You’ve heard the rumour about that house in the forest, haven’t you?
On dark, frigid nights, when the wind cuts through your skin, and the white eye of the moon looks down on you, you must never tread into that forest. The stars may beckon you – may draw you in, between the tall, sturdy trees – deep into that lonely blackness. A flicker of light may dance before you for a scant moment, and stoke your curiosity. You may be deceived.
But you must never go to that house.
When you approach it, all will be silent. Not a single living creature will stir. You will hear no voices. You will feel no chill. You will be alone… yes, even with others by your side, you will be alone. And then…
What was that!? In the window, there! A figure – is someone in that house? No, no, it couldn’t be. No one has lived there for ages. There is nothing to fe— ah! There, just past the door! Did something fly by? That house… is there something inside that house!? Someone!? No, it couldn’t be… has a light come on? Has a flame been lit?
Who is in there!? Who is in that house!? Out, you fiend! You monster! If you will not come out, I will come in! I will…! I will…
You blink. And again the world is silent. The house is dark. The moon is bright. No one, surely, is inside.
You turn back. It all seems silly, doesn’t it? It’s just a dusty, lonely, rickety old house. You find your way back through the forest, chuckling at your ridiculous, baseless fears.
Ah… What was that? The rumour? Ah, yes. There is a rumour about that house. It, too, is silly. You’ll laugh when I tell you. You see, the rumour about that house is that…
…The devil lives there.
This is Part 1 of Retro Game Talk’s Deception retrospective, written by noted forum acolyte and general evilton “Gorse”. Come in, please – you're letting out the heat.
Background: King’s Field, the Playstation, and Evil
Pop Quiz, Question #2: If you could pick one title to represent 3D video gaming released before 1995, what would it be? Think about your answer carefully. Remember, I’m looking for a FULL 3D game. 2D sprites aren’t allowed, and neither are 2D games played with 3D models. I want a 3D game that couldn’t have been done in 2D.
That’s odd. You’ve gone quiet. Allow me to provide an answer for you: King’s Field, released in Japanese markets on December 16th, 1994, for a new video game console called the “Playstation”.
Did you know that King’s Field, developed by From Software (I’m sure you’ve never heard of them before), was a PS1 launch title? It’s not the first Playstation game (Air Combat holds that trophy) but, with serial number SLPS-00017, it is the seventeenth, released not even a fortnight after the console came out. King’s Field, in many ways, didn’t just codify a lot of 3D adventure game tropes – it invented them.
Push up on the d-pad to go forward. Push the attack button to swing your sword ahead of you. If an enemy attacks, you may dodge by moving left, right… or backwards. Interested in what’s above or below you? Simply hold a trigger on your controller, and your character will look around. Like you look around, in real life. Just, you know… in a video game.
Of course, revolutionizing the medium always comes at a cost. In King’s Field’s case, that was the game’s premise. By necessity, it has a simple, basic story, barebones and cliched even for the time: You are a knight. There is an evil in the land. You must venture into the dungeon and defeat it. Game over. Wizardry called, and it would like its creativity back.
But what does any of that nonsense have to do with Deception? Well, everything. For you see, Deception is King’s Field… in reverse. It’s the opposite. If King’s Field is light, Deception is dark. If King’s Field is yang, Deception is yin.
If King’s Field is good, Deception is evil.
In Deception, you are not the hero in the dungeon. You are the dungeon. The hero comes in. You must defeat him. Well, “defeat” is a strong word. Nobody is really “defeated”, are they? No, no. When the hero strikes the villain, the villain is killed. In this game, you are the villain, so when you strike the hero… he is killed. You must kill him.
And that, my friend, is Tecmo’s Deception: Invitation to Darkness.
Story: Dealing with the Devil
You are forced up the steps. The noose is brought around your neck. As you look out over the crowds on this dark, dreadful night, your panic turns to fear… then to rage. Who is your brother to steal the throne? Who is he to be the next king, when it should be you? But, alas, your time has come. The noose is tightened. The floor is taken away. Your body drops, and your feet touch nothing. As air leaves your lungs, and the night grows even darker, you make one final plea to whoever might be listening.
You do not ask for mercy – you ask for revenge. Your eyes close, the world disappears, and…
A strange woman floats before you. Her skin is an odd blue colour, and she is dressed in a blood-red robe. The woman is smiling.
