The Sexy Brutale is one of the most intriguing games I’ve played on the Nintendo Switch so far. It has murder, mystery and the element of time travel. The player takes the role of Lafcadio Boone, a nice, quiet man who received an invitation to a mysterious dinner party at the infamous “Sexy Brutale Casino”.  Upon arriving some very creepy events unfold and Lafcadio realizes that he’s trapped in a time loop. By reliving the same day over and over again Lafcadio is able to study the events that unfold and try to prevent the deaths of everyone else that was invited to the dinner party. Uncover the horrifying secrets of the Sexy Brutale and discover tons of clues that will help you along the way in this awesomely, creepy 3D adventure. 

Everyday is Saturday when you’re Lafcadio Boone. The day starts at 12pm and ends at 12am. Everything will play out exactly the same, every time a new day begins (kind of like Majora’s Mask). Your job is to investigate each of the guests in the Casino and prevent their deaths by following them around and getting to know their schedule. Once you’ve seen the murder and how it happens you can start taking measures to prevent it when the day starts over. You’ll want to pay close attention and pick up on the clues that are given to you. You have to remember specific locations and the times each character will be at those locations. It can get pretty challenging, but in a good way. It’s almost like an interactive, gory version of the board game Clue. 

You’ll be exploring different sections of the Casino during each of the murder scenarios. In a sense the movement and gameplay is very similar to the Luigi’s Mansion series. As you enter different rooms your map will expand, which makes it easier to find your way around. You’ll be focusing on one murder at a time and slowly opening up new areas of the casino as you progress. This keeps things fresh during your time at the Sexy Brutale. 

You’ll want to follow each of the victims closely and listen to what they’re saying. You can do this by hiding in closets, listening through the door, or peaking through a keyhole. You have to be sneaky because being seen by any of the characters during the course of the day will trigger them, like literally. The screen turns dark and some intense horror music plays immediately upon entering the same room as someone else. Then the mask they’re wearing flies off of their heads and comes after you. If caught, you’re met with a terrible fate and it’s Game Over. 

Speaking of masks, every character has a mask that they were given to wear upon arriving at the casino. Long story short, these masks are pretty much the cause of all the creepy things going on around you. Each time you rescue one of the guests you will acquire their mask. Giving Lafcadio helpful new powers and abilities. While this all sounds nice and chummy, it in no way stops that victim’s murder the next day. So regardless of how many times you save someone all you’re really doing it for is their mask, which you get to keep the first time you prevent their death. Finding out who orchestrated this whole event is the true secret to saving all of the guests once and for all. 

While I do love this game and want others to love it as well, it does have some major frame rate issues. There were times when I would walk into a room and everything would just start kind of… stuttering. It happened numerous times and there was nothing going on, on screen, to trigger it. No NPC’s walking around, no dialogue or cut scenes, it only happened when I was walking around exploring. It was really frustrating and made the game unplayable at times. I honestly thought it was going to crash at one point but luckily it never did. While this was a huge nuisance, I still played until the very end. Simply because, regardless of frame rate issues, TSB is still a really great game. In fact, if this is fixed with some sort of update or patch I would gladly change my review score to a 9, easily. 

The game looks awesome, it’s challenging and it’s unlike anything else on the Nintendo Switch. But for now, I recommend waiting on an update for The Sexy Brutale. One will (hopefully) come soon enough, and not having to deal with the frame rate issues will greatly increase your experience when playing this game. However if you just can’t wait, The Sexy Brutale is “playable”, and you can purchase it on the eShop for $19.99.