Deceive is one of those games that just suddenly showed up and hooked me and my friends for a couple of months. Hiding in a world like NPCs while everyone is sneakily trying to steal the same thing is a lot of fun, and there is a lot you can do to surprise or trick your opponents.
The game allows for a lot of silly and unique strategies which create lasting memories and good times. Getting first to an objective, then disguising as props until an unsuspecting player comes in, free for you to kill the second they start the hacking, or quickly killing someone, then disguising as an NPC before their teammates are able to come for back up. It's all a lot of fun.
The game also offers a lot of ways for you to express your skills, whether it is by choosing your battles wisely, using abilities and your aim to win battles where you have the disadvantage, or tricking your opponents into your traps. This creates for some tense games where you're always at the edge of your seat.
That said, the game has a bunch of problems. Doing the smaller objectives is not that important in the grand scheme of things, and defeating opponents can be a lot more powerful. This means that if you have the opportunity, it's more optimal for you to make sure that player you just kill doesn't get to play anymore.
You kill 2 out of the 3 players on a team. If you already have the gear you need, you might as well just camp. This becomes more prevalent the better your opponents are. I am also guilty of this. You sit there, do nothing for 5+ minutes. The last opponent can never win, and you want the game to time out, or you wait for them to do the main objective, at which point you can just kill them and win for free.
Killing NPCs had almost no penalty, meaning you can freely kill them to "check" if they are a player.
If camping isn't your style, you can often just ignore the main aspect of the game, the "deceive" part, and just go full rambo and hunt players down. You are not punished for this, in fact you are often rewarded as you get all the loot the more stealthy player stole.
Having multiple playstyles isn't wrong, but it sometimes can feel like the most efficient way to play is the most lame way to play.
I think the devs quickly learnt that "given the chance, a player will optimize the fun out of a game". They need to find a way to make the most fun way to play (disguising, trapping, being clever) the most efficient way to win.
While the devs have been on top of these issues and addressed a lot, the big elephant in the room is the lack of content updates. Game dev takes A LOT of time, and the patience of a playerbase is fleeting. If a live service game can't drop new maps or change up the game, players will get tired of playing. That's what happened to this game. Players just left, and the player numbers hit the ground.
While new players sometimes join through free weekend, humble choice, or whatever their next plan is, the issue is that these new players will be welcomed by players who already mastered the game. They will be destroyed, and they won't have fun.
I will rate this game 4 stars, because it was truly a lot of fun when it released. A unique concept, with a decent execution, unfortunately suffering the same fate as a lot of indie live service games. I hope this game can bounce back and be what it deserves to be. In a sea of mediocrity this game can truly stand out.
The game allows for a lot of silly and unique strategies which create lasting memories and good times. Getting first to an objective, then disguising as props until an unsuspecting player comes in, free for you to kill the second they start the hacking, or quickly killing someone, then disguising as an NPC before their teammates are able to come for back up. It's all a lot of fun.
The game also offers a lot of ways for you to express your skills, whether it is by choosing your battles wisely, using abilities and your aim to win battles where you have the disadvantage, or tricking your opponents into your traps. This creates for some tense games where you're always at the edge of your seat.
That said, the game has a bunch of problems. Doing the smaller objectives is not that important in the grand scheme of things, and defeating opponents can be a lot more powerful. This means that if you have the opportunity, it's more optimal for you to make sure that player you just kill doesn't get to play anymore.
You kill 2 out of the 3 players on a team. If you already have the gear you need, you might as well just camp. This becomes more prevalent the better your opponents are. I am also guilty of this. You sit there, do nothing for 5+ minutes. The last opponent can never win, and you want the game to time out, or you wait for them to do the main objective, at which point you can just kill them and win for free.
Killing NPCs had almost no penalty, meaning you can freely kill them to "check" if they are a player.
If camping isn't your style, you can often just ignore the main aspect of the game, the "deceive" part, and just go full rambo and hunt players down. You are not punished for this, in fact you are often rewarded as you get all the loot the more stealthy player stole.
Having multiple playstyles isn't wrong, but it sometimes can feel like the most efficient way to play is the most lame way to play.
I think the devs quickly learnt that "given the chance, a player will optimize the fun out of a game". They need to find a way to make the most fun way to play (disguising, trapping, being clever) the most efficient way to win.
While the devs have been on top of these issues and addressed a lot, the big elephant in the room is the lack of content updates. Game dev takes A LOT of time, and the patience of a playerbase is fleeting. If a live service game can't drop new maps or change up the game, players will get tired of playing. That's what happened to this game. Players just left, and the player numbers hit the ground.
While new players sometimes join through free weekend, humble choice, or whatever their next plan is, the issue is that these new players will be welcomed by players who already mastered the game. They will be destroyed, and they won't have fun.
I will rate this game 4 stars, because it was truly a lot of fun when it released. A unique concept, with a decent execution, unfortunately suffering the same fate as a lot of indie live service games. I hope this game can bounce back and be what it deserves to be. In a sea of mediocrity this game can truly stand out.