Squid Game meets Survivor in this Battle Royale RPG
As Polygon contributor Samantha Nelson explained in her interview with designer Tim Denee, character creation is random and simple: a name, a basic description, an occupation, a secret motivation, and a matching uniform. Beyond this, players have no idea who they were before the game started, no idea of what this game is, or how they got there in the first place. All you have is a letter congratulating you on choosing the game where you can win “fame, freedom and unlimited wealth.” Throughout the game, mysterious mechanisms controlled by the Producer (or gamemaster) slowly reveal clues and memory flashes.
Although the base game is deadly, there is a ruleset that offers a socially oriented way to play. The basics of the game are still the same, as the basic stats are based on that Survivor terminology like Social Game and Challenge Beast, but with some uniquely gruesome ones like Deathmatch and (REDACTED). Every time a player participates in a competition or challenge, he has the opportunity to gain followers. The better you do, the more followers you get. The more followers you have, the more the game’s producers favor you – with higher dice to roll and better equipment to help you survive. In a social media ecosystem that often feels like a battle royale, with creators battling algorithms and the whims of business leaders, the mechanic feels particularly prescient.
Like Triangle Agencythe game text is presented as a company manual for employees and producers Deathmatch Islandalthough the two games approach this presentation from drastically different angles (see Denee’s Derek Guy style info thread about it). Instead of pretending to be your friend, the in-universe author of the manual presents the game’s dire conditions matter-of-factly, despite chapter titles like “Building a Better You” or “Team Building.”
While Deathmatch Island can be played in a single session, the game’s campaigns offer opportunities for deep alliance building, social manipulation, and rejection of the game’s central conceit – a Battle Royale or Hunger Games style ending. But the producers won’t give up so easily. Even if your character dies, you wake up again, in a new body, a new personality, and wade into the game again. The island’s true secrets will only be revealed after several seasons, and if you want to find out, you’ll just have to play to win.