Tecmo's Deception: Invitation to Darkness is a role-playing video game released by Tecmo in 1996 for the original PlayStation. Although often referred to simply as "Deception", the game's official title is Tecmo's Deception. Tecmo's Deception was released as Kokumeikan (刻命館) in Japan, and as Devil's Deception in Europe. The game inverts the common tropes of role-playing video games by placing the player in the role of an evil lord who must use traps and monsters to kill the adventuring parties which invade his castle. As the story progresses, the player character learns he has been the victim of multiple deceptions, and must decide whether to proceed with his plan to revive the Devil or convert to the cause of good.
The game is the first in the Deception series. It was a critical success, with reviewers particularly praising the originality of the game's concept.
Premise and gameplay
Tecmo's Deception is a real-time role-playing video game (RPG), resembling the trap-em-up genre of games, such as Night Trap and Double Switch. The primary object of the game is to dispatch intruders through the positioning and activation of traps.
The player takes on the role of an unjustly executed man, who pleads to the forces of darkness to spare his life at the moment of his demise. Satan grants his request, and gives him command over the 'Castle of the Damned'. Many visitors are drawn to the fortress: some for power, some for salvation, and some for something as simple as shelter.
Each time a party of intruders arrive, the player is given access to a 2D map of the castle from which they can place traps by spending Magic Points (a form of currency in the game, as there is no maximum MP) or add rooms by spending gold. When done with this, gameplay proceeds from a first-person perspective in a texture-mapped 3D environment. Unlike most trap-em-up games, the player must pursue intruders and activate traps in person, rather than remotely. The story will take various paths depending on the choices the player makes.
Some traps are used to capture opponents, such as a falling cage and a bear trap, while others are used to damage them, such as a one-ton weight which falls from the ceiling. Even when a trap is correctly sprung, the intruder has a chance of eluding it. If the player successfully springs a capture trap, the intruder's remaining HP and a timer determined by the specific trap type simultaneously count down. If the intruder's HP reaches 0 first, the intruder is captured; if the trap timer reaches 0 first, the intruder breaks free of the trap. As such, most intruders must be damaged to some extent before the player can capture them. All traps can be upgraded to two higher tiers by spending gold in the Develop menu. For example, Stomp can be upgraded to Poison Toe, and then to Fire Foot.
To help lead intruders into traps, the player can also spend Magic Points in order to don one of five masks. Each mask emits a different scream to either attract or repel intruders.
The player can either destroy intruders outright or capture and then kill them. Killing intruders outright is easier because it does not require the use of capture traps, but capturing them offers more unique rewards. The player may take a captive's soul for Magic Points, kill them for gold, or (after acquiring an artifact later in the game) transform them into monster slaves which can be summoned to attack intruders. Regardless of which method the player uses to dispatch an intruder, they are rewarded with experience points (which level up the player character, making them more resilient to attacks and giving access to new traps) and any items the intruder was carrying. There are also a tiny percentage of intruders who are willing to leave the castle peacefully, though the player can still capture or kill them before they reach the exit.
Plot
Tecmo's Deception plays out in a medieval fantasy setting. The player is in the role of the eldest prince of Zemekia, who is player-named. The prince has returned from a visit to Angelio, where he fell in love with and became engaged to Princess Fiana. Upon being reunited with his son, the king of Zemekia begins to announce his intention to abdicate in order to allow the player character to assume the throne and revitalize the kingdom. Alarmed, the court magician Zamur summons the prince's sword, causing it to kill the king before he can finish the announcement. The prince's younger brother, Yurias, blames the king's murder on the player character.