Demo offers first look at Death Trick: Double Blind

• Announcements by Jack Allin
• Published:

Investigative visual novel-styled adventure from the creators of The Rewinder unveiled for 2023 release

In their 2021 adventure The Rewinder, indie developer Misty Mountain Studio presented a side-scrolling pixel art mystery inspired by traditional Chinese folklore. Surprisingly, their upcoming new game couldn't be more different in style, setting or gameplay, as we can see first-hand in the playable demo for Death Trick: Double Blind.

It's the mid-twentieth century in America, and circuses are at the height of their popularity. But something is very wrong at Morgan’s Traveling Circus. The star magician has gone missing, and "rumors are flying, trouble is brewing, but the show must go on." Players will assume dual roles to uncover the truth behind this mystery: a fellow magician named Jackie, invited by The Amazing Hattie herself before her disappearance; and a visiting private eye names Jones from San Francisco. Pursuing their own investigations separately, the two will need to gather clues, interrogate witnesses and potential suspects, and point out contradictions in their testimonies. Your choices will be crucial in determining how the case plays out, leading to one of multiple different possible endings.

Inspired by the pulp art of the period and accompanied by original "carny tunes," Death Trick is a hand-drawn visual novel-styled adventure with nonlinear progression. Promising plenty of twists and turns along the way, the game sees you alternate between the two different protagonists who each bring their own unique perspectives and access to knowledge the other lacks. Throughout ten discrete locations populated by eight animated characters, you will collect key details through an icon-based mechanic that can be presented during conversation, and occasionally you'll be able to scour environments for clues like a more traditional adventure. But beware, as sometimes you'll have a limited number of actions available to conduct your business before control returns to the other character. Abundant cutscenes and comic panels convey important story points, but you'll spend most of your time navigating more than 200,000 words of dialogue that will take more than a single playthrough to fully experience.

The full version of Death Trick: Double Blind isn't due out until sometime later this year, but in the meantime a playable demo is available on Steam for Windows PC, and you can continue following the game's progress at the official website.