It’s a bit like Among Us, but finally offers a practical fix for those who can’t lie: Killer Inn, Square Enix’s new social deduction game, brings its closed beta to a climax—with gunfire.

Among board games and now video games, social deduction is one of the most popular genres—especially since Among Us exploded in popularity. The rules are familiar: two teams, the attackers and the victims, race to complete objectives, but only the aggressors know everyone’s real identity. Each match solves the mystery in a different way, and Square Enix’s latest spin involves settling things at gunpoint—welcome to Killer Inn.

Killer Inn is Square Enix’s latest push into the social gaming space. You’re in a grand mansion full of betrayals and murder, Clue- and Knives Out-style. Each match throws 24 players together, assigning them as wolves (killers) or sheep (victims) in an isometric free-for-all. The sheep win by surviving, getting rid of the wolves, or—toughest of all—escaping the mansion alive.

The Square Enix twist? Every player gets weapons and gadgets, so even the sheep can fight back. You don’t just have to hide—you can shoot your way out! This may sound like a small change, but it creates all sorts of wild moments. I know, because I got to try Killer Inn’s closed beta early, alongside international press.

Social Deduction, Solved With Gunfire

This is one detailed sandbox: you’re constantly on the run, with countless map variants and interactive details. In Killer Inn, matches work almost like a battle royale. You start with nothing and gradually gear up by completing missions for the mansion staff, earning rewards to buy consumables, upgrades, or by opening semi-random loot chests.

For example, the waiter can sell you tonics or power-ups—or send you on a mission that leads you to explore the mansion for tokens, secrets, or minigames. Every merchant has a twist, but ultimately it’s a game of stretching a tight budget while meeting your needs as they come up. A quest might force you to buy a crowbar, draining your coins so you can’t afford a helmet, or you might get lucky with a chest and end up with both.

Killer Inn keeps the pressure on with fast-paced play, secret passages, and constant events that force you to adapt. If you find a corpse? Bad news, but it’s always worth investigating the clues to guess who the killer might be.

Even the sheep can shoot back—but they don’t know who’s really on their team. Playing as a sheep, I caught a wolf in the act, covering up a murder. If you’re well equipped, it’s satisfying to be judge and executioner in one; if not, you might try to rob or strangle someone, but you risk becoming a target yourself.

The game offers endless variations: some rooms are safe zones where no one can kill, there are drone bosses, and there are multiple ways to win. I have to admit, I was hooked the whole time I played. It’s a great sandbox: there’s always something to do, and you have to pay attention to everything going on.

I also appreciated the surprisingly high animation budget: nearly every action your character can perform is well-animated, with cutscenes that are long enough to read, but never tedious. If you watch closely—a key part of the game—you can figure out what other players are doing and why: are they investigating, stealing, or covering up a body? Every detail matters.

Killer Inn was a pleasant surprise, but honestly, I don’t see myself playing it regularly—fun isn’t always enough to keep me coming back. After four matches on one map, I’m confident telling you “keep an eye on this,” but it didn’t become a new obsession. If you’re interested, you can wishlist it on Steam, but Square Enix hasn’t revealed a release date, monetization, or much else. First impressions are strong, but we’ll see if it can hold a community’s attention.

Source: 3djuegos