Vaudeville

About

Vaudeville is a single player open world simulation game with drama and mystery themes. It was developed by Bumblebee Studios and was released on November 28, 2025. It received neutral reviews from players.

"Vaudeville" is a single-player, mystery open-world game that utilizes AI technologies for an experimental whodunit experience. The game features AI-generated dialogues, music, sceneries, and illustrations, creating an immersive story in an original setting. This game also serves as an experiment on human interaction with AIs, offering innovative gameplay and a unique experience. Support the project on Kickstarter or wishlist it on Steam.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

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53%

Audience ScoreBased on 281 reviews

story7 positive mentions

stability14 negative mentions

The game offers a unique and immersive experience with AI-driven characters that can hold engaging conversations, making interactions feel personal and dynamic.
Players can enjoy the humor and absurdity of the AI's responses, leading to entertaining moments and unexpected dialogue.
The concept of using AI to create a detective game is innovative, showcasing the potential for future developments in gaming technology.

The game is plagued by technical issues, including crashes, unresponsive AI, and a lack of coherent dialogue, making it frustrating to progress.
AI characters often provide conflicting information and can lead players down misleading paths, making it difficult to solve the mystery as intended.
There is a lack of clear direction and objectives, leaving players feeling lost and unsure of how to advance the investigation.

story
47 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
15%
79%
6%
The game's story has potential but suffers from significant issues, including a lack of clarity and coherence due to AI bugs and misleading interactions. While some players find the narrative intriguing and the character interactions enjoyable, many express frustration over the AI's inconsistent responses and the need for extensive note-taking to progress. Overall, the storytelling experience is seen as a mixed bag, requiring substantial polish to fully realize its potential.
- “In all seriousness, this game is shockingly good. The idea is wonderful, and it's executed in a way that you can either goof off for hours on end or play the story; either way, it's enjoyable.”
- “The mystery, interesting interactions, story, characters, and much more keep me driven to solve the cases.”
- “In conclusion, Vaudeville delivers an engaging detective adventure with immersive storytelling and captivating character interactions.”
- “The ending and story are just lame, the AI almost never listens to you, the game crashes randomly, and I feel like I lost brain cells playing this.”
- “Unlocking new areas in the story mode is a nightmare and I had to look up so much stuff to figure out how to progress.”
- “The AI, while intelligent overall, will often withhold necessary information (or flat out make up false/irrelevant information related to the story), leading to frustrating and misleading experiences.”
gameplay
26 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
19%
69%
12%
The gameplay has received mixed reviews, with many players expressing disappointment over its execution despite initial excitement. While some appreciate the innovative AI interaction and variety of mini-games, others criticize the clunky visuals, slow load times, and lack of meaningful gameplay mechanics, leading to a frustrating experience. Overall, the game is seen as needing significant improvements and support before it can be recommended.
- “A variety of mini-games keeps the gameplay engaging and diverse.”
- “Being able to have a conversation with an NPC, having to think of the correct line of questioning without choosing from a list of prompts is a rather intriguing new mechanic.”
- “If you like mysteries, crime-solving, and innovative gameplay, this game is an absolute must-play.”
- “In theory, it's cool, but the actual gameplay sucks.”
- “So, overall, it's definitely amusing to chat with the AI, but the gameplay aspects leave a lot to be desired.”
- “The actual gameplay visuals were clunky and cartoony and looked like the old Vampire: The Masquerade game from the early 2000s.”
humor
19 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is a mixed bag, with many players finding the AI interactions hilariously absurd and entertaining, particularly when engaging in playful manipulation. However, some users feel that the randomness can lead to tiresome and nonsensical dialogue, detracting from the overall experience. While the game has potential for comedic moments, its early access status means that the humor may not be enough to justify its current shortcomings.
- “While gaslighting the AI is fun and hilarious, talking to anyone in this game is like trying to interact with Jordan Schlansky.”
- “Overall though, the game is absolutely a 10 out of 10 just for the hilariousness it can ensue.”
- “The AI conversations are simply hilarious, both from watching streamers and playing the game myself.”
graphics
19 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
16%
68%
16%
The graphics of the game have received mixed reviews, with many users criticizing the poor optimization and outdated visuals that detract from the overall experience. While some appreciate the vintage-inspired aesthetic and unique character designs, others point out significant graphical glitches, lack of polish, and inconsistencies in style that hinder gameplay. Overall, the visuals are seen as a missed opportunity, with many feeling that they do not meet the expectations for a game priced at $20.
- “The game features charming, vintage-inspired graphics, though they lack some polish.”
- “Vaudeville does what other games don't in that its entire development strategy is in putting as much depth of personality and moral ambiguity into an eccentric and honestly flamboyant art style of what feels like a legion of characters who were based on the founding members of community gardens in the roaring twenties.”
