Deception: Murder in Hong Kong Board Game - Social Deduction, 4-12 Players

I've owned this game for a few months now, and it's a hit every time I bring it out. There are elements of social deduction found in Werewolf/Mafia mixed with elements of non-verbal communication & interpretation seen in Mysterium or Dixit. The basic explanation is that one of the players is a forensic scientist, who doesn't talk or communicate during the main game, but ultimately knows who everyone's secret role is. All the other players have evidence cards placed in front of them with evidence or different ways someone can die. A murderer is secretly chosen who then (secretly) chooses one of their evidence cards and one of their means of death cards to the scientist while all other players have their eyes closed. This represents the actual murder that the investigators must guess. The forensic scientist then has a handful of cards with 6 options (such as Time of Day) and must pick one option to lead the non-murderers to the murderer's cards (who is pretending to be an investigator). As the scientist plays their cards, players start discussing which evidence cards they represent. Each player gets one guess at the correct evidence cards at any point in the game. If it's wrong, they cannot guess again, but may continue to participate in the discussion. If the murderer's exact cards are guessed at any time, the investigators and the scientist win. Otherwise the murderer wins. There are a bit more rules, but that's the majority of them.The game succeeds so well because the different mechanics complement each other so well. In a typical hidden role & social deduction game, the game can devolve into finger pointing and yelling, but the difficult task of interpreting the clues makes it really hard to be convinced that anyone is clearly lying. It can also be hard and stressful to be the secret bad guy in these types of games, but the bulk of the discussion in Deception is matching up the clues, keeping the focus on the table and not on the individual people. It can take the pressure off. The game can play quickly if the clues fall together quickly. It can also lead to a long elaborate discussion with multiple factions vying for different candidates, often ending into a win or loss that comes down to the final guesses.Strengths:- It's a hidden role game that appeals to a wider audience than games like Werewolf or Resistance. There is more going on than simply accusing one another and forming alliances with those you trust.- Quick set-up, quick rules explanation, and short play time. Every time I've played, we've played multiple games as it lends itself to that "let's play again" feeling.- It's hard to find a good game for a player count over 6. This is one of those rare games. It scales up to 12, although that size is a bit crowded since you need to see everyone else's cards throughout the game. I think it's ideal around 8, but totally playable at more or less.Weaknesses:- The rules and game flow are not airtight. For example, it expects the forensic scientist to be a bit of a game master, keeping the rounds moving along at certain points. The silver lining is that it's easy to substitute some house rules without changing the game.- The cards have a lack of balance. Some of them too clearly match up to the scientist's cards. The murderer has to be cautious in order to choose 2 good options from their tableau. I've seen games last a matter of minutes when the clues are too easily discovered either by bad luck or a poor choice by the murderer. The more you play, the more you learn to avoid it.- For some player types, the "one guess only" leads them to guess early then sit out the rest of the game. It does feel demotivating to put out your 1 guess and if it's wrong, you then have nothing to do except trying to persuade other players.Despite these small weaknesses, I still strongly recommend it. After dozens of plays, I place it as one of the favorite games on my shelf.

To start off, I would like to profess my love of the original version of this game. When I first played this with a group of friends at a Christmas party a few years ago, it blew us all away. It's such an immersive and interactive party game unlike any other. It truly gets your methodical brain going for the good guys, and your game-face and acting abilities going if your'e the bad guys! I can't tell you how many hours upon hours I have played this game, and how many circles of friends I have introduced this to, who all fell in love with it just as I did.That being said! After you play the original game so many times, you do kind of get to boil it down to a science. When you really have a firm grasp of all the different weapons and clues and scenarios, it becomes noticeably favorable for the investigators to narrow down their suspect and eventually deduce what the killer used for his or her crime. Eventually you start implementing house rules and game variants to try to make it harder for the investigators to catch the murderer.IN COMES 'UNDERCOVER ALLIES' TO THE RESCUE!! Wow, what a breath of fresh air! This game adds just the right amount of elements I feel the original needed to keep it fresh, explore new ways to enjoy the game, but also keep the core elements of what made the original so great. Again the new roles add just the right amount of balance that this game needed to make it a much less one-sided game for the good guys. Not only that but because there are more roles to play, more people get a chance to interact with the game in their own unique way, other than just being a standard investigator like everyone else. Also it helps out a lot that they have added a bunch more evidence and weapon cards to the mix. I really feel like they hit the nail on the head with this expansion, as far as ironing out any problems the original may have had. Like I said, they added just enough new elements to keep it fresh, balanced, and unique, while still keeping the core of the game that makes it so much fun. I am truly a big fan of this expansion, and I can't wait to play it again and again with my groups of friends!As far as the physical contents goes, there are a few things to note. One is that the role cards are all crispy clean fresh! Awesome, right?! Well, not so much if the original game you own is weathered and worn down, because now your crispy new expansion roles will be among your worn down original roles, and it might give away who has what if people take notice. An easy fix for this is to get card sleeves for your role cards. As far as packaging your new cards in with your original box, there should be plenty of room for your evidence, weapon, and role cards, but there seem to be a few too many clue tiles. You can still get it to fit int he box, but it's a little cramped, as the tiles will overflow a little bit. I believe the kickstarter box for the expansion is big enough. Bummer for those of us who didn't kickstart it though! It's not a big deal though.Exclusive Kickstarter role** The kickstarter included an extra role that you can easily implement yourself. That is the "Clever Accomplice" which replaces the normal accomplice. The rules for the clever accomplice are the same as the the original accomplice BUT as an extra level of difficulty, the clever accomplice chooses a piece of evidence and a weapon from a DIFFERENT character than the murderer. If these 2 pieces are ever accused of being the murderer by someone, the murderer team automatically wins the game. So the idea is for the clever accomplice to choose 2 things that are very similar to what the murderer has, in order to get people to guess that instead. Pretty sneaky!!Pros:-More Weapons and Evidence cards-More roles make it more fun for larger games-Game Is much more challenging for investigators to win (It's a fair fight now, as opposed to investigators always winning)-One of the best party games ever madeCons:-New role cards give themselves away in an old deck. You'll need card sleeves to hide this-Adds elements that might make it TOO challenging for the investigators, but luckily there are several new way to tone down and adjust the difficulty.-New tiles done quite fit in the box perfectly. Not a big deal though, just a little overflowIf you're a fan of the first game, or even if you've never played the first game, you will absolutely LOVE this game. Your friends won't stop talking about how much they love this game. So much more involved than your typical party game. There's just no end to the fun you'll have!!