Review Fix Exclusive: Inside ‘Deceit’

Review Fix chats with James Thompson, Managing Director, Automaton, who discusses their new FPS, “Deceit.”

About Deceit:

Deceit tests your instincts at trust and deception in this new FPS. The brain-child of game studio Automaton, the multiplayer horror is the first game ever to be created with the new Crytek CryEngine 5. This Halloween, take to Steam and enjoy limited edition features that are even more chilling. But hurry – they’ll be gone by November 6th.
Engage in frenzied fast paced combat, test your behavioural psychology to determine who is infected and deploy strategic map positioning, as darkness allows the infected to manifest into their terror form. Stronger, faster and with night vision, their only weakness is light. Do you have what it takes to make it out alive, or will you be a victim of deception?

Review Fix: What games inspired this one?

James Thompson: We were inspired by the party game Mafia, and a desire to work on a short-session, immersive multiplayer game.

Review Fix: Let’s talk about the art. What inspired that?

Thompson: Our first map is an abandoned mental asylum, and is simply inspired by a load of photographs and other resources that our art team found on real-world mental asylums! It’s grounded in reality and your perception of the other players, so it’s non-stylised, realistic art.

Review Fix: What has development been like?

Thompson: As our first game, an early adopter of the new CryEngine V platform, and with quite complex psychological gameplay, it’s been very interesting. Our biggest challenge has been making constant gameplay changes to deliver both suspense and replayability, and handle all the ways players can interact, whilst simultaneously being early adopters of new and very complex technology. Thankfully we have an unusually strong technical team for our studio size, being a company founded by computer scientists, and that also reflects in our highly analytical approach to game design and our ability to bring this project to Early Access within 5 months of development on CryEngine V.

Review Fix: With all the competition in the indies now, how difficult was it for you guys to try and make something that stood out?

Thompson: Since we first brought the concept to Steam Greenlight, or to events such as EGX, we’ve had incredibly positive feedback. After two weeks of fixes and tweaks from Early Access players, we feel ready to start shouting about Deceit over Halloween weekend,  so it remains to be seen how it stands out. If the fairly unique idea of asymmetric action gameplay continues to resonate as well as it has with early adopters, it will stand out, and we’re continuing to bring in more depth to the graphics and gameplay each week.

Review Fix: Bottom line, why must someone play this game?

Thompson: Deceit delivers a 6-player experience that tests your wit and deception against others, with the suspense of horror, and the action of a first-person shooter. Playing with friends makes for an unforgettable experience of light-hearted betrayal!

Review Fix: How do you want this game to be remembered?

Thompson: Deceit is fundamentally about allowing interactions between players to create a compelling experience. We’d love to see it continue to evolve and become remembered as a seminal example of this in gaming.

Review Fix: What are your goals for this game?

Thompson: As our first project we wanted to make something unique that helps us grow understanding of multiplayer interactions in games. Our goals are to prove out the technical platform, reach a high level of polish for our first product, and to see how well this new kind of game can do!

Review Fix: What’s next?

Thompson: We have a lot more to put into Deceit — new maps, new levels of interactivity and polish for the maps, more elaborate chase sequences in the dark, and more kinds of objectives and items. We also want to leverage the same engine platform for a new project in 2017, but we’re keeping that close to our chests for now.