Game: Secret Hitler
Developer: Mike Boxleiter, Tommy Maranges, Max Temkin
Last weekend, my friends Jacob, Troy, Eli and I were hanging out in Jacob’s dorm room looking for a fun game to play together. We decided to try out the popular social deduction game Secret Hitler. Since we all had our laptops with us, we opted to play the online browser version where we could join a private lobby together.
The core mechanic of Secret Hitler revolves around the liberal and fascist players trying to deduce the secret roles of the others, while the fascists work together behind the scenes to slyly enact fascist policies and ultimately get their leader, Hitler, elected chancellor to win the game. Each round, the group elects a president and chancellor who work together to pass a policy from a random deck. However, some of the players are secretly fascists who will attempt to pass fascist policies whenever possible. The liberal players need to figure out who the fascists and Hitler are and stop them before they can take over the government.
This social deduction dynamic comes through strongly in the gameplay. In our first game, I was a liberal, so I was genuinely trying to analyze everyone’s words and actions to figure out their secret roles. Jacob kept vocally accusing other people of being fascists, which ironically made me quite suspicious that he was actually a fascist himself trying to deflect blame and sow confusion. Meanwhile, Eli was being unusually quiet compared to how talkative he normally is, which made me think he could be Hitler trying to lay low and avoid drawing attention to himself.
As it turned out, we were both wrong – Troy was secretly Hitler and managed to cleverly get himself nominated and elected chancellor, clinching the victory for the fascists. The mechanics and hidden role dynamics really force you to carefully analyze and read into the other players’ every word, vote and action for clues to their real loyalties. The fascists have to strike a tricky balance of being subtle and deceptive enough to avoid revealing themselves, while still finding ways to argue and steer the group towards enacting fascist policies so they can win.
Compared to other popular hidden role social deduction games like Werewolf or The Resistance, Secret Hitler adds some interesting twists and variations on the formula. The policy deck that the president and chancellor draw from is deliberately weighted more toward fascist policies, which means some fascist policies will inevitably be enacted even by the liberal players. This injects an extra layer of doubt and tension into the game, as players can never be quite sure whether a fascist policy was the result of genuine fascists in government or just an unlucky draw. The specific role of Hitler also adds a unique wrinkle, as Hitler wants to remain covert and undetected until the pivotal moment when they can become chancellor and win, unlike the other fascists who can be more open about their agenda.
Overall, Secret Hitler delivered an intense and engaging social deduction experience, especially considering we were just playing online with minimal components. The core hidden role mechanics, combined with the historical fascist vs liberal theming and unique elements like the weighted policy deck and special Hitler role, made for a compelling, replayable and thought-provoking game that kept us constantly engaged and on our toes, questioning and arguing over each other’s motives and trustworthiness. I’d be curious to see how the social experience differs playing in-person with a physical board and components, but the online browser version still did a great job capturing the essence and mechanics that make the game tick. I look forward to playing again soon and hopefully doing a better job sniffing out the secret fascists next time!
