Finalblow Co. released its social deduction game Deadly Trick, which was partially funded via Kickstarter last September, in Steam Early Access on July 31st.
Deadly Trick was originally slated for Early Access release on July 14th, but the developers were forced to delay its launch due to failing Steam’s internal review process. As an apology for the unexpected delay, Finalblow are offering a 15% discount on the game’s Early Access version for the first two weeks after launch.
Much like the mega-popular multiplayer murder mystery Among Us, Deadly Trick is designed to be played with a group of ideally five to eight players. Each participant must concentrate on completing tasks in an effort to escape the game’s setting, a “deadly” class conducted in an empty school building. However, unlike many Werewolf-style social deduction games, there is no predetermined “killer” role. Instead of the roles being assigned at random, players are completely free to either cooperate or betray their friends to come out ahead. Should a player pick up a weapon to use on their fellow classmates, they are branded a “Shadow” in opposition to the innocent “White” players.
When players choose to take on the role of the Shadow and kill their comrades, the game will shift to a new style of play upon the discovery of the victim’s body. First, all players (including the Shadow) will be given the opportunity to investigate the crime scene and gather evidence for a limited amount of time. When the time limit is up, the game shifts again to a courtroom setting in which a Class Trial (a la Danganronpa) takes place, where players can present the evidence they gathered to deduce who the culprit is. The Shadow player can present false testimony and misleading evidence at this stage to throw the other players off their trail. Should the wrong player be indicted, all innocent players are executed while the killer walks free.
Complicating things is the inclusion of the “Mastermind” role, in which one non-Shadow player is encouraged to sabotage the other innocent players and help any Shadows to get away with their deeds, sharing in their victory if they are successful.
While the comparisons to Among Us are inevitable, the dev’s Kickstarter page makes it clear that they are striving for an original style of gameplay that more closely resembles a multiplayer adaptation of single-player courtroom mystery games like Danganronpa and Ace Attorney. Indeed, the game’s Kickstarter page directly cites Danganronpa as an influence, with the devs describing their motivation behind creating the game as “Could we create a Danganronpa you can actually play yourself?” As the developers suggest, the investigation gameplay is designed to ensure that every player can make meaningful contributions and deductions while keeping each round uniquely challenging.
Deadly Trick is available on Steam via Early Access, with a full release coming sometime in the future.
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