Imagine a game where you sit in a circle with friends, trying to figure out who is lying and who is telling the truth. You might have played a game called Werewolf before, where you rely mostly on watching facial expressions and gut feelings. Blood on the Clocktower takes that basic idea and makes it much bigger and smarter. It is a social deduction game that feels like an upgraded version of Werewolf. Instead of just guessing, you have real data to work with, making the discussions much deeper.

While Werewolf is simple, Blood on the Clocktower adds layers of complexity and strategy. In the older game, you often don’t have much to go on besides who looks nervous. Here, every single person in the town has a special power that gives them information. This means the group has concrete clues to analyze together. It moves the game from pure intuition to a mix of logic and deduction.

The Two Teams and How the Game Flows

The game is divided into two opposing teams. On one side is the evil team, consisting of a demon and a minion. Their main goal is to stay hidden while killing off the townsfolk. If the demon manages to stay alive until only two players remain in the game, the evil team wins, even if the minion has been eliminated. On the other side is the good team, made up of the townsfolk. Their objective is to identify the demon and execute them before it is too late.

The game moves back and forth between night and day rounds. During the night, the demon secretly wakes up to kill one town resident. During the day, everyone wakes up to discuss the situation. The townsfolk can then vote to execute a person they suspect is the demon. A key difference from Werewolf is that you are not forced to kill someone if you are unsure. If the votes are tied or no one gets enough support, nobody dies, and the game continues.

Dead Players Still Have a Voice

One of the best improvements in Blood on the Clocktower is that dead players are not eliminated from the conversation. Once you are killed, you cannot use your special powers anymore, but you can still talk. You can still share your theories and help the living players figure out who the demon is. Dead players also get one final vote that they can use at any time before the game ends.

This rule changes everything. The demon cannot simply kill a smart player to silence them. In fact, killing someone might be dangerous for the demon because that dead player now has nothing to lose and can focus all their energy on finding the truth. Since the dead players can band together and use their votes, the demon has to be very careful not to expose themselves. This keeps everyone engaged until the very end, which is a huge improvement over games where you sit out after dying.

The Power of Unique Character Abilities

The heart of the game lies in the unique powers every character possesses. Unlike other games where you might just have a generic role, here everyone has a specific ability. Only you and the game facilitator know your true character. There are no cards to show others, so you can claim to be anyone you want. However, other players will test your claims against the information they receive from their own powers.

Here are a few examples of the townsfolk characters:

• The Fortune Teller: Each night, they pick two players. The facilitator tells them if the demon is among those two. However, there is a twist: one specific town resident will be mistaken for the demon, adding confusion.
• The Monk: They can protect one player every night. If the demon tries to kill that protected player, the attack fails, and the player survives.
• The Washerwoman: At the start of the game, they learn that between two specific players, one is a particular character, giving them an early clue.

Outsiders and the Demon’s Minion

Not everyone on the good team is helpful. There are also Outsiders who are on the side of the townsfolk but have powers that are actually liabilities. Their existence makes life harder for the good team and easier for the demon. A classic example is the Drunkard. This character thinks they have a powerful ability, but they are actually drunk and receiving false information. They believe their clues are real, but they are not, which can lead the town astray.

Meanwhile, the demon has a minion to help them. The minion can be one of several characters. For instance, the Poisoner can disable a town resident’s power for a night, making their information useless. Another minion is the Scarlet Woman. If the demon dies early, the Scarlet Woman takes over the role of the demon, allowing the game to continue and giving the evil team a second chance.

Tools for the Demon

Even though the townsfolk have many abilities, the demon is not helpless. The facilitator gives the demon specific information to help them blend in. For example, the facilitator might tell the demon three specific characters that are not in the current game. The demon can then pretend to be one of those characters. Since no one actually has that role, no one can prove the demon is lying. This balance of information and misinformation makes the game very strategic.

