INTERVIEW: SWERY65 On Death Game Hotel

When poker moved largely online, the human element was stripped out of it. No longer were players able to read their opponent, analyzing their body language and tone of voice for cues to the strength of their hands. Suddenly poker, as much a game of psychology as it is of chance, had been reduced to a math problem. Any player armed with a calculator knew their odds of winning any given hand, and the only information they had to base their analysis of the opposition on was the length of time it took them to commit to a move.

VR poker restores the subtleties of the game — players hear each others’ voices and watch their movements. While avatars are less expressive than actual people — at least for now — the basics of body language interpretation still stand. People have nervous tics in the way they move their hands and tilt their heads, and a furtive glance down at their hand communicates more about their state of mind than anything a traditional online poker experience can offer. And of course, while some online poker platforms allow players to talk to one another, it’s a completely different experience when that voice is matched to the movements of an avatar — no matter how strange a voice might sound coming out of a wacky, mismatched character.

So just by being in VR, Death Game Hotel, White Owl’s new multiplayer gambling title, was in a good position — but what sets it apart from the crowd of other gambling projects is the innovative nature of the games it offers, and the way it allows players to cheat at them.

The main event — the one the introductory story mode is built around — is called ‘Goblet of the Reaper’, and it’s kind of amazing. The setup is simple — there are a number of goblets on the table, ‘owned’ by the players. Each one can have a certain number of tiles placed into it before it overflows. A player’s goal is to be the first one to get all of the tiles out of their hand, or at least not be the last one to do so. (The rules are tweaked a little when playing a two-person duel as opposed to a full table.)

As with all gambling, the fun comes in what information is limited — here, it’s the amount of tiles that can be placed in the opponent’s goblets. The player is informed of their own goblets’ capacity and the capacities of all of the goblets on the table, but they’ll have to guess at who has which goblet. During their turn, the player can place a single tile in their own goblet, or up to three in an opponent’s. Getting tiles out of their hands as quickly as possible is the name of the game, so going after an opponent’s goblet is encouraged, but since they can never be sure just how many tiles can fit in that goblet, the risk of overflowing is heightened.

Goblet of the Reaper is complicated by a wide variety of special tiles and goblets that are randomly assigned. By successfully using the correct tiles, players can block goblets for a turn, force their opponent to draw extra tiles, or even set traps. The special goblets can do things like force a loss if overflowed, or it might only accept certain types of tiles. There’s more than enough variation here to ensure that every match feels unique, even before cheating comes in to play.

Speaking of which, Death Game Hotel‘s cheating system is tied into the stakes — at the start of a round, the player has to wager a body part — eyes, ears, mouth, right or left hand. Each one has a different function and allows the player to cheat in a variety of ways. Losing a round means losing the associated body part — which results in both to a gruesome, blood-soaked animation and the loss of that option for cheating. This is key, as cheating at the right moment can turn a game around. But, triggering cheats takes time and requires a QTE, other players can figure out what’s going on and take precautions to defend or catch the offender, adding an additional level to play.

The second game on offer is, frankly, an audacious choice — White Owls have created Death Poker, a version of Texas Hold ’em that works far better than it has any right to.

The first change — no face cards. Each suit runs from one to ten. The second change? There’s a fifth suit, the Death Cards. They’re unique in that, unlike all of the other suits, they actually have an intrinsically higher value. Any hand with a death card is more valuable than a hand without one — have a straight flush in hearts? Sorry, that loses to a pair of twos, provided one of them is the two of Deaths. There’s a catch, however — if the player has a death card and fail to make a hand, they automatically lose no matter what the other players have.

This completely upends the fundamentals of poker, but in the most satisfying way possible, forcing players to throw out everything they know about odds, since at any point the player across from them could have a single card that ruins their plans. Death Poker can only work in VR or real life, since it makes bluffing and reading players more vital than ever.

Since this is a SWERY game, I’d be remiss if I didn’t talk about its story — the Death Game is a competition operated by the sinister billionaires who run the world. They select a handful of people to compete every year, and the prize is whatever they want, apparently without reasonable limit. The catch? It’s a single elimination tournament, and a loss means death.

The tutorial takes the player through a set path of four matches before the ‘boss fight’, but all 16 competitors, twelve of whom the player will never meet, have fully established backstories and personalities that the player can read about in the files section of the menu. It’s a testament to the thought that went into the game that any one of the contestants is interesting enough that they could take on the role of main rival that Schoolgirl Midori serves, and the brutality of the people running the competition is highlighted by the fact that every character feels like they deserve the prize in one way or another. Well, except for the influencer that the player fights first. He’s just terrible. (Of course, that’s the point — how better to get the player to sign on to atrocities than by starting with an opponent who they feel deserves an awful fate?)

Death Game Hotel is a great multiplayer gambling experience, folded into a fascinating near-future magical realism horror setting. It’s every bit as extreme and thoughtful as we’ve come to expect from SWERY’s work and I had the chance to discuss the game with him, the interview is presented below.

DISCLAIMER — The interview has been edited for time and clarity, and contains spoilers for the single player mode.

GameCritics: What idea initially prompted the premise?

Swery65: The idea for “Death Game Hotel” was conceived during the COVID-19 period in 2020. With the “Stay Home” situation preventing us from going out, meeting friends, or going to the office, White Owls distributed VR headsets to all employees and held game meetings in VR. Unlike meetings on traditional video call platforms, VR demonstrated the importance of simulating close distance interactions. Realizing the importance of human connections then, and how it will aspire further into the future, this experience sparked the idea to create a safe space where people could come together and connect at any time.

GC: Why did you choose VR as a medium for this particular story?

