[Rerun] Nominee: Mantis Falls (a game of trust)

Presenting the 2020 IndieCade Nominees: Mantis Falls

Mantis Falls is a hidden traitor tabletop game for 2-3 players. The game is set in the dark, mafia-ruled mountain town of Mantis Falls. You have been witness to something you were not meant to see and now people are coming for you. You have some trusted friends who know of another witness in a similar situation; they’re arranging for the two of you to meet and protect each other on the dangerous journey out of town. But when you meet your companion you realize you aren’t certain this person actually is the witness that was sent. Perhaps this person killed that witness, and is here to kill you as well.

Mantis Falls is an immersive and highly interactive hand-management game in which play is either truly cooperative or a fight to the death…and witnesses don’t know which version they are playing. If there is no traitor, witnesses must survive the night and escape the town together to win. A coop win requires trust to prevail over events and actions designed to breed suspicion. Assassins, however, will hide themselves behind seeming good deeds until the right moment, at which point witnesses must transition from protecting their companion to fighting for their lives.

Mantis Falls is a game in which strategic decision making must constantly walk the line between self-protection and self-sacrifice. It was built to simulate a important truths about life; that often we must depend on people we don’t truly trust, and that having that leap of faith tested and rewarded, even in the context of a game, is a genuine and cathartic experience.