had attacked and the townies had tricked themselves! That is the moment when you realize the nuance of the game.
Conclusion
There are indeed issues that lower the quality of the game, like the small number of roles when compared to the Starcraft Mod and the fact that there is no way to reconnect a game after disconnected. Along with the graphics and design, these lower the overall score of the game. However, I can not deny the fun I had while playing together with friends and deceiving them to win the game myself.
I must also include the fact that by deceiving people or being deceived, you eventually get to understand the value of honesty in a community and the benefits and harms of lying in order to get away from something. You do learn a lot from the experience.
If you want to support the development, there is a Steam version, but it is still a free browser game (where you can buy costumes and house customization with real money), so give it a try. You may find yourself a good liar, or not. Either way, you’ll have fun.