Trivia Murder Party 3 Early Access impressions for PC

As I wrote just last week, I look forward to the release of new Jackbox games every autumn, so learning that this fall we’d have not one, but two Jackbox releases to dig into almost sounded too good to be true. I mean, not just a new Party Pack, but a new Trivia Murder Party as a bonus? We’re being spoiled for choice.

Now that Trivia Murder Party 3 is out in Early Access, though, I’m not quite as over the moon.

It’s hard to explain why I’m so unenthused by it. It’s largely the same as the first two Trivia Murder Party games, with the same mixture of dark humour, violent minigames, and, of course, trivia that runs the gamut from very easy to insanely obscure, all wrapped up in a package that owes a debt of gratitude to horror movies from the past few decades.

That, admittedly, may be part of the problem. There’s not really any wrinkle here to differentiate it from the previous games. Whereas other Jackbox titles with multiple versions always make an effort to do something different with each one, this one is pretty much the same as the previous two, with several of the old minigames being repurposed here.

My other issue with the game is that it brags about introducing online matchmaking, but every time I looked for a game, there wasn’t anyone else to be found. That’s kind of understandable for a game still in Early Access, and it’s hardly a dealbreaker for me (give me local play any day of the week), but it doesn’t bode well for the game’s online future if there’s not a huge community.

Are any of those reasons not to get Trivia Murder Party 3? Seeing as it’s still in Early Access, of course not. There’s plenty of time for updates to make the game stand out against its predecessors and find its own community. But for anyone wondering whether they should jump in now or wait for the full release, you may be better off giving it a little longer.

Jackbox Games provided us with a Trivia Murder Party 3 PC code for review purposes.