MachiaVillain is primarily a game about remembering to sweep severed heads off your porch. Too much visible viscera will scare off the next crop of guileless victims to your hand-crafted house of horrors, y’see. Shamelessly in the tradition of Dungeon Keeper (still my go-to PC gaming nostalgia, along with X-COM), MachiaVillain is a management sim in which the baddies are the goodies. You shepherd a small herd of flesh-eating monsters around, building both an ever-growing lair for themselves and a faux-home to lure in unsuspecting humies with which to feed your festering menagerie.

It runs much further with its inverted horror movie concept than does the usual “ooh, what if you were the bad guy, eh?” tomfoolery, though witless humour and a needlessly fiddly user interface get in the way of the gruesome good times. (more…)

Considering how universal the allure of being an evil overlord is, it’s surprising that so few games have properly explored the concept. Wild Factor’s murder-mansion management sim MachiaVillain might not tempt you with the possibility of world domination, but perhaps being evil middle management is a safer career path anyway. Better than being a henchman, at least. The game just got itself a shiny new trailer to go along with its May 16th release date.

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This week we’ll be taking a closer look at what’s going to be in the RPS Cave of Wonders at Rezzed! Let’s turn our magnifying glass towards… MachiaVillain! … [visit site to read more]