Deception: Murder in Hong Kong Review – Hand Over Your Badge and Your Gun, Detective

Deception: Murder in Hong Kong is a murder mystery party game for 4-12 players. Where like a good crime novel there are murderers, detectives, and clues a plenty.

As a Murderer, you’re trying to cover up your crime. Mislead, and befuddle the detectives into thinking it was someone else.

Meanwhile, the Investigators, or detectives, are trying to piece together the clues the Forensic Scientist has laid out for them.

Finally, as the Forensic Scientist you know who the Murderer is. Your role is to lead the investigators into making a correct guess for who the murderer is, what weapon they used to commit the crime, and what clue they left at the scene.

Except you can’t talk.

You can only communicate your clues through obscure scene tiles which ask you multi-choice questions like ‘Condition of the corpse?’ and give you answers like: Still Warm, Stiff, Decayed etc.

After you’ve provided several clues, everyone around the table discusses what’s been shown so far. Then they get a chance to present their theory to everyone at the table. If they’re keen they can accuse someone at the table.

If they get it wrong, they need to hand in their badge and gun. Not because they’re a bad cop, but because it’s a high-profile case, and the Chief has his head so far up the Mayor’s ass that you can see his cop hat every time the Mayor opens his mouth.

But if they get it right, then the murderer is caught, and the game wins in the detectives’ favour.

Here are the facts… told in the worst way possible

A lot of social deduction games descend quickly into he said, she said arguments where the most emotionally manipulative player wins. It’s hard not to get emotional when someone is calling you a liar to your face.

Deception: Murder in Hong Kong expertly avoids these confrontations by changing the goal from implicating a person, to implication a combination of cards. It’s such a fantastic mechanic as it takes out all of the emotion allowing people to make wild accusations with no feelings of being hurt.

Another awesome mechanic is each has the power to win the game. Even though it’s a team game, there’s no consensus needed. As a detective, you only need to point at a card combination and say the statement ‘I think this is how it happened.’

The puzzle is also brilliant, everything the Investigators get is either cryptic or vague.

For instance, the clues might be about the victims’ physical build, or what time of day the murder happened. Abstract concepts when relating them to a cow skull, and meat cleaver.

The fascinating thing though, is no matter the clues the Forensic Scientist can come up with a narrative for what happened. Like in the above example, the victim could have been a butcher. Then they flesh out that narrative through the scene tiles provided.

This breeds creativity and from that, enjoyment.

Not only for the story you’ve created but seeing if you’ve told it well enough for the Investigators to get it. It’s the same feeling you get from games like Mysterium or Dixit.

Taking the shot

One of my favourite mechanics of all time comes from Deception: Murder in Hong Kong. And it’s all to do with the badge token. When you accuse a killer and card combination, you need to give up your badge.

From then on, you can only influence other investigators, and can no longer present, or accuse again.

It’s so good because it provides a meaningful consequence for getting your guess wrong. Although it means nothing, the tactile nature of giving away your badge feels like you’re giving up something important. It also plays heavily into the rogue cop cliché and is perfect for a hammed-up performance in front of your friends.

Providing everyone with one guess allows for drama, heroics, and sacrifices.

Where there might be several options, and someone throws away their badge just to help narrow it down. Or it might come down to the last investigator who’s trying to process everything shown so far, leaving everyone on the edge of their seat as they make a final uncertain guess.

It’s so simple, but I love it so much.

A game among the greats

Like all social deduction games, Deception: Murder in Hong Kong lives and dies based on the people playing, and those in the key roles.

If the Murderer chooses an easy combination, the game is anti-climatic.

Likewise, if the Forensic Scientist doesn’t provide good clues, then the Murderer gets away without challenge.

The other problem with Deception: Murder in Hong Kong is its light on rule structure and time constraints. In a larger group, discussion time can get out of hand quickly, with everyone talking separately about their theories. You need to be prepared to facilitate the game to ensure it continues flowing forward.

Otherwise, Deception: Murder in Hong Kong is one of my go-to party games and never fails to disappoint. It is both creative and logical, which makes it appealing to many different types of people.

And while it tackles a serious subject matter, it never forgets it’s a game. With some of the means and clues being self-aware in their whimsy. I talked last week about how Mysterium is being beaten out by games with newer and better designs.

Deception: Murder in Hong Kong is one of those games.