As it turns out, someone was listening. Unfortunately for you, that someone was Satan.
Lord of lies. Creature of sin. The actual devil, not just some random monster or spirit. Prince of evil. Yes, he is a prince, too, and he sympathizes with you. He has heard your plea. He is happy to offer revenge. Power, too – the power to destroy not only your brother, but every last one of your enemies. Perhaps every last person in the world. And all he needs is a little favour from you.
You see, Satan is in a touch of bother, at the moment. Trapped in Hell by the world’s holy forces, he is unable to work his dark influence upon humanity, and his body is locked in stone. Luckily, there is a way out – a gate into the human world exists in an old house at the edge of Zemekia. The gate is locked, now, but with several artifacts from across the realm, it could be unlocked, and he could be freed.
So! Here’s the deal: You will enter the house. You will collect the artifacts. You will release Satan. And that’s that! It couldn’t be any easier for you – Satan will draw people to the house, you will “defeat” them, and, sooner or later, those artifacts will turn up. Then, all you need to do is place them in the gate. And power will be yours.
Mm-hm-hm-hm…!
Again, the woman giggles at you from her crimson lips. Her name is Astarte, and she is Satan’s… assistant, let us say. She will keep an eye on you, and periodically evaluate your progress. If you succeed, she will reward you. If you fail… well! It won’t do to fail.
You close your eyes. You open them again. You are not dead – quite the opposite. You are standing in the entrance of a large, old house.
The doors close. Welcome home.
Gameplay: Trap Simulation
Do you remember when I said Deception was the opposite of King’s Field? That extends to the gameplay, as well. In King’s Field, you are armed with a sword, an arsenal of spells, and a growing inventory of protective armour. Deception grants you no such treasures. Instead, this is a game about traps.
Deception is, essentially, a real-time strategy game played in first-person. Your character moves through a dungeon-like mansion in full 3D, and can collect items, open doors, and interact with various in-game objects. At the beginning of each mission, enemy invaders begin to enter the house, and you must destroy all of them to win and move on to the next level.
Once you’ve located the gem, your view will switch over to a top-down map, where you can select a space to place a trap. Confirming the trap on the map screen adds it to a corresponding part of the 3D game world. From there, you can navigate to the trap in first-person, trigger it while an enemy occupies that space, and… KA-SHUNK!!!! The intruder is damaged or, ideally, killed.
Of course, these intruders aren’t very happy about this whole “resurrection of Satan” affair, and many have their own agendas that you stand in the way of. These enemies will actively attack you on sight, so you must be agile when encountering them.
There are a variety of intruder types, and they all respond to traps differently. Big, bulky enemies will find it tough to dodge quick-fire traps like arrows, so use them as easy target practice. Faster, nimbler enemies will need to be slowed down or stunned with poison gas before they can be properly damaged. Wizards can send magic bolts at you, but they’re not much for defence or close-range scuffles. Some intruders are tall. Some are short. Some carry shields. Some throw bombs. All must be killed, so a diverse variety of trap types is essential.
Deception has two different forms of currency: gold and souls. Whenever you kill an enemy, find their corpse, and you’ll be given a choice of spoil to collect. Gold is used to buy items (healing potions, temporary invincibility, temporary invisibility, and the like) from traveling merchants, and to expand the house’s rooms – from the map screen, you can purchase as many new rooms as you like between missions, and they’ll be added to the 3D game-world when you leave.
The game’s fun is in discovering new traps, experimenting with them in the house, and learning how to execute intruders in gruesome, humiliating, or outrageous ways. Yes, you could shoot an arrow at your enemy… but you could also blow them up with a bomb, sending their body beautifully reeling through the air. Or you could douse them in gasoline, then light them on fire, and watch them wail in agony as they roll around the dining room. Or you could slice off their limbs with a surprise buzzsaw emerging from the wall, knock them out with sleeping gas, and immolate them with a barrage of needles raining down from the ceiling… doesn’t that sound fun?
Later on in the game, you also unlock the ability to create monsters using the corpses of defeated foes and a combination of certain items. It’s resource- and time-intensive, but once a monster is complete, it will hunt down intruders relentlessly, gleefully devouring their flesh as you observe from afar. Certain intruders can even summon monsters of their own, so if you’re not careful, a simple encounter in a dark hallway can quickly turn into an explosive cavalcade.
