Game Review: "Deception: Murder in Hong Kong"

Fun game from last week-end’s game day, a weird combo of “Clue” and “Werewolf.” Everyone’s an Investigator — except for the Forensic Investigator, who tries to vaguely guide the investigation.

The tableau: scenes in the middle, and four clues and weapons in front of each Investigator.

Each Investigator (one of whom is the actual MURDERER) has four possible clues and four possible weapons in front of them. The FI does a werewolf-like “Everyone close your eyes,” at which time the Murderer shows the actual clue+weapon combo. The FI then puts down a series of clue boards to describe the victim, the murder location, and three other aspects, each with a multiple-option set-up for them to choose from.

The Forensic Investigator tries to take the real Clue+Weapon combo and identify scene elements that will lead the Investigator to the Murderer. Sometimes they can be an awkward, even misleading, fit.

Once everyone has opened their eyes, each of the Investigators (including the MURDERER) looks at the various possible combos in front of each player, trying to make the match the narrative the FI has presented. This goes to a second round (with the FI replacing one of the clue boards to get rid of something that might have been misleading).

Ultimately, each of the Investigators (including the MURDERER) get to make an accusation (the clue+weapon combo). If none of the (non-MURDERER) Investigators figure it out right, the MURDERER wins.

Each Investigator is associated with a quartet of weapons, and clues.

It sounds a little goofy, but it’s actually deeply engaging, and the incredibly deep decks of both clues and weapons, and the maddengly narrow number of choices on the scene cards, makes it all a deep challenge. Of the games we played, we had both successes and failures. And wanted to keep playing.

Soooooo many weapons.

As you get more players, the number of possible things that will fit the scenes grows, making things more difficult … but the number of analyses by players grows, too, which can help in narrowing the possibilities.

There are optional rules we didn’t play with, and at least one expansion set, but even without those, this is one of those “I’m thinking of buying a copy in case the person who owns it doesn’t bring it to Game Day some time and I want to play it.”

#3sd-nerditude #board-game #tabletop-game

Originally posted at: https://hill-kleerup.org/blog/heroes/2021/11/game-review-deception-murder-in-hong-kong.html