Who Lurks (iOS) Review

What is there not to love about social games in the company of great friends? Except, of course, the inconvenience of having to get four controllers, a couch, space, energy, and, most importantly, snacks to pull the all-nighter needed to make it all worth it in today's digital era, when it's possible to just log on if looking for some player-vs-player interaction 24/7. What if there was a way to have some action without all of that preparation or finding four people who so happen to have bought the same portable console and games?

Who Lurks for iOS comes to the rescue, only demanding one of the players to have the rarity that is a smartphone. The goal in Who Lurks is to travel safely through space by managing some mini-games, but beware, there are hostile aliens who are out to ensure that that does not happen by sabotaging those mini-games. The only defence the astronauts have is the possibility to vote out those players from the group whom they think they are aliens. The way in which the voting system works bear similarities to some board games such as Dead of Winter, and just like in there the goal is to screw things up without seeming suspicious.

The problem is, however, that the gameplay is not that entertaining. The only exciting part here is the voting process, as the mini-games are extremely boring and repetitive, and it is quite obvious that they are just there to fail at for the alien, or to be failed on by accident by a player so that everyone suspects that they are an alien. How fun Who Lurks is, is heavily limited by the players, and in a group which it would be fun or challenging there are far better alternatives (both digital and analogue) for entertainment - many which do not even require a smartphone.