A card game where every claim can be a lie
Only False is a party game built around bluffing, with a bit of strategy and a streak of dark humor running through it. You play with a standard deck of cards, and the goal of Rotten Deck is simple to say and hard to do: get rid of everything in your hand and be the last one still breathing. At the start of a round the table card is set at random, so nobody walks in knowing the answer. You pick a card from your hand, lay it face down, and sell the story. Sometimes you lie outright, sometimes you play it straight, and the other players have to guess which is which. The game runs in Early Access with two modes available now.
How a group plays together
Rotten Deck supports 2 to 4 players and plays over online PvP. After a card goes down, the next player can decide whether to check the authenticity of what's been claimed. Getting caught bluffing hurts, and so does falsely accusing someone who was telling the truth: either way you have to pick one of the triggers for a trap. That's the "Chinese Roulette" part of it. Russian Roulette is down to chance, but here the trap goes off or doesn't based on the choice you just made yourself. Trigger it and that character dies while the rest carry on. Miss it and the round continues with everyone still in.
The second mode is Rock Paper Scissors: Minus One, a two-handed take on the classic for exactly 2 players, and the goal there is just staying alive. You declare the sign for each hand, both players show at once, then after one second each pulls back one hand. Whoever loses takes their turn at Russian Roulette courtesy of the Mouse Bar owner, and it keeps going until someone dies.
Characters and things to keep in mind
Lennie, Mrs. Pearl, Slick Rick and Hank the Mush each come with their own story and attitude, so the table feels different depending on who's sitting at it. Expect a cartoonish 3D look with dark humor rather than anything cheerful. Since this is Early Access, two more modes are planned down the road: a simplified poker variant and a card game for up to 8 players, with details still under wraps. Further modes, new characters and character skins are meant to come out of player requests during Early Access. For online play the game relies on Easy Anti Cheat, and disruptive players are meant to be reported and removed.