The Game of Fourtune | Steam Deck Review

April 4, 2023 Alyssa White

Do you like visual novels, death games (think Squid Game), and the number four? Well then, you’re in luck! Unless you have tetraphobia…then avoid this game like the plague. BlackLock Games’ new title The Game of Fourtune combines all of the aforementioned elements into a deliciously dark concoction that captivated me during the entire four hours of my first playthrough. It’s a unique spin on the traditional visual novel template, and I appreciated the love and care that was put into this experience.

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The Game of Fourtune places you in the shoes of Clyde, a young man whose mother is suffering from a terminal illness. After scouring the dark web, he discovers an unconventional treatment center called Digits of Eden. He enters into a raffle to gain a spot for his mom there, and surprisingly wins. He decides to bring his friend Devon along with him to check the place out. They quickly learn that there isn’t an actual treatment facility, though, and have been tricked into entering into a death game. Only one person out of the sixteen in attendance will survive and have their wish granted. The stakes are sky-high, and everyone has a valid reason for participating in these events. To say anything more about the story would spoil it, but just buckle up for a wild, dark ride.

The number four is heavily prevalent in this game. Each team is split into four members, there are four deadly games to survive, four people die each round, and the deity who presides over everything is the fourth goddess of this realm. It’s an interesting concept, and finding all the hidden references to the number throughout the game was a fun treat.

Four-Pronged

As far as mechanics go, this plays very much like the majority of visual novels do. There are reams of dialogue to read through and you don’t directly control your character. All you really have a hand in influencing are some crucial story choices that pop up. Both options always sound like the worst decision you could make, and I actually appreciated that aspect. It added a nice level of tension and surprise to the narrative and caused my story to branch off in fascinating directions. These choices also influence which side characters you become close to. This simple mechanic adds a large amount of replayability, in terms of discovering each character’s backstory and their motivations.

I did experience a major issue that forced me to completely restart my game, and I also had a smaller gripe that I wanted to address. When I reached the three hour mark, all my save files glitched and popped up a screen that would boot me out of the game no matter what I tried. To see the narrative I had helped craft to its end, I had to start from scratch. This was a disheartening bug that I hope has been ironed out by now. My smaller issue was the sheer amount of typos and grammatical errors in the dialogue. This won’t bother everyone, but it was extremely noticeable to me and would halt my reading in its tracks.

The Final Four

The Game of Fourtune is a gripping visual novel that places the player in suspenseful death game situations. I never knew who would survive or how the story would twist. My choices felt incredibly impactful and getting to know my teammates and their reasons for being there was genuinely compelling. The sheer abundance of grammatical errors and typos ended up being mildly distracting, while essentially losing all of my save files was downright heartbreaking. I sincerely hope this bug is patched soon, because I thoroughly enjoyed my time spent in this mysterious universe.

To hear me talk more about The Game of Fourtune, be sure to listen to the April 5, 2023 episode of The Gaming Outsider podcast.

This review is based on a Steam copy of The Game of Fourtune provided by Vicarious PR for coverage purposes. It is also available on Mac.