As the ruler of an elite kingdom, of course you seek greatness. Reputation, prosperity, the works. But greatness comes at a cost. What lengths will you go to in order to achieve such renown? Mortals will have to decide if putting their soul on the line is worthwhile – those coins and resources in exchange sure are tempting. The cultist, after many of those same resources, will sell their corrupted soul in the blink of an eye, and gladly take pure souls from mortals to pawn off to the Devil again later. While the Devil, of course, will use everything in their control to scoop up as many pieces of soul as possible. Now the only question is, who will be victorious?

What Is It?

Trading – Each round players will privately fill their chests with offers of resources in exchange for either coins or pieces of soul, depending on their roles. Everyone will need to make enticing offers if they want to get just what they need.

App Driven – There is a companion app which rotates the chests around, so that player roles can remain hidden. It is only used for trading purposes, so it is very unobtrusive to the gameplay.

Social Deduction – 4 players, 3 unique hidden roles. Guessing who the Devil and/or cultist are can get you a few points at game end.

Action Selection – Each round there is an action planning phase where players decide how many and which actions they’ll take. They can trigger event cards, build and/or activate buildings, and hire courtiers, which can be used to earn achievements.

There are a lot of little mechanisms sprinkled throughout the game – voting for who you think is missing pieces of soul and who is the cultist or Devil, resource management, a reputation track where you gain rewards for moving up, and are punished for moving down, you can take out loans, and even bribe inquisitors to avoid punishments in some rounds! There’s definitely a lot of moving parts in this one, but it all seems to have a place, and works together fairly well.

Who Is It For?

  • 4 Players – You need an exact count for this game
  • Ages 15+ – Younger players may struggle because of all the moving parts
  • More seasoned gamers – Again, newer players may struggle if they are not used to lots of mechanisms in a single game
  • Fans of longer/heavier games, thematic games, and making deals
  • Players who don’t mind the potential for punishments, mostly in loss of points

PROS

  • Aesthetics – Everything looks great on the table, it has a very epic presence. Nice art across everything as well.
  • Components – Everything is great quality. The player walls are easy to build and take apart, cards are easy to read, it has great reference cards, no real complaints
  • App – Works well, no issues with trades; used minimally so it doesn’t intrude on gameplay. I also really like that it allows you to give role preferences at the start of the game
  • Rules – The rulebook is certainly hefty, but it is well-written, so it’s not too bad to comb through
  • Theme – I thought the theme was interesting and the gameplay works well with the theme; it really brings you into the world of the game
  • Rounds play smoothly, follow a good flow
  • Actions phase moves quickly, especially with players who have played before because you can do certain things (like making buildings) simultaneously
  • While the mechanisms felt familiar, the gameplay felt unique
  • Nice FAQ in the rulebook to help with questions that players might have that could reveal their role

CONS

  • Player Count – While I do understand why the game needs exactly 4, it does make it harder to get to the table. You need to find people who are interested in the game, and the exact right amount of them
  • Fragility – For one thing, if roles are revealed early by accident, it gives the players who are allowed to guess an opening to make a few points and hurt the Devil/cultist players too. It’s not game changing points wise, in my opinion, but it kind of takes away the social aspect if it gets revealed too early. On top of that, players start with vastly different amounts of resources, and do not make a ton during production, so if players are afraid to trade – whether the Devil is afraid to offer too much, or the mortals are afraid to sell a piece of soul, for example – the game can quickly become difficult to play as many players will not be able to build much, if anything, that first round, and may feel disappointed by the lack of actions they can do.
  • There is a lot of front-loading for rules, because there are so many mechanisms. I think the mechanisms work well together, but it can be a lot of rules at once so if you have a hard time following a lengthy teach, it might not be for you

Final Thoughts

This game was a lot. There are a lot of moving parts, and a lot of things to try and do. Depending on your role and the first round of trades, it can be very difficult for players to do very much early on; it’s really about managing your coins/resources (and souls).

I feel a little bit like the entire time I am playing I am questioning if I’m “doing it right,” and if maybe I should have taken that last trade, or maybe I should save my souls for inquisitions, or make bigger offers the next trade phase. But … that’s kind of what I like about it. I think thematically that sense of almost paranoia about having souls/not looking guilty really works, and I like how you have to manage what you have in order to get ahead, whether you’re focusing on building quickly, going for certain achievements, saving up money for angel wings or inquisitor bribes, or whatever path you are going.

I think the Devil is definitely the hardest role in the game, which does make sense, and, in general, the game has a decent learning curve so players who don’t like a lot of rules, or longer games might not have a great time. I certainly think the game benefits from multiple plays, so it would be ideal to find a group that would like to play it a few times.

Overall, I quite like the game myself, and I think there’s definitely an audience out there for it. Unfortunately for me, that exact player count is a huge detriment, and I think that requirement will hold it back a little bit from being enjoyed by more players as well. If not for that, I’d rate it a little bit higher.

Additional Information:
My Final Rating – 6.5/10

Designer – Matúš Kotry
Artist – David Cochard
Publisher – Czech Games Edition (CGE)
MSRP – $69.95
Website

*I was provided a copy of this game to do this review*

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