⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢀⣀⣀⣀⠀⡀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠈
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢀⣠⡿⠛⡉⠉⢻⣿⣷⡄⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢠⡿⠁⠀⠙⣀⡀⢀⣿⣿⣿⡀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢸⢃⠀⢴⠕⠁⣶⣿⣿⣿⣿⠇⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠁⢸⣿⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠉⠉⠐⠀⠀⠈⠸⠿⠟⠻⠿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠁⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⢀⠀⠀⢀⡄⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢹⣿⣿⡿⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠈⠀⠀⢸⠘⠶⠤⠖⠁⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠠⣤⣾⣿⣿⡇⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⢸⡆⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⡀⠀⠀⠙⠿⣿⠇⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⡇⠀⠀⠀⠘⢆⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢀⡀⠀⠀⠀⠚⠀⠀⠀⠂⢰⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠐⠀⠀⠑⠄⠂⠐⡀⠀⠉⠀⣀⡀⣀⣠⣤⣤⣶⣤⣶⣾⣾⡉⠀⠀⠀
⠐⡀⠀⠀⠀⠐⠀⠀⠄⠱⣃⣙⣥⡀⠶⠿⠟⠛⠛⠛⠉⠁⠉⠉⠛⢏⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠈⠂⢄⡀⠠⢤⡐⣤⣶⠿⠋⠁⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠈⠱⢡⠞⠉⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠁⠆⠁⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠢⡀⠀⡄⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠘⣿⠇⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠘⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

Compared to Town of Salem (ToS) 1, number 2 is atrocious. A concoction of ideas strewn together in haste. Without playing for hundreds of hours (like i did in ToS 1), you wouldn't even have the slightest clue where to begin... * 5/10 - the only in-depth social deduction game on the market, but obnoxiously bad developers*

Before even entering and testing the game, you are forced to make an account and go through BlankMediaGames outdated mid 2000's UI to deck out your "home"; a place where you can traverse around in circles with zero functionality, during nightly escapades in the Town of Salem. Nothing more than a circus act. It looks like they took it out of Traitors of Salem and slapped it in ToS 2 just (but without any functionality besides decorative) so that it could be another in-game feature you can grind merit points for (or perhaps purchase with $USD).

From there, you attempt to play a 'Classic' game of ToS (a mode limited to a set of 4 factions and 15 roles) that is relatively easy to understand. After waiting 10 minutes (there is no ETA for how long it might take for a lobby to fill, unlike every other multiplayer game on the market today) you will realise that finding a Classic game is nearly impossible over 90% of the day. So you join the 'Quick-play' mode and get put into the only active game-mode - All Any. This mode entails that the lobby of fifteen players are all random roles from a list of roughly 61 roles (which is further categorised into seven factions). The neutral killing and neutral evil faction roles all fend for themselves and do not have any teammates which adds even more depth to the game. As a new player, being strung into a game-mode with that many roles, mechanics and new macro/micro decision making (such as faking claims, role interactions and faction interactions) is extremely overwhelming for a social deduction game. Even as an original ToS1 player, you will scratch your head for tens of hours, and still fundamentally not be anywhere near a proficient player. Compounded by the lack of active game-modes is the fact that because of this, ranked is also impossible to play. You need to complete ten ranked-practice games in order to play ranked. Good luck finding any practice games. I don't even know if ranked games exist either because of not being able to join those lobbies (aka waiting hours for the lobby to fill *which it never has for me* just to get people instantly leave when they only see a couple/few of us). In Tos1, ranked was active all the time. Including practice. A sense of accomplishment and maybe a simple reward system should be implemented in order to keep player retention BMG?

That is how outdated this game is, it is a re-skin of ToS1 with added/reworked roles. BlankMediaGames knows this, and could have come up with a better sequel that actually has a lobby AKA town you can walk around in and interact with other players outside of game-lobbies. Damn, even a global chat or server chat would go a long way. It would allow players to interact outside of game lobbies and perhaps let them create ranked practice games together, private game modes with custom settings, create guilds, partake in events or any such related activities you can even find in mobile gacha games nowadays. There are no events, no guilds, no world chats... nothing really new besides 'Ghost game'. You can play this mini-game if you end up dying during the main game and have nothing else to do while the town still plays. It is a gimmick gambling game of whoever roles the dice to 0 descending from any random number starting from 999, taking turns each. You wager 'Ghost points' on each game with an NPC or other dead players. Ghost points literally mean nothing. You cannot buy anything with them or use them in any functional matter besides fake gambling. If this is all a developer can come up with in over 5 years, as well as the few reworked/added roles, and a 'House' you can walk around inside with 0 functionality... I do not think they deserve another penny.

Lastly, the greedy cooperation of BlankMediaGames (BMG) is not faithful with its player-base from what i can gather. ToS1 used to be a largely popular game until BMG decided to ban an indiscriminate number of accounts for 'not being active during a ToS1 update'. This problem never should have existed in the first place. They deleted one of my ToS1 accounts which i spent over $30 AUD ontop of the base game which was $15, just because 'i was not active during an email update'. Many other players experienced the same issue and lost money and faith. Furthermore, both ToS 1 and 2 being in BETA development for so long is disgusting, considering only minor bug fix patches/improvements are implemented rarely and new skins are released. Balance patches are once in a lifetime. To top it off, a large majority of fans/original players of #1 were tricked in to buying #2 for $15, whereupon it shortly after became discounted for $10 and then within another month, free to play; with the condition that free to play players could only play 5 initial games and 3 per day thereafter for free without buying an upgrade that gives them unlimited play. This split the player-base and further dis-incentives player retention, especially for the new or free players that can't even find 'Classic' games to learn. A lot of people still play #1 as well, further splitting players even more.

The base concepts are there for a social deduction game. Town of Salem could be something way bigger than Among Us or even Cluedo ever was, is, or could be. However, the lack of intuition by the developers and unwillingness to make a modern game with simple fundamental features that incentive player retention, such as; special events, chats, guilds, ranked rewards, lobbies, and good UI, all impede the sales and future of this particularly interesting franchise.