If you like the vibes and gameplay of games like Secret Hitler and Werewolf, but the thought of having to lie to friends and strangers brings you out in hives, then you might want to check out the upcoming indie game Demon Bluff.
Demon Bluff sells itself as a singleplayer social deduction game and just a glance will show you that it takes inspiration from our favorite title in the genre, Blood on the Clocktower.
On every level, characters in a circle with different roles each give you their information. That might sound like playing a social deduction game on god-mode, but some of the circle will be lying about their roles and info. Your job is to find the evil, lying players and get rid of them.
For instance, the Lover tells you how many evil players are next to them, the Enlightened tells you which direction around the circle the nearest evil player is to them, and the Gemcrafter announces one player who is good. The puzzle is in checking different characters' information against each other, to figure out who must be bluffing.
As you progress through the game, you unlock progressively more complicated puzzles with more difficult roles. For instance, the judge lets you check one other player to see if they're lying, a powerful ability you need to use carefully. There are also the equivalent of BotC's 'outsiders' - good characters that have a harmful effect, like the Wretch, who appears evil to other roles' abilities.
The game is currently in playtest mode on Steam, so you have to request access from the developers to give it a try. Alternatively, there's a demo available on Itch.io.
Demon Bluff seems to have been in playtesting on Steam for a while, but it recently released an announcement trailer and a big update. This adds an experimental deckbuilding game mode, where you can pick the characters you want to add to the 'pool' for each round. The game is expected to release in 2026.
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