A Tense Game Example

I once played a 7-player game where I drew the role of the demon. My minion was a player named Sam, but I didn’t know which character he was. We ran into trouble immediately. Another player, Xiang Yang, was the Empath. The Empath senses how many evil players are sitting next to them. Xiang Yang sat right between me and Sam. When he used his power, he sensed two evil players. This meant he knew for sure that both his neighbors were evil!

It looked like an instant loss for us. To make things worse, another player named Han was the Washerwoman. At the start, he learned that either I or Xiang Yang was a specific character. This matched Xiang Yang’s story perfectly. I knew the Soldier role was not in the game, so I planned to claim I was the Soldier. The Soldier cannot be killed by the demon. I hoped to trick the demon into attacking me, which would fail, proving my innocence. However, I couldn’t deny Xiang Yang’s claim because Han backed him up. If I argued against both, everyone would suspect me.

I had to think fast. I admitted that I believed Xiang Yang was the Empath, but I claimed his information was wrong because he had been poisoned by the Poisoner. Luckily, the Poisoner was in the game, and my teammate Sam actually was the Poisoner. This excuse saved me from immediate execution.

During the first night, I killed Xiang Yang. In hindsight, this might have been a mistake. By killing the person who sat between me and Sam, I confirmed his story that we were the evil pair. I should have let him live and let Sam poison him every night. This would have made Xiang Yang’s information inconsistent and confusing, making him look like a liar.

Using Deception to Win

Another player, Joon Lam, was the Slayer. This role allows a player to point at someone once and guess if they are the demon. If they are right, the demon dies. Joon Lam was convinced that Sam was the demon. Sam defended himself a little, but I didn’t try too hard to stop Joon Lam. I didn’t want to look too eager to save my teammate. In the end, Joon Lam used his power on Sam, but it failed because Sam was just the minion. The town wasted their strongest attack.

A player named Eu Vin was the Fortune Teller. Every night, he pointed at two players to see if the demon was among them. One night, he pointed at Sam and Joon Lam. The facilitator signaled that the demon was indeed among them. However, remember the weakness of the Fortune Teller: one town resident is marked as a false demon. In our game, that false target was Joon Lam. Eu Vin was convinced Joon Lam was the demon and pushed for his execution. I quietly supported this motion, and the town voted to kill an innocent person.

The Final Vote

The game reached its climax with only four players remaining: Eu Vin, Zackler, me, and one other. If the townsfolk didn’t execute me that day, I would kill another player at night, leaving only two. With two players left, the demon wins automatically. Eu Vin was now certain that I was the demon and nominated me for execution.

Joon Lam, who was already dead, spoke up. He reminded everyone that he was the Slayer and had tried to kill Sam earlier, but it failed. This proved Sam was not the demon. I calmly stated that with only four of us alive, the demon had to be one of the living players. I suggested that Eu Vin was acting suspiciously and I nominated him for execution as well.

The dead players had not voted yet, and their votes were crucial. Since Eu Vin nominated me first, we voted on that first. With four players alive, only two votes were needed to hang me. I received exactly two votes. Then, we voted on my nomination of Eu Vin. Sam and I voted for Eu Vin, and since the dead townsfolk were now suspicious of Eu Vin, they also voted. Eu Vin received four votes and was executed. The game ended immediately. The demon and the minion had won!

Why This Game is a Masterpiece

This game was a rollercoaster of anxiety. I had to lie while acting completely calm. Blood on the Clocktower fixes almost every problem found in Werewolf. While Werewolf is good for a quick, simple game, Blood on the Clocktower offers much more depth.

You have more information to analyze, which makes the game more strategic. Discussions are based on logic and clues rather than just gut feelings. The townsfolk have more tools to find the demon, but the demon also has more tools to hide and fight back. The balance between truth and lies is expertly designed. It is clear that the creators spent a massive amount of time playtesting to get everything just right. If you enjoy social deduction games, this is a must-try.