If you love the tension of Arc Raiders, you can try Square Enix's new deception-driven multiplayer shooter for free now, days ahead of launch

A Killer Inn ‘free stay weekend’ is underway, giving you a chance to try out Square Enix’s new multiplayer shooter ahead of its upcoming launch. The stratospheric rise of Arc Raiders has proven that there’s a huge appetite for the tension of uneasy-alliance multiplayer games where you’re never quite sure who’s on your side. Adopting the likes of Among Us and other hidden-identity favorites such as One Night Ultimate Werewolf, as well as the asymmetric elements of Dead By Daylight and Friday the 13th, this third-person shooter pits wolves against lambs in a struggle to survive.

Each match of Killer Inn starts with 24 players, and a crime scene. As soon as a corpse is found, you’ll need to figure out who’s responsible. While the vast majority of you are innocent ‘lambs,’ a small handful of the group are chosen as the ‘wolves’ behind the murders. In order to uncover the truth, the lambs must gather clues that gradually rack up a picture of the culprit, while the wolves slink among them, carefully plotting ways to pick them off one by one. Every death leaves fresh hints to its perpetrator, however.

Unlike Among Us, this isn’t solved by a vote, and the lambs aren’t defenseless. Your goal is to eliminate the opposing team, and Killer Inn offers a veritable arsenal of guns and melee weapons to do just that. If you’d rather be a little more strategic about it, you can employ traps or poisons, while supplies such as armor and gas masks can be found to bolster your defenses. Do make sure you’re certain of your target before opening fire, though; kill a fellow lamb, and your own life is forfeit.

To get your hands on the best gear, you’ll need to complete simple quests for NPCs, earning tokens that can be used to unlock chests around the castle. Additionally, any area within direct line-of-sight of a staff member is considered a safe zone, meaning you won’t need to fear the wrath of the wolves while there.

Listening also plays a key role in weeding out the troublemakers. Along with the familiar integration of 3D audio and voice chat, going into focus mode will let you pick out telling sounds through walls, along with helping to highlight hints such as footprints and dropped bullet casings. While speaking to other players is encouraged, there are plenty of emotes and thematic stamps available to communicate non-verbally if you prefer.

There is one other route to victory for the lambs, taking a clever nod from the likes of Dead By Daylight: escape. If you’re able to find the four keys to the harbor gate and raise anchor on the boat that brought you here, you can flee the castle to safety. It sounds simple enough, but when you don’t know who’s about to cut you down when your back is turned, every decision becomes all the more important.

I’ll admit that Killer Inn rather crept up on me; it had fallen out of my mind among all the other games dotting the start of 2026. But now I’m thinking about it again, I’m eager to try it. The good news is that, along with revealing its early access start date, Square Enix has just kicked off a pre-launch playtest that’s live right now. Not only is it an ideal way to see what you think without having to put down any money, but you’ll unlock an ornate golden revolver and a custom profile banner in the full game as thanks for taking part.

The Killer Inn Free Stay Weekend runs from Friday February 6 until Monday February 9, ending at 2pm PT / 5pm ET / 10pm GMT / 11pm CET. The full game launches via Steam Early Access on Thursday February 12, priced at $9.99 (or regional equivalent). You can get started now by heading to the Steam page and clicking ‘join the playtest.’

Square Enix notes that while all characters will be available immediately during the beta weekend, some will need to be unlocked through gameplay in the full version of Killer Inn. Progress from the free weekend will not carry over, other than the participation rewards mentioned above. It says the early access period is expected to last at least eight months, and adds that the price of the game is planned to increase once it hits 1.0.