Notice: Most of this was written prior to the third game’s early access release. Whatever new lore is revealed in the third game’s early access, this will not have it.

            Trivia Murder Party has been a series from Jackbox Games that’s been going on for several years now. There are already two games, with a third game in early release and scheduled to make the full release next year. The series seems just like a spooky trivia party game on the surface, but there is much more to it than just the chaos and gameplay. With the release of the third game, Jackbox was revealing more bits and pieces of lore regarding the dolls that are featured in this third installment, but especially bringing to light the history of the trilogy’s mysterious host – [REDACTED].

            On the surface, there isn’t much known about the mysterious killer host in terms of his appearance. To players, he’s the host who uses a voice filter in his games, sounding a lot deeper than his actual voice actor. Despite having odd, creepy, and eccentric behavior, it’s clear that creepy is not the only thing the host can be. The character is also known for being a little less serious, constantly cracking jokes and acting in a playful manner even when he’s committing murder.

            Back in August, Jackbox premiered a podcast titled “Trivia Murder Podcast”, a comedy podcast that tends to poke fun at the typical true crime podcast. The podcast follows Abby Russell, the host who plays an in-universe version of herself, as she uncovers the story and the mysteries surrounding the killer in a similar fashion to the typical true crime podcast host. It’s clear on how this plays off true crime podcasts, but at the same time, makes fun of them to some extent. Abby frequently comments about how she exploits different aspects of the case for her audience, including her own past with the killer, as she uncovers [REDACTED]’s backstory, piece by piece. She constantly researches and looks everywhere to try and find him. What was the killer’s history with his parents like? How did he discover this summer camp that he’s using for the third game? How has he managed to get away from the law for so long? Those questions and more all get answered in the podcast.

            While there’s plenty of lore scattered around [REDACTED], social media pages help promote other pieces of this story like the camp and the dolls that are being featured in this new game. An Instagram page by the username ‘@campmassacres’ was made for the fictional camp, where developers used mostly stock footage in efforts to promote aspects of this camp that is being featured in game, in a similar fashion to how an actual camp would promote their activities to viewers. Not all of this is stock footage though. One video featured an employee standing outside in the woods at night, frantically promoting the new game and claiming that the host would come after him if he didn’t.

 In terms of the lore surrounding the new game’s dolls, a post on the developers’ main Instagram page reveals a little more about them aside from living plush toys. All the dolls have a family of some kind that they write back to and have their own thoughts about the camp that they talk about with their guardians and their own way of writing about them. They write about the aspects they enjoy, or their own odd murder-filled memories of it. This can clearly show how the dolls behave outside of simply being just player characters – Some filled with chaos despite their circumstances, some trying to survive, some fueled with determination in their work, and others just along for the ride.

Despite the developers revealing a lot more of the lore in anticipation of the third game, there was already a bit of information being revealed to players in the first two games, mainly about the killer. A lot was revealed through the host’s voice lines scattered throughout the rounds in both games, as previously stated, but one minigame in the sequel gives us a little extra insight into the family history of this mystery killer – Gifts. Each of the gifts in question comes from/connects to each of [REDACTED]’s family members. They also trigger voice lines and special endings as well, clearly showing how this seemingly mysterious host feels about each family member that is connecting to each gift. For example, the reactions that he has over the gifts that connect to his parents (wig for his mother, hat for his dad) are vastly different. While he dotes on and adores his “mother” (or anybody who’s wearing her wig), his “father” (or players wearing the hat) suddenly becomes a walking target, sent to the killing floor in any opportunity the killer may have.

            With the third game’s early-access release, a lot was also revealed in the demo’s voice lines. For example, the third game’s demo brought the introduction of [REDACTED]’s unnamed mother. There was a clear contrast between how he dotes on her, in comparison to how she acts. While he adores and favors his mother, she’s very critical of him in response. She comments constantly about his game, nagging him when players manage to survive.

            I have no clue what to expect from this third game (outside of what I’ve seen with the demo back In June), but the way that they’ve been doing the buildup like this has absolutely caught my attention. Curiosity about this whole thing has been reeling me in and I can’t help but wonder about the direction this whole thing is going to go moving forward. So much has already been revealed about the character and I wonder if there’s going to be even more on the way in terms of lore.