Deal With The Devil Review

boardgamequest.com:

We review Deal with the Devil, a hidden identity and economic game published by CGE. Deal with the Devil is a board game for exactly 4 players as the devil will be trying to collect souls while other players try to make the most prosperous kingdom.

Do you have friends? Exactly three friends, to be specific, who are all clamoring for a crunchy Euro experience while peppering in mechanics like hidden roles, blind trading, and a little app assisted gaming? Also, is the state of your eternal salvation… malleable?

Well, my satanic little hellspawn—Deal with the Devil, a worker placement, social deduction game for exactly 4 players that runs about 2-2.5 hours by Matúš Kotry and published by Czech Games Edition—might just be for you. Or maybe it’s not, but if the premise has you intrigued, abandon all hope, ye who enter here.

Each player takes on a secret role, either one of two mortals, a cultist, or the Devil. Outwardly, everyone appears to be the ruler of a similar realm, replete with a castle player screen, which doubles as a player board. Everyone is just trying to make their kingdom the best little kingdom out there. Of course, not all is as it seems. The mortals are indeed trying to build the most impressive city while staying in the good graces of an ”inquisitive” church, the cultist is trying to do the same while also selling their soul to the Devil, while the Devil is trying to collect as many precious tasty soul chunks as possible while trying not to reveal their true identity. The game is played over five rounds, and the majority of the game plays very much like a standard Euro. You have a Production phase where you gain resources and a Card phase where you draft building cards. Then comes…the Deal phase (insert