Trial By Tabletop: Reviewing ‘Town of Salem’

I have to admit that when I first found out about Town of Salem courtesy of the LPer RPGMinx, I was excited. I have always loved the tabletop gaming scene even if my fidgeting, anxiety, and lack of like-minded friends would get in the way of that. Aside from a few very successful games of Werewolf, my only other tabletop experience was a painfully awkward session of Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition (I believe), which felt a lot like playing World of Warcraft but without the graphics, atmospheric music, and fun.

So when I found out that there was going to be a game where I could basically play a tabletop game that I loved without having to gather a big group of people, I was elated. The basic premise of Werewolf is that you have a wolf or two chosen and you have to discover who they are. It’s a murder mystery since the wolves will kill someone during the night and the town will execute someone (who they think is the werewolf) during the day. With each member of the town having a role that could help them discover who the werewolves were or to protect themselves, it became really engaging.

Enter, stage right, Town of Salem.

I bought a couple copies so my friend and I could play together before going through the entire installation process. I was so excited that the instant my download was done, I started the game and immediately found myself bewildered by the user interface. Since this is an indie game, things can get a little confusing. When you want to create a party so you can play in a group, you need to click “Play” and then create your party on the next screen. It also took me forever to figure out how to add someone as a friend, but that didn’t deter me, and within five minutes or so I launched myself into my first game.