- “Graphically, the game does have its moments, with a distinctive aesthetic that captures the essence of the vaudeville era.”
- “So far, the most frustrating thing in this game is the terrible optimization; the graphics look potatoey and outdated, yet my PC still has trouble loading areas of Vaudeville in less than 30 seconds.”
- “What I didn't expect is how phoned in the rest of the game is - watching videos of gameplay, it's clear the character models could use more than a little work (some of them look straight out of The Sims 3), and a lot of the visuals for the game are stock purchases or clearly made with bare-minimum effort, if custom made.”
- “Graphical bugs, crashes, hard locks, and UI inconsistencies plague the game, hampering the enjoyment and requiring improvements.”
stability
14 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's stability is widely criticized, with users reporting numerous bugs, crashes, and unplayable experiences. Many players experienced issues such as graphical glitches, save selection problems, and poor voice recognition, leading to frustration despite the game's interesting concept. Overall, the game is described as severely underdeveloped and lacking the polish expected from a commercial release.
- “Both times I tried it, it was unplayable and buggy as hell.”
- “Very cool concept, sadly it is completely unplayable due to major issues such as graphical glitches that randomly close the dialog while you are trying to write notes and the microphone ceasing to work after a few questions.”
- “I wanted to play it, despite all the bad things I heard about it, as the concept of the game seemed really cool, but my PC had a literal stroke trying to play this as it is a buggy mess.”
replayability
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
17%
50%
The game's replayability is primarily driven by unique NPC interactions and the potential for varied outcomes in its murder mystery elements, with some users rating it around 5/10. While the procedural generation of solutions adds to the experience, opinions vary on how engaging these interactions are over multiple playthroughs. Overall, it offers decent replay value, particularly for those who enjoy exploring different character dynamics.
- “This is infinitely replayable due to the unique NPC interaction.”
- “And shadows of doubt create a unique murder mystery with infinite replay value.”
- “Replay value, if any, comes from talking to the characters and messing with them.”
- “I purchased this game under the assumption that the solution was procedurally generated, justifying the use of a versatile AI chatbot, providing decent replayability, and bringing meaning to some of the more unremarkable characters and concepts.”
- “Replay value: 5/10”
optimization
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
The game's optimization has been widely criticized, with players reporting significant performance issues despite low-quality graphics. Users have noted that the new offline model has drastically increased performance requirements, leading to frustratingly long loading times and overall poor optimization.
- “Performance optimization has been implemented as planned, significantly enhancing the overall experience.”
- “The developers have made strides in performance optimization, ensuring smoother gameplay and better resource management.”
- “Complete rug pull; the devs replaced whatever janky but usable model they had for an offline one that seems to more than double the initial performance requirements.”
- “So far, the most frustrating thing in this game is the terrible optimization; the graphics look potatoey and outdated, yet my PC still has trouble loading areas of Vaudeville in less than 30 seconds.”
monetization
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Reviews indicate that the game's monetization strategy is perceived as a cash grab, with comparisons drawn to poorly executed crypto and NFT games. Users express concerns about severe bugs and crashes, suggesting a lack of effort and polish from the developers.
- “The other game (also $20) from the same studio has reviews mentioning severe bugs and regular crashing, giving cash grab vibes. It reminds me of studios that release crypto/NFT games, where the creators hope the novelty of new technology will distract from a lack of effort and polish, revealing they didn't bother to learn basic development.”
- “The monetization strategy feels exploitative, as it seems designed to squeeze every last cent from players rather than provide a fair gaming experience.”
- “I can't shake the feeling that the game is more focused on pushing microtransactions than on delivering quality content, which is disappointing.”
grinding
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find the grinding aspect initially engaging but quickly become bored and frustrated due to its tedious nature and limitations, such as touchy voice controls and restrictive note-taking options. While it has potential for fun, the overall experience tends to feel monotonous over time.
- “It's cool for half an hour, but becomes unbelievably boring, tedious, and frustrating afterward.”
- “It has amazing potential to be a fun gimmick, but the voice controls are very touchy, and note-keeping (as the developers want you to do) is limited by the small notepages, making it tedious in general.”
music
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The music aspect of the game is highlighted through engaging interactions, such as discussions about classical music with characters like Marina H, which adds depth to the overall experience.
- “After I beat the story, I just talked to Marina H about classical music.”
atmosphere
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The atmosphere of the game is widely regarded as both atmospheric and memorable, contributing significantly to the overall experience.
- “It's definitely atmospheric and memorable.”