If not killed in a timely manner, some intruders can indeed escape, but this does not constitute a failure – you will simply not receive the currency their corpse could provide. (Many enemies will refuse to leave the house until you are killed, so don’t count on a pacifist run.) Between missions, you may also choose to let in additional intruders for some easy grinding.
When your character’s health is depleted, it’s game over, and you can restart from the beginning of the level or a previous save. There are 30 levels in all, and six endings to achieve based on your choices throughout the story. But beware: in Deception, there are no heroes. There is only the intruder and the housemaster.
Atmosphere: A Game to Die For
In case my tone throughout this article hasn’t clued you in, Deception is a game that revels in the macabre. It’s somewhat gothic, yes, and it’s certainly filled to the brim with gore and devilry, but, y’know… in a nice way. It’s not trying to scare you, though you may be scared. It’s not trying to disgust you, though you may be disgusted. It’s trying to put you in the headspace of a villain.
You know in those cheesy haunted house movies, when the heroes are walking up a creepy stairwell, and the eyes in the painting follow them? Deception is a game about being the eyes behind the painting.
In contrast, the game does ask you to really think about what you’re doing at certain intervals. Remember: you’re the villain in this situation, so not every person that enters the house is going to be a bad guy. What if the intruder is a priest, who only wants to purify your corrupted soul? Or a young knight, clearly in over his head, with his whole life ahead of him?
What if you have to kill… the father of a young girl? You have to do it to progress. Is that really something you want on your conscience? What happens when that man’s wife enters the house, desperately looking for her husband, and the pre-mission start screen appears? Can you kill an unarmed, innocent woman? And, when you do… what about when that little girl appears, calls into the darkness for her mommy and daddy, and the doors close behind her…?
The “main” characters are a lot of fun, too. Your brother, the traitorous prince, does indeed become king, and quickly begins to realize that A) you’re not dead, which you should be, and B) that a lot of his subjects are disappearing into an unassuming house. Remember: there’s a war going on, and the new king needs all the men he can get. What happens when you end up killing all his best soldiers? What will the enemy do? The game’s best story beats happen during cutscenes where your brother is anxiously pacing around his throne room, his brow soaked with the realization of what his hubris has wrought.
It’s quite entertaining to think about Deception in the context of when it was released. At a time when media attention on video game violence and satanic imagery was at a fever pitch, here was a game where you take commands from the literal devil to murder people. You win by literally doing Satan’s dirty work! The game does not discriminate by gender or age – characters will die gruesome, bloody deaths left and right, by your hand, all rendered in 32 glorious bits of viscera. Night Trap, eat your heart out.
The secret trick of the Deception series is in how every game keeps escalating throughout its runtime. You kill villagers, so your enemy is now the police. You kill the police, so your enemy is now the army. You kill the army, so your enemy is now the royal guard. You kill the royal guard, so your enemy is now the king. And so on, and so on. Deception’s “final boss” characters are a logical conclusion to the game, but, really, it’s getting to that point that’s so heart-pounding. You’re always thinking: I can’t wait to find out what’s next! And no feeling makes a video game better than that.
Conclusion: Go Home, Already!
The term “PS1 hidden gem” is so cliche that, in today’s world, it’s almost parodic to say with a straight face. As this article draws to a close, I’ll be a touch more curt: Tecmo’s Deception: Invitation to Darkness is a Playstation classic in every sense of the term. It’s the sort of title that defined the console: a 3D action-adventure game with a unique premise and gameplay. Every button on the controller is used. Every polygon has been fully rendered and set. There’s CD-quality audio, a pre-rendered intro cinematic, a few wobbly textures, and a great story. What makes a PS1 game more classic than that?
There’s really no other game like Tecmo’s Deception: Invitation to Darkness, and that includes future entries in the Deception series. I heartily recommend this game – this one in particular, not the follow-ups or “spiritual successors” – to anyone who’s interested in an utterly unique set of gameplay mechanics and a delightfully naughty tone. If you’re willing to give your heart over to darkness, Deception eagerly greets you to a world that puts the taboo front-and-centre, and leaves good taste at the door.
When you next come to call, we'll be looking at Kagero: Deception II. Goodnight... and get home safely.
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