You play as Elvira, a cold and harsh women that has been raised by an organization that carries out duty's such as assassination, spying, and investigation. One day she is called to a case by a Marquee to pose as his daughter who was killed after going to a masquerade party. The Maequee had pulled enough strings to cover up her death as well as having spread rumors that his daughter was overcome by a life threatening illness. It is Elvira's duty to find out by any means who could possibly have done his daughter harm whether it be through investigation or being sought out again by the killer who wishes to finish the job.
Tha game features three key murderer suspects, all of which are romance options. Elvira' happy go lucky assistant Seth who poses as her doctor, is also romancable in the full game. One of the suspects includes Julius, a duke and the diseased fiance. According to accounts their relationship had improved greatly shortly before his betrothed's demise. A little bit suspicious, hm? As well as said Masquerade Party that ended in the girls death was one of his own parties. Julius is the coldest of all the 4 characters, showing disgust at Elvira for posing as his fiance. Yet ultimately he continues to help her instead of report or show the world Elvira is a fake. Maybe he's not as bad as he seems?
Next on the list of love interests is August, who is, as far as I'm aware from what the game says, our Nonbinary romance option. I'm not entirely sure if im correct on that as They are refereed to with they pronouns and have said themselves that they wish to be refereed as such but are also called "Earl" and "Lord" which carry a more masculine air to them to me. I suppose those could be gender neutral as well, (I've seen Lord used for females in other games as an example) though I think terms like Duchy or Noble would be more gender neutral in my eyes at least. It felt a bit jarring for them to be referred as they but also have some masculine sounding terms as well as being called by their sister as her brother. Wouldn't it be more respectful to say Sibling instead of Brother? Nit pickings aside, August is a very playful person, to the point they've earned a reputation as being eccentric. They first appear when Elvira mistakes which goblet to use for her wine and teases her about it. August appears to believe Elvira is in a forbidden romance with her doctor Seth, and urges her to get over it or keep it hidden so she does not become an outcast like themselves, insinuating that perhaps August has also shown feelings for someone they should not be allowed to pursue. Elvira also speculates that August could be the killer, believing they might be jealous of Julius due to a long going rivalry, killing her in a rage, or perhaps killing her because they themselves had feelings for her and didn't want her to be with anyone else.
Next is Charlotte, our female love interest. Charlotte gets the least amount of screen time among the four in the demo, so not much is really known about her. She is affiliated with the organization Elvira and Seth work for, being a caretaker of an orphanage that has their children taken in to become part of the organization often. Elvira herself is from said orphanage. Charlotte seems to have a distaste for the Boss of the organization and appears to pester and yell at her to come up with a way for the orphanage to be better cared for. On her way out after being overheard yelling at the Boss, Charlotte mentions how the woman Elvira was posing as was burned to death, warning her that if she's not careful, Elvira will die the same way. This gets Elvira and Seth suspicious that she is more involved in the case than she lets on.
Closing Thoughts
The demo is short but gives you a lot to think about and theorize about who you think did it. All characters seem to have a charm to them, as well as carrying that dangerous thought in your head that maybe they are a wolf in sheeps clothing. I got nervous for Elvira playing whenever she said or did something that slipped up her identity, especially at the end of the demo. I already liked Elvira's character, and want her to survive.
Despite not talking too much about him in other paragraphs, my favorite of the love interests is Seth. I like how he seems happy and energetic, but then can switch to menacing and scary due to his upbringing in the organization as well as his dedication to the boss. I will say I also kind of suspect Seth a bit as well because for one; The title screen shows him holding a black feathered mask, which fits the description of the last person to be seen with the victim at the party. As well as that, he seems to be hiding something from Elvira and only talking to the Boss about it which seems to be connected to Julius. He managed to get a map his manor and even talked about breaking in to investigate, so perhaps the reasoning was to plant evidence to convict Julius when Elvira isn't watching?
The art is dependent on your own tastes. Sometimes faces looked a bit weird (especially for the victims parents) and Julius' eyebrows annoyed me to no end. One of his eyebrows shouldn't even be viewable with bangs like those! But it is an artistic choice, so I can't dock it much other than just being a personal nitpick. The Victorian clothes look stunning and Elvira's expressions especially are lovely. The title screen has been laggy for me every time I've opened the demo so far, but the game itself runs smoothly. I'm afraid it might be for the little bit of animation it does which makes me a bit afraid of if the CGs in the finished game will lag it up too, but I dunno how that'll go about being done in the first place. Auto isn't too slow or too fast imo. The music is subjective as well, for the most part the music is fine, but the one serious song that plays seems to loop a bit poorly.
All in all, I think The Masquerade Killer is looking to be an interesting game, and well worth keeping your eyes on. The kickstarter is already fully funded, so it is definitely being finished, and as of now they are working on the first stretch goal with semi-animated CG's and there's still 20 days left! It's definitely a game worth keeping your eyes on. Their kickstarter page can be found here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1022740540/the-masquerade-killer
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