Trivia Murder Party 3 Preview
Trivia Murder Party 3 is in Early Access. But let’s just get this out of the way: if you don’t have friends, this probably isn’t the game for you. But bring a group that appreciates some morbid jokes and cartoonish violence, and it can turn into a surprisingly entertaining night. Take away that dynamic, though, and Trivia Murder Party 3 gets exposed quicker than a hiccup. In its current state, it’s shallow, repetitive, and feels like little more than a demo for the larger Jackbox Party Pack games.
Anyone familiar with Trivia Murder Party will immediately feel at home. Answer a question incorrectly, and you can find yourself sent to the Killing Floor, where a minigame determines who makes it out alive. Get the answer right, meanwhile, and you may be handed an opportunity to make life miserable for another player. Eleven Killing Floor minigames and more than 800 questions are available, with several returning favorites receiving updates. Jackbox also changed the final round, making it more competitive and adding a little more tension with a slick, Matrix-style slow-mo dive to the finish line.
Multiplayer Madness
Multiplayer has received an even bigger quality-of-life improvement. For the first time, Jackbox offers online matchmaking, eliminating the need to bring people to play with. Now, don’t get me wrong, it’s nice to have this as an option. But the truth is, playing with randoms in a game like this is never as good as playing with people you actually know. For instance, it’s impossible to gauge someone without a microphone, and I routinely felt stuck in rooms with people just Googling answers.
That expanded multiplayer comes alongside a significant visual overhaul. Jackbox has traditionally relied on simple, flat cartoon menus and presentation, so seeing the series move over to Unreal Engine 5 was a nice surprise. The character dolls themselves are also somewhat entertaining. They’re customizable, slightly unsettling, and feel like a crossover between Build-A-Bear and Chucky.
What Was That Joke?
The writing is fairly complementary to the presentation, as well. Trivia Murder Party 3 is packed with visual jokes, while the narrative killer’s dark sense of humor establishes the tone from one round to the next. Plenty of the jokes land, but the repetition is the issue. Within three games, we had heard the same jokes multiple times, to the point of aggravation, and the killer himself is a bit inconsistent. At times, his delivery gets the entire room laughing, while other times the same performance falls completely flat.
The experience really starts to lose momentum once you start answering questions. Even with more than 800 questions available, the question pool starts to feel surprisingly limited after several matches. Making it essential for the full release to double or even triple the pool. Some questions are so specific or obscure that only one person at the table has a realistic chance of knowing the answer. This creates awkward situations where what should be a group activity suddenly becomes one player showing off their knowledge while everyone else guesses at random.
More Horror, Please
The camp setting also needs work. With a horror-themed summer camp as the backdrop, I expected more questions involving camping, horror films, urban legends, campfire stories, or anything else that could have tied the trivia more closely to the setting. Instead, the theme and the actual trivia frequently feel disconnected. Giving the question pool more personality would make Camp Mass Acres feel like more than just a backdrop.
Trivia Murder Party 3’s most egregious misstep, however, is undoubtedly its inability to skip tutorials. Before every game begins, the host goes through the rules, and there’s no way to skip the explanation. I know that might sound like a small complaint, but anyone familiar with other Jackbox games will immediately feel how frustrating this is. Previous entries let players bypass these explanations, making it easy for returning groups to get straight into the action. Here, you’re forced to listen to them again and again and again. If this isn’t fixed for the full release, expect the game to be DOA.
Trivia Murder Party 3 shows potential, but needs more time in the oven. Though, I guess that’s what early access is all about. With the right group of friends, I’ll admit I had a genuinely good time (even if the fun and excitement wear off quickly). The atmosphere works, the music is effective, and several new mechanics can create fun moments for everyone involved. Take away the group, though, and the weaknesses almost become crystal clear. Recycled jokes, questions that occasionally feel bizarrely specific, and unskippable tutorials all whittle away at the experience. If Jackbox Games Inc. can course correct on these issues, Trivia Murder Party 3 could be a fantastic game.
***A Steam key was provided for this preview***
