Catch a Killer or Escape Justice in Shadow House: Masquerade

Viscount Shadow has been murdered. Can you catch the killer? Or was it you all along?

Published by Blue Orange Games, Shadow House: Masquerade is a light social deduction game for 3-8 players, with a 15-minute playtime.

Gameplay

The deck of cards is shuffled and four cards are dealt to each player. The deck is not the same every round, but there are some cards that will always be included. Whoever has the First On the Scene card goes first, playing it. Players take turns playing one card from their hand, face-up, in front of themselves. Players are allowed to discuss the game while playing but cannot disclose their cards,

A round can end in a few ways. First, if a player plays a Detective card, they then guess which player holds the Culprit card. A correct guess immediately ends the round. The Detective scores two points, the Culprit and any players with face-up Accomplice cards score zero points, and all other players score one point. An incorrect guess does not end the round. Second, if a player plays the Toby card, they can force another player to reveal a specific card from their hand. If the revealed card is the Culprit, the round ends. Toby scores three points, the Culprit and any Accomplices score zero points, and all other players score one point. Finally, the player holding the Culprit card can only play it as their last remaining card. If they do so and do not have the Handcuff token (which is played by the Sheriff card and results in a loss for the Culprit and Accomplices, awarding one point to all other players), the Culprit and any players with face-up Accomplice cards each score two points.

There are a number of other cards in the game that can move cards between hands, allow people to look at opponents’ cards, or protect you from certain abilities until your next turn.

Multiple rounds of the game are played until someone scores at least five points and then the player with the highest score wins.

Review

Shadow House: Masquerade is a pleasant, casual social deduction game. As cards move around the table, teams can shift during a round and it’s interesting to watch what players choose to do with their cards.

Thematically the game is quite fun, and we loved the artwork, which is unique and creative and serves the theme well. There is a nice range of abilities, although we were confused by the Soothsayer card. It allows the person who plays the card to give their thoughts on the current round, but as table talk is already not only allowed but encouraged by the rules, this seemed a bit of a waste (we might have turned the Soothsayer card into an excuse to sing at the group…we’re pleading the fifth).

There are some really clever ability cards, however, such as the Alibi, which must be played when someone plays a Detective card against you and blocks the Detective even if you are the Culprit. This can complicate the social deduction of the game and is an intriguing piece of the puzzle to consider when players are trying to deduce who the Culprit might be.

The game is quite small, coming in a compact box, and you could easily play this game on the go or at restaurants. It supports a nice range of group sizes, and it scales well with certain cards appearing more often in the deck with more players. However, even though three players are technically supported, it definitely is more enjoyable with a higher player count.

Shadow House: Masquerade feels like Love Letter meets One Night Ultimate Werewolf. It’s really fast, with each player going through four cards at most each round. If you want to keep it even faster, you can play a single game instead of going until five points. We quite enjoyed this bite-sized social deduction game and watching the way players interacted through it.

Pros: Thematic, nice artwork, good range of ability cards, supports a wide range of group sizes

Cons: Soothsayer card seemed a little pointless, not ideal with three players

Disclosure: we received a complimentary review copy of this game.