S: I believe VR is fitting for Death Game Hotel because, unlike traditional flat-screen games, VR uses body movement and language, enabling features like bluffing, lying, and cheating that align perfectly with the concept of a table game. Also by highlighting the sensory functions of the Eyes, Mouth, Ears, and Hands through the headset and controller sticks allowed for an immersive “Death Game” experience.

GC: What challenges did you face in balancing the gameplay of the Goblet of the Reaper game. Were there any proposed tiles that were cut?

S: For Goblet of the Reaper in particular, our team spent a lot of time playing and adjusting the rules and flow of the game. Initially we had it so the capacity of the goblets would be distributed at random, and players would have to guess by using conversations or body language as clues throughout the game. However we quickly realized it made the game too “luck” based, which wouldn’t give players the motivation to master the game, ultimately adjusting it so it would show the capacities of the goblets in the beginning. Also the muti-player experience varied heavily on the number of participants which led us to the conclusion of adding a 1 vs 1 duel mode, as well as having to adjust the number of tiles distributed in the beginning as well as the tile effects. Some tile ideas that were cut were “minus one,” “plus two,” and “random” where the player did not know how many tiles they were inserting until after the fact.

GC: Likewise, how did the cheating mechanics develop – were these always the five options that were planned?

Due to the possibility of senses through the VR experience (sight, hearing, talking, hand movements), we knew from the beginning that the cheats would ultimately highlight these features. However it took lots of feedback loops to finalize it to what it currently is now. For example, the current cheat for the “ears” is emitting a radar to sense who else is cheating. Initially however, there was an idea where a cell phone would appear and the caller on the other end of the line would spill information about another player’s goblet capacity. In the end, they deemed that it would be difficult for this cheat to be fine tuned and used inside both games.

GC: Are any more death games planned in future updates?

S: Yes, we definitely would like to add more death games in the future. However we consider the priority to be low, as we’d like to focus more on our seasonal updates, new stash items, and fine-turning both Goblet of the Reaper/Death Poker to continue creating the best experience for our players. We’d like to build more experiences for single players as well by adding different minigames or incorporating NPCs into certain table games already available in the current multiplayer mode.

GC: How did you choose the opponents that the player would face in the four rounds leading up to the finale? All 15 have robust narratives that could easily support the arc of the story, so what tipped the scales towards these ones?

S: When planning out the tournament chart initially, the character designer and I mutually agreed that we wanted the story to revolve around Midori, and for her to be the Semi-Final opponent before going up against November Knight. After developing the character’s backstory, we put them into one tournament chart and discussed who we expected to win each round, and eventually make their way to the top. It was also decided from the beginning that Midori’s little sister Sango would go into battle with her own sister during the Pre Semi-Finals. Also taking heavy inspiration from battle mangas, where characters of different backgrounds would go up against one another tournament style, using their unique stories and struggles as an advantage.

GC: Would you ever consider a mode where single players had the opportunity to play as the other characters to see each unique story playout as well as experience the different dialogue and interactions amongst all the characters?

S: Yes, there was definitely a discussion about how much we should or shouldn’t expand single-player mode, given that we intended this game to focus mainly on the multiplayer experience. The current scope of single-player mode is what we thought would be most appropriate to keep this a social game. However, if we decide to elaborate more on the interactions among the characters, we would do so in the form of a light novel, manga, or short story.

GC: Why was it important to design the finale so that the November Knight can only be beaten by cheating?

S: When we think of cheating, especially within a table game, it usually comes with a negative connotation. However in this game we wanted the narrative to portray that cheating is a survival mechanism that is highly encouraged and at times necessary to win. It was essential for the player to exist as an equal to November Knight in order to beat him, incorporating a message that in order to beat the bad guy, you have to become one yourself.

GC: Why did you include the clock directly behind the November Knight, forcing the player to always be aware of exactly what time it is in the ‘real world’?

S: If you look closely, you’ll notice there are clocks placed in every single arena–a grandfather clock in the gothic room or a small table clock in the Japanese-style room. The reason for this is practical: the developers needed a way to keep track of time in real life when testing the game. Many of our devs would lose track of time, spending hours online to the point it was setting them behind in their work. While these clocks don’t play a role in the plot, their presence is a testament to the game’s immersiveness, reminding us how much time has passed.

GC: It’s impossible to miss that the player’s character is dressed like York Morgan – is this just an easter egg for fans, or would you like players to interpret the story of Death Game Hotel through the lens of Deadly Premonition’s worldview?

S: Initially when having a discussion with the designer of the game, we brainstormed what the appearance of someone of neutrality would look like, someone who could be perceived as a nobody or had the potential to be anybody. So it could be that the designer designed the suit to look similar to York as an easter egg to fans. The art director for Deadly Premonition and Death Game Hotel is the same person.

GC: Change of subject! Any chance there will be a re-master of your previous title, “The Missing: J.J. Macfield and the Island of Memories”?

S: Considering that The Missing can already be played on PS5 and Xbox, I think I need a very strong reason to remaster it. Often, remastering a game focuses on refining the mechanics or improving the graphics. However, with this game in particular, enhancing the graphics might make it overly grotesque, as I don’t think I could hold back. I need to give this idea more thought.

GC: Any updates or news on your upcoming title, “Hotel Barcelona”?

The development is actually finished and we are currently going into the tuning and de-bug stage. We are currently looking for the right publisher to collaborate with on this project to properly market the game. Timeline wise, we don’t think it will be very long until the game is out and ready to play, and we are working to get a demo version out soon as well. The best way to receive more information and updates would be to add the game on your steam wishlist.

We’d like to thank SWERY and the rest of White Owls for taking the time to share his thoughts on Death Game Hotel — it’s currently available on the Meta Store, and is playable on the Quest 2/3/3S and Pro.

Author
Recent Posts

Jason Ricardo

Categories