Machine Party promo shot
Image: Mike Klubnika & GDeavid

How do you follow up a game as viscerally unpleasant as Buckshot Roulette? Mario Party obviously, but set in the same kind of nightmare industrial hell. Machine Party, out today, is the latest from prolific horror developer and strainer of friendships Mike Klubnika. This one's a multiplayer-only affair built for online play. Bring three friends and throw them into the grinder.

While the obvious inspiration here is Mario Party, there's not so much Party here. No board game at least, just 15 minigames where the losers invariably end up shot, mangled, crushed, stabbed, or just plain exploded. It's grimy, horrible, and looks like a ton of fun, especially as all the contestants get conveniently reconstituted after each challenge.

The games are all about building tension while possibly screwing over your friends, like the game where you're trying to navigate a minefield while being chased by a combine harvester. You can ping the immediate area to reveal mines, but that's info that all the other players now have as well. A risky blind move forward could give you an edge, or blow off your legs. Not every game is directly symmetrical either, with one challenge giving one player a sniper rifle overlooking an arena, while the rest attempt to navigate through cover to the exit.

There's even the most violent interpretation of musical chairs I've ever seen, with players wrestling each other for a shrinking number of safe spaces on the sides of a railway track moments before a train comes barreling through to squish anyone still on the rails. So, maybe a little Squid Game inspiration as well, although not shying away from the nightmare horror scenario at the core of it.

Machine Party is out now on Steam for £6.49/$8 with a 15% launch discount until August 13th. It's also available in a pair of bundles - one with Klubnika's other games, and one with a handful of party games from publisher Oro Interactive, including the popular and recently-expanded Super Battle Golf.