The game is still pretty rough, play-wise. Little things like character emotes happening on the wrong avatars (I tap fart, and someone else gets a cloud), and the round-end only having one option to "Continue" that behaves like the "Back/Menu" option in other Jackbox titles, resulting in having to start a new game (rather than a sequel), complete with first-play reminders from the narrator (all of the explainers that you know once you play a round or have ever played a TMP game before).

Speaking of the Narrator, he... hardly speaks (well, outside of rules explanations... so many rehashed explanations). I don't know if the lack of him reading questions has to do with the state of development (i.e. just hasn't been recorded yet) or if it's an intentional thing to make expansion easier, but it's VERY noticeable and VERY missed. The game feels super empty without that.

The game introduces a new Plot Twist randomized mechanic that makes the question/answer portion a little different (e.g. Flashlights). This needs to NOT pop up on the first round of a game session or perhaps not persist through the entire round; it's fine on occasion, but it can really throw away the TRIVIA that ought to be central to the game. Flashlights, for example, is more about guessing at semantics than actual trivia knowledge.

There should be MORE variation in Killing Floor minigames, not less. Add new ones, sure, but bring back all of the previous games, too. It felt like we were just playing blood jars and poison drinks over and over. Where are the plinko drops and death wheels and Jackbox Party Pack game cameos? Go ahead and make Settings toggles if people want to exclude math or narration, sure, but please give the latest TMP game an expanded scope, not a narrowed experience that becomes boring two or three games in.

Rounds are much too short on actual trivia play. The gameplay feels super, super rushed despite a lot of chatter outside of the actual questions and minigames. In previous titles, we could play through a dozen trivia questions or more. In this game, if you don't get whittled down to one survivor quickly enough, the game "cheats" by having the host "become frustrated" and force a death minigame even when the players earned a win on the question. Again, it feels like we're frequently discarding the TRIVIA portion of the game in favor of just pushing through to the final race.

The character customization is fun, though it would probably be moreso if the XP you earn translated into credits for the camp store or something so you can *choose* which things to unlock rather than having a linear progression that leads to everyone looking the same as they put on the new outfits they unlock together.

I expected this to be an "incomplete" or "unfinished" title, and I am REALLY hoping that's the case and that there'll actually be significant improvements, not just to performance but also pacing and focus.

Also, the "ghost mom" interactions are just annoying and serve to further inject more tangential dialog while compounding the issue of Trivia being treated like a hindrance that we need to get through as quickly as possible.

Personal gripe: it runs like *garbage* on my laptop (i.e. unplayable, had to install on friend's gaming machine). Granted, my laptop only has integrated graphics, but it handles all other Jackbox content without any issues at all... so it was very frustrating to find that this new game simply doesn't work. (Okay, it "works," but it's a slideshow even on the Low preset, and it crashed two questions in.)
But that shouldn't be an issue once the game is optimized for my usual preferred console platform for JBPP games.

I'm definitely hopeful for improvements and am looking forward to updates in the blog and mailing list, but right now, I could NOT recommend paying for Early Access just yet.

The game is still pretty rough, play-wise. Little things like character emotes happening on the wrong avatars (I tap fart, and someone else gets a cloud), and the round-end only having one option to "Continue" that behaves like the "Back/Menu" option in other Jackbox titles, resulting in having to start a new game (rather than a sequel), complete with first-play reminders from the narrator (all of the explainers that you know once you play a round or have ever played a TMP game before). Speaking of the Narrator, he... hardly speaks (well, outside of rules explanations... so many rehashed explanations). I don't know if the lack of him reading questions has to do with the state of development (i.e. just hasn't been recorded yet) or if it's an intentional thing to make expansion easier, but it's VERY noticeable and VERY missed. The game feels super empty without that. The game introduces a new Plot Twist randomized mechanic that makes the question/answer portion a little different (e.g. Flashlights). This needs to NOT pop up on the first round of a game session or perhaps not persist through the entire round; it's fine on occasion, but it can really throw away the TRIVIA that ought to be central to the game. Flashlights, for example, is more about guessing at semantics than actual trivia knowledge. There should be MORE variation in Killing Floor minigames, not less. Add new ones, sure, but bring back all of the previous games, too. It felt like we were just playing blood jars and poison drinks over and over. Where are the plinko drops and death wheels and Jackbox Party Pack game cameos? Go ahead and make Settings toggles if people want to exclude math or narration, sure, but please give the latest TMP game an expanded scope, not a narrowed experience that becomes boring two or three games in. Rounds are much too short on actual trivia play. The gameplay feels super, super rushed despite a lot of chatter outside of the actual questions and minigames. In previous titles, we could play through a dozen trivia questions or more. In this game, if you don't get whittled down to one survivor quickly enough, the game "cheats" by having the host "become frustrated" and force a death minigame even when the players earned a win on the question. Again, it feels like we're frequently discarding the TRIVIA portion of the game in favor of just pushing through to the final race. The character customization is fun, though it would probably be moreso if the XP you earn translated into credits for the camp store or something so you can *choose* which things to unlock rather than having a linear progression that leads to everyone looking the same as they put on the new outfits they unlock together. I expected this to be an "incomplete" or "unfinished" title, and I am REALLY hoping that's the case and that there'll actually be significant improvements, not just to performance but also pacing and focus. Also, the "ghost mom" interactions are just annoying and serve to further inject more tangential dialog while compounding the issue of Trivia being treated like a hindrance that we need to get through as quickly as possible. Personal gripe: it runs like *garbage* on my laptop (i.e. unplayable, had to install on friend's gaming machine). Granted, my laptop only has integrated graphics, but it handles all other Jackbox content without any issues at all... so it was very frustrating to find that this new game simply doesn't work. (Okay, it "works," but it's a slideshow even on the Low preset, and it crashed two questions in.) But that shouldn't be an issue once the game is optimized for my usual preferred console platform for JBPP games. I'm definitely hopeful for improvements and am looking forward to updates in the blog and mailing list, but right now, I could NOT recommend paying for Early Access just yet.