The game mechanics are a bit chunky but they aren’t overly complicated and the game doesn’t generally outlast its run time of around an hour once you get the hang of the actions and how the phases play out.

If you enjoyed this review and want to explore another creepy cooperative game with lots of character motive, feel free to read about Dead of Winter. The 103 third parties who use cookies on this service do so for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalized ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products. When you guess 2, you ask a specific person about 2 suspect/weapon/motive cards and if they have one or both, they pick one and secretly show it to you. This mode affects how much damage monsters can take before dying but doesn’t notably affect your “luck” rolls.

If you roll the die and it lands on a symbol for one of the cards that you have already solved, then you receive a Ghost token. The game has a fun sense of humor, with the motives being absurd and often amusing, and it’s a nice touch that each player is trying to solve their own unique combination of cards. This token gives you the choice of which die action you want the next time an unusable die face is rolled. And the original monstrous dog has a big role at the start of the film, pretty much going wherever it likes, so are the dogs supposed to be in or out?

If you again roll an element you believe you already know, you may then spend the token to choose any action on the die. John Carpenter’s The Thing is a cult classic film and a staple of the horror genre despite its original release to lackluster attendance. It is also of note, that since September the game has been regularly updated with both paid and unpaid bonus content. Each player can look then look at their own cards (not the ones on the evidence board) and mark off what they have on their evidence board. It also helped that it was an easy game to play on the Steam Deck, despite it not being created with the Steam Deck in mind.

Everyone at the table is a ghost trying to find the person who killed them along with the weapon and the motive for murder. The yes or no question, while potentially open for interpretation depending on how vague your questions are, is also an enjoyable element and it's fun to get creative with, particularly once you become more acquainted with all of the cards. These dice rolls even affect when and if you get a saving book or can rest (to save), which likely means you lose progress. If you are a fan of tower defense, rogue-like, or deckbuilding games, Heretic’s Fork is definitely worth checking out! You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice.

While your screen quickly becomes bullet hell, your structures are more or less automated and do all the sinner punishing for you. Inside the box there are 6 evidence boards, 6 dry erase markers, 6 tokens, 1 die and 36 cards (12 suspect cards, 12 motive cards and 12 weapon cards). Going clockwise from the starting player each player on their turn has the choice to either roll the dice or make a final accusation. But the game mechanics and rules are not entirely well-explained in all circumstances, including the translation between standard and cooperative play, and the playbook raises more questions than answers. If you roll the scales of justice, that is the turn that most resembles Clue in that you are making a guess as to who killed you, how, and why.When you roll the scales of justice, you name one suspect, one weapon, and one motive and the other players tell you how many of these match the cards in your board (but not which ones). The Dark Priest requires more tactical gameplay but companionless potential if played to their unique strengths.

If a player rolls a die action for one of the cards they’ve already solved, then they receive a ghost token. Side note: I really like that the game uses little dry erase boards rather than giving a pad of paper, because then you can play as many times as you want without worrying about running out. Each player gets given a suspect card, weapon card and motive card (they can’t look at these) and these are placed face out on the evidence board so that other players see what’s on the cards except the player they belong to. It’s perfect for a games night with friends or family and has great re-playability – the game is different each time you play!In my opinion, such vagaries are often more terrifying when left unseen, for the viewer’s imagination to run wild. Again, we’ve played it cooperatively and this may or may not hold true depending on your game group.