Tecmo's Deception - Invitation to Darkness Review (PS1)

[@kingcurmudgeon8685]

Literally one of the greatest games ever made that no one ever talks about. I still pine for this game. So amazingly fun. Tecmo in its early days were so good. This was also in the era of the TECMO BOWL games which I need not get into the true legend of those games. This game is in my top 5 games of all time. SO fun and such replayability

[@Synthwave89]

Underrated game, underrated channel. Great review man, that was super fun to watch.

[@Ilvocare]

Fantastic review, engaging script and footage, but asking for feet pics is omega cursed 0/10, just subscribed

[@nc1901]

I played this game religiously. I got all of the endings. I played it so much to where it was second nature. And the soundtrack and the story stuck with me even till now. I wish they'd remaster this entire game, keep the soundtrack and all the sounds, and maybe even add a few things extra just for fun.

[@CyanideBlizzard]

Deception has always fascinated me as a series. Watching it evolve and find its footing during the PS1 era was a real treat, as well as seeing it play around with various different reasons for why the main characters had the abilities that they did. While the first game really broke ground, I found the second and third titles still had plenty of charm and were quite enjoyable for various reasons. In my opinion, Trapt and Deception IV seem to miss the mark on what made the series so enjoyable but I couldn't help but to enjoy seeing the series survive in some aspect or another and how Tecmo evolved the series. However, seeing Tecmo's Deception get the AboveUp treatment? Now that's just made my week entirely. Made a point to make time to watch this when it popped up on my feed. I haven't caught up with your works recently, but I really like the citation or little details in the video of where you got the clip from and what it is. An addition that is seriously lacking in a lot of content produced.

[@Aboveup]

Yeah, before I'd try to list the sources in the description, but nobody tends to read that, and it's not visible on some platforms. So I opted for just putting it on the video, with the channel name when possible so people can look it up for themselves. The animation was fun to make. Shame to hear about Deception IV and Trapt.

[@CyanideBlizzard]

@@Aboveup It definitely paid off. Especially so with the ending. The time you spent on that did not go to waste in the slightest. It was a great touch, and really capped things off to a very solid video overall. It's been a blast watching you experiment with different things and continue to refine what you do. In terms of Trapt or Deception IV, your mileage may vary. I personally preferred the older system, and am still hoping that someday they'll consider revisiting the concept and story of the first game. The whole notion that you can capture and turn your fiance into a monster that kills people is a concept that always fascinated me. It's a level of depth they got away from in terms of refining the traps and concept, but there's such a great deal of charm to the roughness and variety of the first game that I do miss.

[@theangrygoat3076]

Ahhhh, the first PS1 game I ever tested for Tecmo. Glad you guys enjoyed it.

[@bahbahblacksheep311]

I love the series. This game led me to buy all the others in the series. Thanks for helping it become a great game!

[@kingcurmudgeon8685]

So amazing. I literally called in sick to work to play this thing. Couldnt stop

[@valgalder]

This game's atmosphere was like no other. Seriously creepy. Not very many games if any back then has you actually playing the villain / Satanist. The first time I saw the scene where you kill the parents of the sick child, I couldn't believe it. I never bothered to play the sequels as they looked so drastically different, but I always have fond memories of this one.

[@KaileChanté]

My dad used to play , I grew up on this. Final fantasy, parasyte eve , and dreamcast later. love ur video

[@jerrymack95]

same

[@lowbudgetstreams6617]

That overlay when showing the other videogame footage is pretty slick, good job.

[@ierdan4257]

... I don't have anything to say, it's great, you're great, my love for video games is being satiated when seeing your content I just wish one day you'll get a spike of popularity so that there's a big spotlight for your work Including your sonic highschool reading serie :P Side note Until you've explained the whole thing about the traps and decision you make with prisoners i haven't realised you were talking about that franchise where there's the 4th (i think it is) Deception game you could stumble upon if you look up for games when there's sales for japanese games (especially on psn), well for anyone who's like me and is constantly looking up for stuff that are unusual i mean, now i'm really getting invested in the idea of getting the game... But there's already so many games to buy on top of new ones like Judge Eyes TvT damn you japan >3

[@luluthe7401]

Deception! the last game where monster rancher was a thing. *cries inside*

[@DAVID4GAMER]

Hold on a second, you're telling me there's been a 1rst person dungeon keeper hiden gem for psx all this time!?

[@Slayer-cd8gc]

Yes, but after this you can't change the map anymore on 2 and up. But you get alot more traps and it's more about combos to earn ark to unlock more traps.

