History VideoGame / Deception

In 1996, for the Sony UsefulNotes/PlayStation, Tecmo released ''[[InCaseYouForgotWhoWroteIt Tecmo's]] Deception: Invitation to Darkness'', which, while not a smash success by any stretch of the imagination, allowed the player to do something not often seen in video games: [[EvilFeelsGood play as the bad guy]]. The goal of the story was to resurrect {{Satan}}, and instead of doing so with direct combat, you utilized a series of [[DeathTrap deadly traps]] that you placed throughout your castle. The game did well enough to spark a small series.

* [[HeroicMime Antiheroic Mime]]: The Zemekian prince and Millennia.

%%** HarsherInHindsight: There is a character named "Astarte" in the first game, who has blue skin and hair, similar to what the TMD looked like in the later game, and whose origins are 'unknown'.

* WhatMeasureIsAMook: The games often go to some bother to make it clear that you're not killing anonymous mooks, but ''people'', with actual names, backstories and personalities. The [[{{Narm}} terrible acting]] keeps this from having the effect Tecmo was going for, however.
** Less so in ''Blood Ties'', where the [[TooLongDidntDub Japanese-only voice acting]] makes the delivery matter more than words.

* BonusBoss: Pretty much any gaiden character in ''Trapt'', but especially the final side-story bosses of each path: Millennia (trap-tripper) and Kendal (creates illusions), each more inexplicable than the last. (That last one is very [[GainaxEnding "Congratulations"-y]].)

** ''Trapt'' has Millennia and Reina as unlockable costumes. Millennia is also fought as a BonusBoss.

[[Characters/{{Deception}} A Characters page is in the works]].

Demonstrating how inviolate TheWikiRule is, [[https://deceptionseries.fandom.com/wiki/TRAPEDIA:Tecmo%27s_Deception_Wiki the series now has a wiki here.]] Not to be confused with ''VideoGame/DarkDeception''.

Demonstrating how inviolate TheWikiRule is, [[https://deceptionseries.fandom.com/wiki/TRAPEDIA:Tecmo%27s_Deception_Wiki the series now has a wiki here.]]

* OffModel: Millennia on the US cover of the second game.

* GreenLanternRing: The magical stone which allows Reina to control traps in ''Dark Delusion''.

* SupernaturalElite: In the second game, humans are basically second-class to a nobility consisting of 'Timenoids' - blue-skinned immortals. As the player, you are initially a slave to the Timenoids, but eventually, you must decide whether to help them brutally suppress an emerging human uprising, help LaResistance destroy the Timenoid elite, or just KillEmAll.

* StandardRPGItems: Only in the first game. There's Herbs, Nectar and Restores to recover HP; MP Gains and Amulets to recover MP; Antidotes, Sanity and Cures to undo status effects; Skill Gems, Mantles, Armor Gems, Speed Gems, and Shoes to boost various stats; and a whole host of VendorTrash to sell to merchants you lure to the castle.

* StandardStatusEffects: The various protagonists can be poisoned, blinded, and slowed by invaders' weapons, but they'll wear off after a while.
* [[DubNameChange Subtitle Name Change]]: The change from "Alicia" to "Allura" was strictly in the text. The voice acting still very obviously uses "Alicia".

* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: It's possible to set up a series of traps that don't end strong. You can fling an enemy into the air, slice them with a bladed pendulum, impale them on spikes, shoot them with a fireball, grind them into moving gears... and them have them slip on a banana peel.

* YouBastard: Every person you kill in the fourth game will be accompanied by a cutscene where they utter some mournful FamousLastWords. Combined with the above trope, it serves as a reminder that you're torturing and killing individuals.

* CrisisCrossover: The plot for ''Deception IV: The Nightmare Princess'' includes the new main character battling the old main characters from ''Deception II'', ''Deception III'', ''Trapt'' and ''Deception IV: Blood Ties''. Rachel from ''Trapt'' also appears in a {{DLC}} mini-campaign. The crossovers are facilitated via DreamLand [[spoiler:and a version of each character goes back to their own world in the end]].

* UselessItem: You win a "[=SavePoint=]" in chapter 2 of the original game, which claims to "[[ExactlyAsItSaysOnTheTin create a save point]]", but all it ends up doing is sitting in your inventory.

* FrickinLaserBeams: Some traps fire a coloured laser beam at enemies, they actually have some recoil and do moderate damage. However, they ignore defense so they're a worthwhile part of your arsenal.

** "Kagero", which means "mirage".

The Deception games consist of:

* EverythingsBetterWithPrincesses: Princess Fiana and Princess [[strike:Alicia]] Allura. Laegrinna might count as well, given how her daemons keep referring to her as hime-sama. In ''The Nightmare Princess'' every playable character is referred to as a Princess.