Detectives, killers, and the corrupt attempt to thwart each others’ efforts in multiplayer turn-based investigation game The Case of the Mansion. It is currently looking for votes and feedback on the Square Enix Collective.
At the beginning of a match, up to 6 six possible players are secretly given one of four roles: detective, cop, killer, and the corrupt. Each player has a different task – the cop wants to arrest the killer, the detectives need to find out who the killer is, the killer wishes to avoid being caught, and the corrupt just wants to loot the place.
The players will need to figure out the roles of the other people in the game in order to figure out who may be an ally or not. Players can do this by finding clues in the game which will help in finding the killer, but this is complicated by the killer and corrupt’s ability to falsify evidence if they find it first.
Each class has different win conditions. The killer can win by killing three people, or two people and surviving to the end of the game. The killer can also win if the cops or detectives kill someone other than the killer. Cops and detectives win if they arrest the killer and the corrupt. The corrupt must steal a set amount of items while avoiding death and arrest, and can win alongside other classes as long as they meet this criteria.
Players can only see what other characters are up to if they’re in the same room. Each room can contain various useful tools, such as items that protect you from being stabbed, as well as clues or secret doors that lead to other rooms through hidden paths.
All of these features create a complicated problem. Players will want allies to avoid being killed, but may not know who their ally is due to the ability to lie when posting evidence (all clues get posted to a board every player can see). Should you mistrust someone’s evidence you can look at it specifically, as the board will sort it by player, though, so even liars will need to be sneaky.
The Case of the Mansion is looking to release in September 2016.