[@Polygonlin]

Halloween 1998. i was only 16. "had just turned 16" i asked a Girl out, to go see a Haunted house with me. nothing major, just a "wanna go see this cool haunted house "The Nightmare Factory" by where i live? Sure, she said. that sounds fun. she stood me up. even worse? it was gonna be a double date with my brother and his Gf. to which she also stood HIM up, which was even worse seeing as how they actually had a relationship at the time. in our pain we said "Fuck it" and played Tecmo's Deception from Start to Finish. we had a blast, and we both forgot about those Assholes pretty quickly. never spoke to either of them again, last i heard his ex is still single, 20+ years after she broke up with the guy she dumped him for "i say she dumped him for the other guy, cause she instantly got with the other guy when he refused to call her back the next day, 3 years later after that she called him, screaming at him that he... "Set her up with the guy she dumped him for, so he would break her heart. she KNEW that he paid him off to do that to her" keep in mind, my brother is a country fuckin mile from rich, especially back then. lol, just my weird ass memories of being a kid and enjoying a great game, during a really tough night.

[@ModeSOLOgaming]

I never played the first game here, but got my introduction to the series through Kagero: Deception 2. Been a fan ever since. I currently own Kagero, Trapt, and Deception 4 Blood Ties. I'm thinking I'll jump on buying this one and Deception 3 soon.

[@hrgrhrhhr]

That part at 6:15 gave me chills, holy shit 10/10

[@EricToTheScionti]

isnt she blind?

[@not_jon_vendi]

You popped up on my home page. I hope the algorithm gods shine upon you because, sir, you have talent!

[@professorsponge1554]

I remember wanting to see if you could kill Astartes in any other way, so I hoarded monster gems and leveled up the dragon. You can kill her, but she then warps to another room with 1 HP, and will keep doing this until you say 'screw it' and finish her the way the game wants you to.

[@Mick2K]

I remember playing a deception game back in the days. In Europe it was called devil's deception and I think it was this one. I am not sure because i think it needed the full 15 blocks and i only had one memory card.

[@Mick2K]

After a quick Google search i am sure it was this one.

[@obizhot]

Nice review, excellent coverage about the various positives and negatives to be found!

[@hemangchauhan2864]

How do you gauge a balance of a game so well? I mostly stuff in the game instinctively and rarely bother with the maths going behind the scenes. Stuff like "x mechanic is actually pretty op if you do it in a certain way", I've never organically found such stuff.

[@Aboveup]

Oh, I never look at math. I just try out things and go for what feel effective. It took me a while before I realized the only difference between the magic and physical damage types is just that some are always weak against physical and others always weak against magical, solely based on type, with the rest of the stats barely mattering.

[@chronosphereF]

One of my most favorite games and still is till this day. Thanks for the awesome review.

[@Paulie4President]

loved the vid and this game, still have my ps1 disk on the shelf in case i ever feel like playing it. thanks for the content 👍

[@saver_spenta_mainyu]

>Did I just kill Manadalore Ok, I laughed.

[@ratyoke]

Really liked this game when I played it back in the 90s. Haven't played it since, but I probably should give it another play.

[@melgozagonzalesjoshuajazie8981]

from what i remember of my playtrough i used a lot of cheap spike traps in row on hallways and the entrance to lower health and capture them for monsters to use on the more strong enemies, from what i remember i maxed out the girlfriend ,ghost and werewolf

[@EekChocolate]

If you like really cool, experimental early 3D games, I'd highly recommend playing through the first System Shock.

[@Aboveup]

Yeah, played that years back as well as the second game. The atmosphere in 2 especially is unbeatable.

[@CaptainDoomsday]

I know Deception immediately moved on from this format, possibly in part due to the memory burden, but I'd love to see a modern take on Invitation to Darkness. Flesh out speaking to your guests or capturing them as additional gameplay and story options, rebalance the rewards, maybe make kill traps require your direct presence to be at their most effective while capture traps don't, but it could really be something. Being able to construct your own lavish castle and then make dark bargains/incentives to betrayal, hold captives for ransom, experimentation, etc., or simply execute your enemies and possibly incorporate their remains into traps or trophies would really match the Dark Lord vibe this game seems to give off.

[@DiggityDoglikeDogg]

This game sounds awesome. Wish I got into it earlier.

[@StudioRevoct]

It's a shame the whole series isn't very accessible with 4 being vita and ps4 exclusive, trapt being PS2, and the rest being on PS1, with few ports. The series is such a fun stress reliever with unique gameplay in each game.

[@ThomasDietter]

9:02 Is there any other game with "Genoside Bonus" out there? Uff, That was whole other gaming era guys

[@cosigi]

Laughing mask reminds me of Jagi from HNK. Fitting

[@Digduglee]

I passed this up for years in resale shops because I didn't get the jist of the gameplay from reading the box. That's wild now knowing exactly what it was about. Its hilarious they made a storyline like that back then as it was so straight up violent and sadistic and kinda nonsensical plot. Pretty creepy.

[@SkullMan---]

Great detailed video!

