Killer Inn is one of the latest releases from Square Enix, released in Early Access on PC a few weeks back. This is a release that sort of went under the radar, with an initial reveal at Summer Game Fest 2025 as a collaboration between Square Enix and TBS Games.

I’ve had the opportunity to spend some time with the game since then, as I was curious to see what the next multiplayer offering from Square Enix looked like. Killer Inn has plenty of potential to be something fun, but right now, too much is holding the game back, especially its small playerbase.

A Tale of Lambs and Wolves

Killer Inn pits 24 players together on a map in a game of Lambs vs Wolves. Eight players are selected as Wolves, players who must hunt down all members of the other team, while 16 are chosen as Lambs, tasked with using social deduction to find the Wolves or escape on a ship by defeating Guardians, small floating mini-bosses, and obtaining keys. 

As a Wolf, you have to blend in with the Lambs to not get caught. As a Lamb, you have to figure out who the Wolves are to stop them. Regardless of team, though, there is a basic gameplay loop you’ll follow. This means running around and gathering items, completing quests to earn gold, leveling up your gear, and obtaining weapons to hunt others or protect yourself.

The biggest difference between being a Lamb and a Wolf involves confronting other players. Wolves must kill the Lambs where possible to stop them from obtaining the keys needed to board the ship. Each person you kill leaves a corpse, and if you don’t interact with it, a Lamb can come by and find a clue leading them directly to you. Lambs, on the other hand, must build up coins and find clues to get the items needed to take down Wolves. You must be constantly on the move, and it’s hard to trust anyone who is not on your team.

I was curious to see if one team had more advantage over the other, but surprisingly, I found things to be split evenly. In some games, the Wolves were able to quickly kill off the Lambs, while others had the Lambs finding the Wolves with ease. It really can change depending on your team, as some experienced players can take out multiple members of an enemy team with ease. Playing as the Wolves tends to be more fun, thanks to the ability to eliminate players without any penalty (as Lambs will turn to stone if attacking another Lamb), but there is fun to be had in defeating the Guardians and collecting keys.

I am impressed by the variety and volume of characters from the start, each with its own set of abilities and skills that can change how you approach games. To be blunt, though, I really was not a fan of the character designs. No one stood out to me as particularly strong, and that feels like a problem in a game where players are incentivized to choose a character and stick with them. I think a more stylized approach could have made for a more intriguing cast.

My biggest takeaway from everything is that Killer Inn feels almost overstuffed with ideas. There is so much going on that some ideas do get lost and feel underbaked as a result. One of the biggest offenders of this is the clue system. The idea is you can find a Partial Clue on the ground as a Lamb that might lead you to a Wolf, but you must collect multiple of these to obtain an actual clue that can help your team. While this sounds fun in theory, in practice, it’s rare that these amount to anything.

Explained in detail here, you may feel that the game itself is quite simple, but it can be challenging to understand for a few reasons. Normally, games do a pretty decent job of explaining mechanics and providing ample tutorials for you to experience. Most of these occur within the game itself, with pop-up tips, a tutorial level, or even plain old documentation. However, this right now sits as a real area of failure for Killer Inn. 

Instead of providing an in-game reference sheet to get players up to speed on its systems, Killer Inn has an extremely basic tutorial that barely gives you an understanding of the game. If you want more, it strangely directs you to a Notion page in your web browser. I really cannot understand the reasoning behind this, as even with the giant button on the home page, it isn’t obvious at all that this page is a treasure trove of information. 

Communication Required

Killer Inn is a game that only works with communication. The game has proximity chat available for players to discuss clues, communicate player locations, and even make others aware when a Wolf strikes. Throughout my matches, I never had anyone speak, and I feel this considerably dampened my experience. 

Out of everything, this was my biggest area of frustration. Some games would simply devolve to Wolves or Lambs running around and shooting everyone they could with no care in the world to discuss in-game who might be with what team. This, unfortunately, makes  Killer Inn‘s goal of being a “social deduction game” near impossible, leaving just a mindless race to the finish that can feel like an unfair mess to play.

Not every game ended up like this, but those that did left me with a sour feeling. Right now, even with all the mechanics in place for social interaction, players are not finding the need to utilize them, and that’s a huge problem. It doesn’t help that you often get paired with players across the world, either, which can lead to a language barrier.

In my experience, Killer Inn, as a result, is just not all that fun to play solo. I checked out the game with a few friends, and we had a much better time racing to eliminate the Lambs. The ability to communicate with others when you find a clue or are being chased by a Wolf is what gives this game its identity. Without it, you’re sort of stuck.

Unfortunately, I often found myself waiting for serious stretches of time to get into a game. It wasn’t uncommon to head toward the five-minute mark of queuing before a match was found. Heading to SteamDB, the reason for this became clear: Killer Inn ranges from 150 to 700 active players at a time. 

There are also somewhat frequent instances of cheating right now. Some players can run around and basically insta-kill you. Square Enix has confirmed in the Killer Inn Discord that it is aware of these issues, but 

I’m not sure what Square Enix is planning once the game leaves Early Access, but it feels like Killer Inn desperately needs more attention. The game is nowhere near perfect right now, but the pieces are there for this to ultimately become a very fun multiplayer game. Will it, though, is the question.

The Potential Is There, But Can A Player Base Be Built?

My first two matches of Killer Inn were a mess. I was fumbling through the map, trying to understand what I was supposed to do besides collecting items and running from other players who might just be hunting me down. However, once I took the time to really research the documentation of the game with its online tutorial, I got it.

I absolutely believe Killer Inn has the potential to be something enjoyable. There were moments throughout my time with the game that I thought about this being something I returned to. Players in the game’s official Discord are quite active, always queuing together and sharing feedback. What I’ve shared in these initial impressions is really just the tip of the iceberg for gameplay, honestly. However, with the current state of things, the idea of Killer Inn becoming the game it has the potential to be feels like pushing a giant boulder up a hill.

Killer Inn needs to hone in on what works and focus there, build a player base, incentivize players to communicate, and find a resolution to the ongoing cheating issues. It’s not a small task whatsoever, and there’s no telling if it will happen, but I believe there is a path forward for this game to find a place in the market.

Everything on the multiplayer side is a battle for both time and attention in 2026, and while this game doesn’t reinvent the wheel, Killer Inn does offer enough to keep you engaged if you approach it the right way. Playing with friends is a must, you have to be patient with queues, and you cannot go without reading the massive tutorial. If you’re willing to do that, there’s fun to be had here, and maybe Killer Inn will be worth it for you.

Disclaimer: Square Enix provided a PC (Steam) copy of Killer Inn for review purposes.