My friends took notice of this and by the fourth game, I was always a top contender for being one of the infected. During my first night playing with friends, I ended up being a survivor for 9 games in a row. Things get even worse because you have no way of determining who is infected before a match starts. Is that guy hoarding all the items because he’s infected? Are the two monsters working together to get the shotgun? Is asking for traps going to look too suspicious? Everything is built upon flimsy – often false – promises and reassurances about their intentions. By doing this, Deceit allows the player’s own imagination and fears make them question every decision made. There are also a handful of gadgets that can be used, but the infected players can use them too when in human form. They can’t hurt you, but their sounds are exactly the same as the player-controlled monsters. On top of that, there are random NPC monsters hanging about that will groan and yell if you get to close. The game never explains this mechanic and cheekily gives the appearance of the infected drinking more blood than they actually have. One missing blood bag shattered every promise we made during the course of the match.ĭeceit masterfully stokes these paranoia-driven fires by having some of the blood bags just vanish when it gets dark – regardless if someone drank from it or not.

Since anyone can be “voted out” of the game after taking too much damage, alliances began forming to try and control the majority of votes. This poured more fuel onto an already raging fire as trust broke down between the six players. In one of my first games, a big argument broke out amongst everyone allowing someone to grab more blood. Since all you need to do is press a key to take blood, it’s possible to gobble up this resource quickly.

This is where the paranoia begins to seep in because unless you visually catch someone in the act you are going off their word that they didn’t touch the blood. Since players can see you take blood bags, the infected need to either grab them when everyone is busy or try to shift the blame onto other players. To do this they need to collect blood samples scattered around the map. Only when it’s dark an infected player can turn into a monster allowing them to instantly kill players. Every game is defined by two phases – light and dark – with the former acting as a way for players to gather supplies and the latter giving the monsters a chance to turn the tide of battle. Environments harken back to classic horror settings such as a haunted mansion, tangled forest, and a research base in the Arctic. Where Deceit differs is it’s aiming to not be funny or light-hearted, but absolutely terrifying. This is a recipe for any great multiplayer experience and a few other notable titles have used this concept. Deceit asks players to both trust and distrust one another because you will almost never know for sure who is on your side. This crafts an experience where every action, decision, and even word you speak determines your survival. The catch is everyone appears to be normal and only the two monsters know they are infected.

Two of the six players are monsters and they have to brutally murder the other four survivors before they can escape. Enter Deceit, an independent horror game developed and published by Mostly Positive.Īvailable on the PC, Deceit tasks you and five other players with surviving a night in a handful of different creepy locations. This was what caused me to gun down two of my friends over nothing more than fear and lies – virtually, of course. It’s a feeling that sticks with you and guides your actions regardless of their rationality. Paranoia is at the heart of any great horror experience.

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