Revealed at this morning’s Summer Games Fest Showcase, Killer Inn is an all new IP from Square Enix developed in collaboration with Tactic Studios and TBS Games. Touted as a murder mystery action game, Killer Inn sees 24 players dropped into teams of Wolves and Lambs, where social deduction is combined with skill based shooting and melee combat.
It takes inspiration from many different asymmetrical multiplayer games to create an experience of its own. Perhaps best described as a melding between Among Us and Dead By Daylight, Killer Inn splits players between being the hunters and the hunted. Wolves win the round by killing all of the Lambs, while Lambs win by either identifying and killing or Wolves, or by escaping the deadly inn.
When a round starts, you’ll hurry to gather items and complete quests to increase your odds of winning. Weapons and armour of many varieties can be found around the inn, while completing quests nets you experience points to level up and unlock character skills. Quests also award you with tokens that can be used to unlock chests that house more powerful weapons and armour. If all else fails, you can even use your bare fists in a fight.
Much of the game seems to be about the social deduction aspect, though. Each time a Wolf kills they leave behind a clue, whether that be a strand of hair, piece of skin, splotch of blood, and so on. Eventually the clues will lead you to the Wolves. Get too hasty and accidentally kill a Lamb, though, and you’ll also be killed, incentivising patience and smart decision making when it comes to accusation and conflict.
The map is also populated by safe zones which are overseen by NPC staff . These are no kill zones where acts of violence are met with swift punishment. They seem to serve as safe havens for discussion using in-game voice chat, but hanging around too long means trading off experience, gold, and gear.
There’s quite a large roster of characters here too, each with unique skills that lean into certain playstyles. As players die, the Prize Money grows, giving you more to spend on items outside of rounds to provide some progression. With 24 players in a match, there’ll be countless character combinations that shake up how a round unfolds.
It’s unknown when Killer Inn will be launching, but the team is looking to run a closed beta on Steam in the near future to test server stability and collect player .
