Review Fix Exclusive: Inside ‘Who Lurks’

Review Fix chats with Fakhra AlMansouri (Game Director & CEO, Hybrid Humans), who discusses the fun local-multiplayer infused deception game, “Who Lurks.” Perfect for parties with friends, the sci-fi story will immediately make fans of “Star Trek” and “Battlestar Galactica” fall for it.

Review Fix: What was the inspiration for Who Lurks?

Fakhra AlMansouri: The idea for the game came about from the Global Game Jam 2015 theme, which was “What Do We Do Now?” Creating a game with a traitor mechanism fit the theme well.

Review Fix: What do you think makes this game special?

AlMansouri: It brings the classic deception board game experience to mobile, which makes Who Lurks quite unique to the mobile market. Players come together for an exciting local multiplayer game, where they can bluff their way through or collaborate.

Review Fix: What was the development process like?

AlMansouri: It was a bumpy ride. We jumped into this right after we finished our first major project, Hop Hop Away. We wanted to do something short and sweet, and we believed that the idea behind Who Lurks had awesome potential. We had a playable prototype of the game done in 3 weeks. After several playtesting sessions, we realized that the project would take more time than we had anticipated. Since the game concept and implementation are quite unique, we had to experiment with different approaches. This is always the fun part of game development: to figure out creative and fun solutions.

We had three major milestones for this game. One of the biggest was the decision to include a single-player mode. We got some feedback — that being for the mobile market, we had to cater to the single-player experience. It’s been a lot of fun to see people play it. We even went to our local board game shops to get authentic feedback!

Review Fix: Who do you think will enjoy it the most?

AlMansouri: We designed Who Lurks for players that enjoy and miss local multiplayer, and also for fans of board game — specifically deception-based titles. Players who are into sci-fi (especially the Battlestar Galactica universe) will appreciate the concept of uncovering the Alien hiding among the crew.

Review Fix: What are your goals for it?

AlMansouri: We want Who Lurks to be throughly enjoyed by gamers. We also hope it will be recognized for its novel gameplay mechanics.

Review Fix: How do you want it to be remembered?

AlMansouri: We hope Who Lurks gets played often in family and friends gatherings and/or parties. It’s a game that has “legs” — just like the board games we all keep around. Who Lurks is on their mobile phones — and it can be enjoyed anywhere and anytime. We intend to keep the game fresh by updating it frequently and continuing to add new content.

Review Fix: Bottom line, why should someone play?

AlMansouri: Who Lurks offers players a new mobile experience. It’s always fun to gather your friends and play a game that tests your poker face. Also, screaming “Trust me, I’m human!” at your friends has never been this relevant.

 

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14230 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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