Killer Inn Hands-On Preview: Methinks There's Been a Murder

There's nothing quite like lying to your friends. From the early days of playing Trouble in Terrorist Town in Garry's Mod to forcing innocent crewmates out of the airlock in Among Us, I've often been fond of games which test your social skills as much as your gaming reactions. Killer Inn - a new entry from developer Tactic Studios and publisher Square Enix - looks to join the ranks of great deduction games.

With a lot of these titles being played and promoted by YouTube and Twitch groups, it can be hard to figure out if they're actually fun. A group of streamers have to be entertaining to their audience, after all, and so they're going to make a game seem engaging even if it lacks in key areas. Luckily, we've had a chance to play Killer Inn, and get some impressions on this mix of third-person action and social deduction.

Killer Inn's scope and scale is probably the most immediate difference you'll notice from other games of its ilk. You have 24 players in a lobby, 16 of which are innocent, and 8 of which are evil. The goodies are lambs, the baddies are wolves. A huge map stretches out before you, with loads of pre-made characters to choose from, each with their own abilities and designs. There's a bald lawyer, a gamer with a gas mask, a ninja, a pirate, and so on. Quite the eclectic mix. As we played in a demo session with other media and press, we had a full lobby, so it's difficult to say how the game plays when you're searching for a lobby full of randoms or when you're trying to gather 20+ friends. Of course, most of us were using the proximity chat function, but who's to say whether everyone else will be willing to speak? These are gamers we're talking about after all, and I know it took a minute to get everyone chatting even in our hands-on.

Objectives are clear and you've probably guessed most of them before reading this. As wolves, you kill the lambs. Lambs can kill all the wolves if they find them, or escape gathering keys to a ship they can then board to leave the island they're on. No one escaped in our games, with wolves winning two and lambs winning two. Everyone being given access to weapons through completing quests given by store NPCs dotted around the map means that you don't feel useless as a lamb. Plus, lambs are able to narrow down who a wolf might be through clues found on dead bodies. A scrap of clothing, piece of hair, they all tell a part of the story. It means you can take more of an active role as a good guy, catching the wolves by surprise if they're thinking they can just camp and play the long game.

Then there's the deduction element added in, too, where you speak with people about who and what they saw. Trying to escape as lambs felt impossible, but largely the overall loop was incredibly fun, especially as people settled into the rhythm of Killer Inn.

To collect keys for your escappe, you've got to defeat Guardians, which are floating orbs that regenerate health at a rapid rate and blast your health down, too. The gate to the ship does open up after the round timer runs out, but by then there might not be enough lambs left to avoid getting picked off. Again, with lobbies that are most likely going to be full of strangers, I can't imagine it being very easy to grab everyone to fight Guardians and collect keys. On the other hand, I think overall it's quite difficult for the lambs to sabotage themselves, as if you kill another good guy, they'll live and you'll be out, meaning you're discouraged from just swinging at everyone you see with a buddy.

The combat in Killer Inn is a little clunky. Mostly you're not going to be in many prolonged engagements, as a lot of the fights come down to spamming strike with a melee weapon or shooting first with a gun. Poison and traps are also on the cards, but quick kills seem to be the best kills. I can't say that the combat ever felt like a downside, though, as it proves so quick and at times ridiculous I had to take a pause to laugh as I threw a grenade only for someone to immediately step on it and send themselves hurtling down the garden path.

That's where I think Killer Inn succeeds most. It creates moments that you'll remember, which in 2025, is all a multiplayer game can really do to stand out and succeed. It packs itself with mechanics, options, and characters that all feel designed to thrive in the wacky, overly chaotic mix a 24-player lobby is bound to create. My thoughts have been about as hectic as a round of Killer Inn is. I can't play by any usual structure, and to describe the game on paper (or online) feels like doing it some sort of disservice.

I'm not sure how strong its legs are outside of the confines of a preview, but if it manages to engage gamers as effectively as other deduction games have in the past, Square Enix could be well on its way to a hit. My only major worry is that Killer Inn perhaps tries to do too much in order to keep a player constantly interested, which gives them the chance to have their own solo experience within a lobby rather than being forced to engage with the main aspect of the multiplayer experience. Otherwise, though, it feels like it could potentially nestle in with other deduction games in the laughs it creates and the friendships it threatens to ruin.