I’ll be honest.
I was hesitant to try Velan Studios’ Midnight Murder Club at first. Not because I didn’t want to try it. But because it’s that new age isn’t it. Corralling your friends together and all. Now I have a solid group of people to game with online. But six of them online at one time? That might be asking a bit much. Especially when competition and ego comes into it. And normal life. But there’s handful of games that have had success with it from time to time. Of course the giant that is Fortnite used to do it (segregating losers into sitting out rounds due to the maximum number of people in a squad being four). Monopoly. Probably the most successful and most frustrating for us all. Both Fall AND Stumble Guys could get that amount. Heck, even beloved stalwart Age Of Empires II does too. But a new game? It asked the question sitting in the back of our heads:
“Why?”
Thanks to our friend Leppy, he gave us a good enough reason. And that was because he suggested we should play it. And you listen to Leppy when he makes suggestions because yeah the boys. So I proceeded to download the guest pass version of the game. What’s that you say, with a devilish gleam in your eye? In its current state, there is an early access version of the game for $31.95. While at first glance that may seem steep as it contains only six characters (club members) five game modes and one level. But it does have one other thing. Guest pass access. That’s right, if you buy an early access version of the game then you can invite 5 friends to play it with you through the guest pass. And that’s a right bargain for the fun you can have.
With any good multiplayer FPS, the first thing you do is jump into Free-For-All. As everyone knows the best thing in multiplayer is the ability to tilt all of your friends. Considering that’s a healthy thing to do and all! And when you’re doing it within Midnight Murder Club, it’s in the dark. Walking around the current solo level, Wormwood Manor, means traversing outdoor areas. Many more rooms laid out around the establishment. And kitchens just in case you need a snack.
All congregating around a massive foyer and giant staircase.
Armed with a melee attack, revolver with six chambers and a torch, it’s up to you to utilise the dark for your own means. Which turned out to be something I was quite good at. Quickly using L2 to turn the torch on and off, I’d try to make a mental note of which way to run. Pair this with the audio, you can use your senses to great effect in going for the win. But if that turns out to be quite tricky at first, you can find old-timey cash registers around the Manor. These can give your club member a random power-up, ranging from bulletproof vests through to full-on night vision with what I’m assuming is magical means placed upon you by Wormwood Manor. And if this gameplay sounds familiar, I likened it to Murder in the Dark, except the bullets are real and you can come back to life. And you occasionally use a torch.
Once more friends joined, we then jumped into Headhunters.
This turned 2 of the 6 club members into demons, while the others were tasked with dismantling cursed areas around the manor. Pair this with the game’s proximity chat, which changes the demons’ voices to something more demonic, it provides a riotous set of events in a truly hilarious game of Marco Polo with guns.
While we didn’t try the other available game modes, the hours we played were a treat. And the fact that only one person needs to take the brunt of the purchase is a great way to get more testers in the game while helping iron out the kinks. Of which we didn’t find really any. The only setback with the title, is that it’s still in early access with limited modes and levels. We didn’t really test out playing against other real life players, cause we were ultimately chasing that high with friends.
And I think it’s one that Midnight Murder Club can supply to you and your group of friends for a good few hours. And hopefully more of them in future as Velan continue to develop the title further. Fun with friends? Or guns with friends?
