The Devil's Men

Telltale’s recent works are currently some of the best examples of tough, disguised choices in games. You never quite know how your actions are going to influence the story, whether it be something as drastic as the death of a prominent character or something so small as a different line of dialog. Daedalic Entertainment is looking to do the same with The Devil’s Men, but rather than ape the new-age adventure game stylings of Telltale, the company seeks to wrap it around traditional point-and-click design.

The Devil’s Men follows Adelaide Spektor, a young woman looking to solve the murder of an old friend of her father and reclaim her former societal status. She comes from the higher class, forced onto the streets following her father’s disappearance. Assisting her in this endeavor is Emily, a double murderer and known associate to the local crime syndicate known as “The Colonists.” Throughout The Devil’s Men, you swap between the two women, their actions influencing the story in myriad ways.

In the demo I was shown, they ran through a scenario with two different setups. In the first, it showed Emily sneaking into the house of a detective Adelaide is staying with to retrieve incriminating evidence against herself. For earlier that day, Adelaide assisted the detective with a murder investigation and discovered evidence that pointed to Emily’s involvement. She could have hid it and tried to lead the detective astray by falsifying new evidence, but in this case, she handed it over.

As Emily, the presenter had to break into the basement, but it’s locked. He had two options: pry the door open and leave traces of her presence or use a lockpick – a precious commodity in The Devil’s Men – and keep anyone from ever knowing she was there. The presenter elected to break the lock, saving the pick for later. Once inside, he was faced with a puzzle. The evidence was locked in a safe, but Emily doesn’t know the code. By looking around the house, one could find signs that pointed to a specific date and time whereupon something happened between the detective and his wife, which also reveals the passcode.

Once inside, the game changed perspectives to Adelaide upstairs. She’d just arrived home, the detective’s wife mentioning something about occult objects to her. (Adelaide’s family has some sort of connection there.) After the brief exchange, the presenter is given control, which he uses to illustrate another of the choices he could make. As the door to the basement is open, he could steer Adelaide down there to confront Emily or walk into the living room or head upstairs and completely ignore her intrusion. For the sake of the demo, he chose to enter the basement. After a brief spat of bickering between the two, the demo ended.

Next, he showed off what would happen if Adelaide didn’t hand over the evidence. It started off roughly the same, with Emily entering Adelaide’s home. Only this time Adelaide was in the living room sleeping. Emily’s intentions remain the same: retrieve the evidence, except now she merely needs to ask for it instead of resort to thievery. Thus, you’re able to skip a series of puzzles entirely. The rest of the scene plays out similarly to the last one, only in Adelaide’s bedroom instead of the basement.

Daedalic aims to make cases like this common throughout The Devil’s Men, such that you’re never able to tell what impact your actions may have, let alone what choices will drastically alter the course of the story. It’s an exciting prospect, one I’m very curious to see play out.

The Devil’s Men is scheduled for release sometime in Spring of 2015 on PC, Mac, and Linux.

Callum Rakestraw, NoobFeed.