Sanguivore: Twenty Below Showcase

When I first heard about Blood Eater Games’ Sanguivore: Twenty Below, a game combining the frantic chasey action of games like Dead by Daylight with the puzzle-focused fun of escape rooms, I was beyond thrilled to give this interesting fusion a try! As such, I was thrilled to be allowed to give it a go before the Early Access release, playing a few levels along with my colleague and two representatives from the publisher, Forthright Games!

In this showcase, we played the first map of the game, with our Forthright hosts joining in and giving insight into the different aspects of the game and its development… and making sure we didn't get stuck too long on obvious puzzles. We started off in a jail, as most Saturday mornings do, and after a few looks around, managed to find either keys or lockpicks to get past those pesky cell doors! After grouping up, we ventured forth into the building, unsure of what horrors awaited us.

What followed was about two hours of absolute fun as our lovely hosts lost a few years of life trying their very best to keep us alive and through the first levels, even though the GameGrin duo proved to be more than a match! After exploring our surroundings and chatting with the devs on this and that, we finally met our Sanguivore du jour, the Vampire.

This dapper gentleman let himself be known by talking in an eloquent voice that rang throughout our halls. While the GameGrin Crew (™) panicked and scattered to the winds and the Forthright gentlemen hid, we could hear the click-clack of the Vampire’s cane as he drew inexorably closer. Coming face to face with the beast — though my face was hidden behind a faithful footlocker — Vlad the Impatient decided to grab the handle… of the footlocker to my left! Though the evening was more gamers having fun, this moment really drilled home how well these Sanguivores have been made! Another cool moment was when I was running full-tilt away from Count Chompula. Being the magistrate of great ideas, I ran down the stairs to avoid my pursuer. What I expected to see was a grinning Count looming above me and freedom below, as I took the switchback stairs. Instead, this dreaded denizen of the night teleported between floors to cut me off! Pants to be darkened indeed.

During this little showcase, we were captured, downed, and got lost multiple times, but our loyal Forthright friends kept us from bumbling too much, taking us through one exit in two maps. The second map was an adventure through a frozen town rife with blizzards, creeping creatures, and cruel traps, with us narrowly escaping after an absolutely brilliant one-man rescue operation. I slept in a coffin for half of it.

Sanguivore: Twenty Below has a lot of potential in my opinion. With the devs focusing on replayability, making a unique experience, and planning for more deadly creatures and interesting locales, I think this could be a game on par with popular group games, such as Phasmophobia and Lethal Company! If our escapades caught your interest, give their steam page a look and put on something warm, it’s cold where we're going. Finally, I heartily recommend checking out my colleague's version of this tale in his article to get another perspective on this whole hullabaloo!