It’s easy to complain about a lot of games that just don’t ever try to do anything new or different in whatever genre they’re within, but sometimes we get some unique independent gems that actually attempt to do something new. In the case of Imperium42 Game Studio’s Throne of Lies, they’ve opted for a tactical, espionage, political thriller that takes place in a 3D online environment.

The multiplayer alpha test is currently underway after starting up on March 31st for Kickstarter backers, but Imperium42 has plans on releasing Thrones of Lies for public consumption starting this summer, following a successful run on Steam Greenlight.

So what is Throne of Lies? Well, it’s a game that involves up 16 players per match. Each player is assigned to a faction and given a class. Some of the players are traitors, but only the traitors know that they’re traitors… the others have to use various means to figure out who is attempting to betray them and usurp the throne.

This spawns a constant tug of war between those trying to run their kingdom and those trying to undermine it. At night the traitors can work together to conspire against the other rulers, while during the day the rulers will attempt to use their powers to weed out the traitors.

It’s a brilliant little social experiment that takes a different route to the whole PvP concept.

According to the game’s description, it was inspired by the medieval political tabletop game Werewolf/Mafia.

There’s an actual game tucked into all the diplomatic intrigue and espionage. You’ll have more than 100 abilities at your disposal spanning 35 different classes and four different factions. There is a recruiting system, social manipulation abilities, along with customizable armor, weapons and auras.

It’s a unique-sounding game that could end up finding itself a strong niche audience with the right kind of exposure. It reminds me of the diplomatic meta-game from the Mount & Blade titles.

You can learn more about Throne of Lies by visiting the Steam store page. You can expect to see it released in full this summer.