Tecmo KOEI has released a new game in the insanely devious Devil’s Deception franchise that began on the original PlayStation back in 1996. This updated game, called Deception IV: Blood Ties, is available now for the PlayStation 3 and PS Vita.
In Deception IV: Blood Ties, the player takes the role of Laegrinna, the Devil’s daughter, who is tasked with hunting down and killing the twelve descendants of the holy warriors that sealed away the Devil some 3,000 years before. The warriors used the Holy Verses, a relic that was broken into twelve parts and hidden, ensuring the Devil would always remain sealed away.
Assisting Laegrinna are the Demon Maidens: Caelea, Veruza, and Lilia. The maidens offer advice and run the player through the tutorial at the start of the game. Players can unlock new costumes for Laegrinna and she even gains powers from her diabolical father as the game progresses.
What makes Deception IV: Blood Ties so unique is that it is a strategy game made up of almost entirely of creating, setting and springing traps to lure human characters and ultimately drain them of HP. Some traps are gruesome, like an iron maiden; some humiliate, like a rake on the ground; or a large pumpkin falls from the sky onto the victim’s head. Points are rewarded for the most outlandish destruction of humans.
And it gets kind of addictive. Missions can be replayed to try out new trap combinations, and as the story progresses, new traps and features are unlocked like cannons that shoot bodies into cages, and even banana peels. New to the series is the addition of “trapmobiles,” which are dangerous vehicle-based traps that can utterly destroy the frail human body if used correctly.
In addition to the story, there is also a free battle mode that allows you to try out new traps and layouts on an assortment of enemies (human), even building your own scenarios. This knowledge can them be used in the story mode. Players can even create their own missions and upload them to share with other players. On the flip side, new missions can be downloaded from other players as well.
Tecmo KOEI has plans for DLC support for new missions/chapters and traps.
On the PS3, Deception IV: Blood Ties looks good, with better, crisper graphics and play control, but I feel the PS Vita version is slightly better due to the portability, the 5″ OLED screen, and the use of the touch features when setting traps. Unfortunately, there isn’t a cross-play feature between the two versions, which would make sense considering.
Deception IV: Blood Ties is a unique little game that mixes strategy with outright devastation and torture to create an experience like no other. The amount of tools–in this case, traps–and the players twisted imaginations make for a gaming session that is gleefully painful to administer. And is just was insane the first time as the 100th time.
Deception IV: Blood Ties was reviewed on PS3 and PS Vita using a code provided by Tecmo Koei. It was released for PS3 and the PS Vita on March 25, 2014.
Shop for Deception IV: Blood Ties for a discounted price at Amazon.com.
