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Highly competitive games are pretty clear-cut in their main goals and rules, but they all give players incomplete information and require them to make assumptions based on what they know.
If you’ve ever tried to pull off a convincing poker bluff, you probably understand the basic idea: hiding your real intentions to gain a competitive advantage over your opponent.
The same principles appear across a wide range of other games, some with no cards involved. In fact, here are three video games that reward you for hiding your real plan and allow you to bluff your way to a win.
Among Us
Among Us doesn’t need much of an introduction. There’s no other video game that’s entirely based on bluffing and lying your way to winning the round.
You need to balance the lies and fake alibis so you don’t become suspicious too early. The first one or two kills are the most important ones; you need to time them wisely.
If you’re too aggressive, you’ll become suspicious. But, then again, being too passive will also attract unwanted attention.
A good Among Us player will find a way to turn the attention to another player. They have a natural ability to steer the conversation in a different direction, one that doesn’t paint them as the potential imposter.
EA Sports FC
While the EA Sports FC series requires exceptional mechanical skills, at the highest level they become a battle of wits more than anything else.
If you and your opponent are both near-perfect mechanically, the only legit way of beating him is by bluffing. You focus your attacks on one side, which leaves the other flank open.
You slow down the attack to make your opponent think you’ll start playing passively… then as soon as he increases the pressure, you lob a through ball behind the flank and head in for a goal-scoring opportunity.
Age of Empires IV
Age of Empires IV is a complex strategy game that requires great mechanical skills, putting opponents in a state of constant pressure, developing proxies, and a whole ton of deceitful actions.
You see, AoE IV features a fog of war. Players can use scouts to run across the map and see what the other player is working on. If they’re making a stable, it means they’ll have horsemen, which can be easily countered with pikemen. If they’re building a barracks, it means they’ll have pikemen, which are no match for archers.
With a bit of planning and correct execution, you can make your opponent focus on one type of units that counter the visible army units you currently have… while you focus on the exact counter in one of your proxies.
These strats work as long as they’re convincing enough. If they aren’t and your opponent figures out what you’re doing, you’ll end up losing either your proxy or half of your base.
Summary
All three of these games require you to hide your real intentions and bluff your way to victory. Among Us requires you to make up fake alibis and talk your way into winning, while EA Sports FC requires you to fake your movement and lead your opponents into weaker positions.
Strategy games like Age of Empires IV require you to constantly scout your opponents, hide your main units across the map, exploit the opponents’ weaknesses, and prepare traps to push their units out of the way of your main rush.
All these games are about deception. Hiding your true intentions with deceitful traps is a great strategy, but it can also weaken your primary attack force. Balancing the two is the key to success here.
Remember, the winner isn’t necessarily the player with the most complex plan, but the player who controls the information their opponents have and adapts their strategy based on what’s happening in-game.
