We speak to Jordan Fox from Baseline Games about CRYENGINE-powered Deceit's new expansion pack and their future plans for the game.

Deceit is an action-packed multiplayer first-person shooter that tests your instincts of trust and deception. Players wake up in mysterious surroundings, but a third of the players have been secretly infected with a disease and are tasked by the sinister Game Master to infect the other players. If you're not infected, you play as an Innocent and must progress through the zones in each map, collecting items and making alliances that will help you escape, while the Infected must conceal their true aim. However, at the end of each zone, a blackout period occurs, allowing the Infected players to transform into a powerful Terror form and attack the Innocents. As players work through the maps, deciding on what items to collect and who to collaborate and fight with, or vote out, creates a unique experience that mixes fast-paced combat, strategic gameplay, and psychological mind games.

Baseline Games, the developer behind Deceit, releases The Spider Pack today, which expands the game with a new playable spider-themed Terror character, cosmetics, tokens, and credits. We spoke to Jordan Fox from Baseline Games to find out more.

Hey Jordan! What is the inspiration behind this new arachnid-themed expansion?

Arachnophobia is one of the most common fears amongst people, affecting between an estimated 3.5 to 6.1% of the population. We thought it would be a good fit for the Game Master's next experiment, and we were excited by its potential for a new unique ability and theme. Our community is also a highly influential factor, and as it was such a frequently requested feature, it became one of the memes on our Discord server.

How does the new Spider Terror character change things for players?

The Spider's primary Webshot ability has two functions. Hit any structure, and you will swing towards it, and secondly, when you hit a player, you will pull them towards you. Depending on the scenario and how good a shot you are, you can use this to your advantage. As an Innocent, you should avoid standing near walls as they are big surface areas for the Spider to hit and swing into you. You also need to think carefully about the items that may be useful to you. Traps are a good way to block off a Terror from getting to you but not if they can shoot a web and pull you over it! As we add more items, improve maps, and introduce more Terror abilities, we expect gameplay around combat with Terrors to grow in depth.

Following this expansion, what are your plans for the game?

Between now and the end of the year, we have lots of juicy updates planned. A key area we're focusing on is improving the UI, tutorial, and animations throughout the game so that the experience is more intuitive and smooth.

In Deceit, there are five playable levels, each of which has a distinct theme and style. We’re busy working on refreshing each of these maps from both an aesthetic and gameplay perspective. In the future, expect new ways to obtain items and destroy scenery to help you escape from the Terrors hunting you down.

We’ll also be introducing several new playable characters and increasing the party size in custom games to nine players. It's always a shame when you want to jump in a game with friends, and someone has to drop out for you to be able to play. Increasing the party size will make this happen a lot less. Playing Deceit in a party of nine will be crazy fun, and I'm excited to see how it plays out.

Another feature on the horizon that I'm looking forward to is the new upgrades and challenge system that is currently in development. It's so satisfying when you're able to unlock that achievement you've been grinding towards and being able to show off your success through the cool rewards you've earned.

We're also looking at bringing the game to more platforms, but more information on that will come later.

Cheers, Jordan!

You can check out Deceit and the new Spider Terror expansion on Steam right now.

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