[@rjproduction486]

Wow I played many games in the ps 1 era, not once I ever heard this game! This game so unique and interesting.

[@mrmusickhimself]

I was lucky enough to buy a used copy of this back in 1997. It's a blast, but that 9 block Memory Card requirement pretty much forced you to start a new game if you wanted to see all the endings.

[@phage1232]

No one I knew besides me had this that I knew growing up loved it

[@iAmFAUST]

This was one of my favorite games on PSX

[@Xanduur]

This was the 1st PS1 game I completed. Loved it.

[@GMdelsXT9]

yep. ya killed Mandalore. XD

[@nathanielstasiowski7358]

Crazy thing is I haven't seen one video that has showed the player encountering the alien in tecmos deception.

[@DreadWolf3000]

Im so lucky to just discover this gem!

[@Prince__Teclis]

I've a ps1 emulator on my tablet just for this game.

[@lennethomega6731]

All Deception franchise is masterpiece, even Trapt is good.

[@ModeSOLOgaming]

Yes! I happened to come across it and didn't even know what it was. I got pretty excited when I realized it was a Deception game and bought it immediately.

[@Xanduur]

This was the first PS1 game that I completed. The second one was parasite. I still haven’t finished legacy of Kane blood omen almost 30 years later.

[@meterojinn]

The first game I pulled an all nighter on... Fun for what it was, not sure how itll hold up today...

[@starlyghtdrifter66]

Thank you for the amazing review.

[@EricToTheScionti]

One of my favorite games as a kid. Didnt it need like 14/15 memory card slots?

[@bobbynick5358]

kinda wish the first get remade able to set traps and monsters and combo victims/invaders into other traps XD And have single, or coop and online play. Kinda like a medieval/darksoul style meets resident evil resistance in a way.

[@J_i_z_z_y]

I remember this game when I was a kid

[@aleksdeveloper698]

12:20 AI mentioned here 17:15 lol

[@myrongibson4317]

I loved this game.

[@madcat4563]

Not what I was expecting but I'm interested. The PAL name (Devil's deception) probably didn't go well with parents. Was suprised to see that there were children in this game. Also interesting how old Japanese games have very strong and blunt Satanic themes. These days it's not as blunt as it use to be. But there are exceptions. From what I have seen SMT has dialed it down significantly, compared to the fiest games.

[@Slayer-cd8gc]

Tecmos never got me like 2 and 3. Never enjoy playing this one for some reason. I'd get bored. It's crazy now with the fast pace of 4.

[@ElricWilliam]

I played deception 3 was on a ps1 demo disk...and man did i miss out

[@Bakutakamine]

How have I never heard of this, I fucking love King's Field and it's the EXACT same style.

[@jeffreylieberman1668]

I loved this game. I think more games need to be ballsy like this one. I really enjoyed the Satanic factor.

[@felixcorona13]

The ending of this vid was worth it 😂

[@BulldozerBilly]

I gave up on this game because capturing was boring and frustrating. I may go back since you've pointed out to "Kill Em All", plus it would be a shorter funner play through!

[@WickedMTG]

I had a weird love affair with this game back in the day. Also, had a crush on Astarte. Premium gothic demoness.

[@promania8956]

If anyone wants to play this game its available on the American PS3 Store for 6 dollars.

[@r3tr0actiongamer24]

Great game, great series

[@StudioRevoct]

It's a shame that past the first game there's no castle builder, and the game isn't openly available on PC or most modern consoles.

[@wolffgilles2122]

Dieses Spiel braucht unbedingt ein remake auf der ps4 Schade dass niemand das bemerkt gutes Spiel 👍👍

[@opaljk4835]

I wish this game didn’t require an entire memory cards worth of space to save lol

[@nathanielstasiowski7358]

I personally enjoyed playing this game but once you beat the game there's no replayability

[@thewayitgoes2181]

Different endings.. def has replayability

[@TiroDvD]

This game solidified in me that Early Modern era of time distinct from Medieval. There are guns but not yet electricity.

[@MrSerpico145]

Cool looking pale lady... I like that.

[@A_real_Ha_So]

This is the game that made me realise I can't play 1st person. Love the game but after 5 minutes I'd start getting physically ill. First time, I figured I was just coming down with something but it kept getting a little worse so I put the game down. Couple hours later, I'm fine so tried it again to the same results

[@evol111]

This was an evil game I remember being conflicted when I first played it.

[@SuperDomochan]

I found the memory card thing very funny considering that nowadays 80% of people owning a ps4/ps5 have warzone occupying at least half of it

[@vlads0ldsch00lgaming3]

What was tecmo smoking???

[@therealseanw.stewart2071]

Wow, this game looks pretty fun. I guess I should play it some time.

[@thecoffeeblackshow]

Super Mario Rpg is an isometric style game, not 2-D. Sorry I'm kind of a stickler Meseeks 😂🤭