Our small group of survivors enters the medical room together. “I’ve never seen how the testing machine works,” I say to the others in the room, my words piped into their ears by proximity voice chat, “is it alright if I try it out?” One of the more experienced group members says, “Sure,” then another player hops onto the testing table.
I press the button to begin the test and the old-fashioned computer begins to process. When it’s finished, a giant “Infected!” warning appears on the screen, visible only to me. “It says he’s clean,” I lie, and the group begins to disperse. My Infected partner gets up from the table and each of us follows a different Innocent player from the room, ready to kill them as soon as we are out of earshot of the group.
These tense cat-and-mouse moments are what Deceit 2 is all about, and its consistent ability to create a wide variety of them through mini-games, phases, and even items, is what makes this 1st-person social deception game one I’ll be keeping my eyes on.
Set in a Lovecraft-like world, a sinister gamemaster has trapped a group of people (6-9 players) in an abandoned asylum, fitting them with strange wristbands that allow them to harvest energy through performing ritualized activities, but that’s not all they can do. Activating the wristbands before each round, the game master turns two of the victims into eldritch monstrosities (masquerading as humans) to kill the others and appease the dark gods he serves.
To win a game, Innocent players need to complete enough tasks (in each of the asylum’s many small rooms) to earn the escape key, or discover and banish both Infected players. Infected players need to isolate and kill all the Innocent players without being discovered, or use deception to turn Innocent players against each other. They can also speed the killing process up by secretly sacrificing their own blood on altars around the asylum to draw everyone into the In-Between, a dark and dangerous parallel world where their powers can fully manifest through their rampaging Terror forms. A lone Guardian player is also in the mix, using their mystical powers to rescue dying players captured by the Infected.
Taking the task management and ‘who the heck is the imposter’ dynamic of Among Us and merging it with the “oh my god, it’s coming for us! RUN!” intensity of Dead By Daylight was a tantalizing prospect. Other social deception games have these elements, but Deceit 2 differentiates itself by giving players currency when they complete tasks. They can then use that currency at the central item shop, giving them access to a ton of different items that will give them a better chance to survive (or slaughter) by leaning into specific mechanics.
The Clipboard, for example, is a fantastic item for survivors. It has randomized pieces of information about each character, so players can piece things together to figure out who is likely to be Innocent, and who isn’t. The Pistol is too weak to harm the Infected in the In-Between, but if you suspect a player of being Infected, you can use its limited ammo to shoot and knock them down while they are in Reality, assuming you have another player nearby to help you banish them.
Innocent players aren’t the only ones who can buy helpful items from the shop, however. Infected players can buy the Muzzle, which can be secretly attached to other players (or yourself), keeping the muzzled player from talking for a while. Helpful as that is, it can’t stop them from writing on the chalkboard, and so the manipulation continues. The Mask also lets the user disguise themselves as any other player, which is great for framing others and manipulating things in your favor.
On an even higher level, the Bag Scanner lets you see into other people’s inventories, which is helpful if you are Innocent and see someone carrying a Muzzle or Mask. Or, if you want to sow discord, you can lie about what you see, since (like the testing machine) the results are only visible to the user. Handcuffs are also available, which keep players from doing anything except running and jumping, and you can put them on other players… or yourself. There are tons of ways to avoid being killed, help yourself rack up more kills, or even play the victim, and each adds a fun wrinkle to matches.
An important thing to note is this is just 6 of the 27 items in Deceit 2. There are also invisibility items, teleporters, CCTV tablets, grenades, traps, cameras, walkie-talkies, decoys, trackers, repair tools, blood alarms, and more. Each one I tried during my play session was fun to mess around with, and I couldn’t help but be reminded of a MOBA shop, where each purchase lets me lean into a different aspect of the game, letting me express myself with my choices. Not only that, but the team told me Deceit 2 is going to launch at an impressive $15, with more items, Terrors, locations, and even new roles set to be added to the game after launch by way of $5 expansions.
Despite a small number of bugs (including an issue with the proximity voice chat), Deceit 2 so far delivers on a standard of quality I’ve come to expect from social deception games, then adds a satisfying level of mechanical self-expression on top. Because of this, I’m excited by the prospect of each new session, which is all I can ask from Deceit 2, and it’s why I’ll be gathering my own friends and family for games when it is released.
Brian Barnett writes reviews, guides, features, & more for IGN & GameSpot. You can get your fix of his antics on YouTube, Twitch, Twitter, Bluesky, & Backloggd, & check out his fantastic video game talk show, The Platformers, on Spotify & Apple Podcasts.
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