Technologies

A Murderer Is Among Us in Square Enix’s Killer Inn

In a Killer Inn hands-on preview, I lied, cheated and fought my way through the new murder mystery game.

Announced during this year’s Summer Game Fest, Square Enix’s next game is a little different from its RPG hits. Killer Inn is an upcoming murder mystery that pits 24 players against each other in a game of deception. I went hands-on with the title for a couple of hours before the launch of its closed beta, which is releasing Friday.

The game is very reminiscent of the breakout pandemic hit Among Us, with players performing mundane tasks as they try to avoid getting murdered. Two teams consisting of 18 Lambs (prey) and six Wolves (predators) will be set loose on the grounds of a large and labyrinthian mansion.

The Wolves know the allegiance of everyone and their goal is to eliminate every Lamb before the timer runs out. Lambs are left clueless of who is friend or foe and must be cautious when encountering another player. The Lambs win by either eliminating all six Wolves or by escaping the island during the endgame phase (more on that later).

But players won’t be idly waiting to hunt or be hunted. The game’s core loop involves all players receiving short quests from the in-game NPCs. These NPCs are usually merchants who also sell useful items such as health recovery, crowbars (to access certain rooms/boxes), weapons/armor, etc.

The quests are pretty mundane and often require you to follow a glowing trail (like a waypoint in a driving game) until you come across a key. These keys can then be traded into various glowing chests around the map to unlock random items. Chests can either be random or specific to a certain type, such as assassin (traps), armor, weapon, etc.

A lot of these quests feel like busywork to power up your character so you have more of a fighting chance against attackers. At the same time, Wolves are also doing the same quests to get better weapons and traps to use against other players.

It’s still early for Killer Inn but I didn’t find any of these quests to be particularly engaging. Apart from the odd match-these-shapes or a shooting mini game, the quests are extremely low stakes and uninteresting. This might also be because we played on the one map for the entire preview so I got pretty used to the same scenarios and obstacles. The game is early so hopefully Square Enix has more maps and challenges to come.

Killer Inn gets a lot better when you encounter another player. It features proximity voice chat so you’re able to talk to your friend/foe when close to one another to try to find out their intentions. This is a great feature because it allows you to hold secret conversations away from others. Keep in mind, I was in a preview event where everyone was trying to have a good time, so people may have been engaging in better faith than your average online match. Voice chat with random public people on the internet can be a crapshoot so your mileage may vary.

When a Wolf kills a Lamb, everyone gets a notification on their screen and a waypoint to locate the corpse. A corpse always leaves two clues to the killer’s identity. In my preview it was often a piece of colored fabric or hair that corresponded to a few players each. Collecting enough of these will help you narrow down who might be a Wolf. If the Wolf is fast enough to mess with the corpse after a kill, they can remove one of the clues, letting the Lambs only find a single one. There are also single-use items in the game that can help each side hide or find more when searching a body.

To make things more interesting, the Lambs can’t simply start killing random players, hoping they get lucky and eliminate a Wolf. If a Lamb kills another Lamb, the mistaken killer will also be eliminated from the game. This means you really need to collect clues and watch how players are reacting before taking your, sometimes literal, shot.

When the game timer nears the end, the game switches into its end state where the Lambs must head to a huge ship to board and hopefully escape. There are six anchors locking the ship in place and they must slowly lift each one before winning. It’s a slow process that really makes you sweat because it leaves you in quite a vulnerable position. This is the Wolves’ last chance to win and luckily it puts a lot of the Lambs in one smaller area. However, it also means a lot of eyes will be watching.

In my previews this is where the largest gun fights broke out because each team was making a last-ditch effort to win. In fact, most of the murders I came across were pretty standard stabbings or shootings. I’m sure in future games, when the players have more experience, I’ll see a lot more stealth attacks and traps being laid for more intricate eliminations. There’s a lot to learn from Killer Inn and it will definitely take a few rounds before you even begin to get a grasp of when to strike and when to blend in.

I found playing as a Lamb to be a lot easier. Having a larger team of players working together to discover the enemy allowed the pressure to be shared. As a Wolf, you’re juggling a lot and trying to play both sides. In fact, during the three games I played, the Lambs won every time. I’m curious if this will remain as the game matures or will being a Wolf just require more experience with the game to succeed.

Much like the board game Werewolf, classic card game Mafia, or Among Us, Killer Inn is best played with a group of people who are all in character and really leaning into the deceptive nature of the game. You have the option of turning voice chat off but you’d be missing out on the most interesting part of the game: the lying.

While the social guessing game is Killer Inn’s greatest strength, its humdrum quests are its biggest weakness, and I came away from it a little skeptical of its long term replayability. I enjoyed my time but am unsure if I could see myself coming back for more of those boring quests. I would love to see more interesting challenges that force players into unique scenarios where staying hidden or breaking character means life or death.

Killer Inn’s closed beta goes live on Friday, July 25, on PC and currently has no final release date.

Technologies

Octopath Traveler 0 Review: A Solid JRPG Dragged Down by Forgettable Characters

The Octopath Traveler prequel is so close to being a fantastic RPG.

When Octopath Traveler launched in 2019, it was something that looked similar to yet ended up being totally different from the traditional turn-based Japanese role-playing game Square Enix was known for. The series made some innovative changes to the formula, from the roster of eight playable characters to the Boost system. But with Octopath Traveler 0, it feels like the prequel didn’t move forward, and if anything, took a tiny step backwards.

Octopath Traveler 0 acts as a prequel to the series’ first two entries, and instead of playing as one of eight unique characters with their own storylines, you step into the role of a silent protagonist who is seeking revenge. If that sounds boring, well, it kind of is.

If there’s a saving grace to the game, it’s its class and combat systems, which offer a good mix of standard RPG fare with enough novelty — including some deliciously evil villains — to keep you playing.

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Players can pick one of eight jobs for the protagonist: warrior, hunter, merchant, apothecary, cleric, scholar, dancer or thief. As expected, each class has its own unique traits, and classes like the warrior, cleric, hunter, scholar (black mage) and thief have the standard fare that RPG fans should expect. It’s the other classes that are unique to the game. I started off as a merchant who could use weapons with powerful attacks, along with skills that earned a little more money from battles. Then there’s the apothecary, a unique class that heals and cures the ailments of their teammates while also being able to do heavy damage with an axe.

As you progress and unlock more job skills and level up, there will be an option to obtain another job. This means the hero can take skills from one job — such as spells and physical attacks — and use them with a class that wouldn’t normally have them. This can result in a warrior, for example, being able to use the powerful spells of the scholar class to create a unique battle mage. With eight jobs to choose from, there are plenty of options available to create different combinations to use in battle.

But for all the new ground that the class system covers, the plot is pretty generic territory.

Boring Traveler

The real selling point of the Octopath Traveler series is, well, the travelers. The first two games featured eight playable characters, each with their own background story to learn. That was the selling point of the game that made it stand out from the sea of traditional JRPGs.

This time around, Square Enix decided to do something a little different and a little dull, making the hero a silent protagonist. Not only is the hero quiet throughout every conversation in the game, but get this, they’re on a revenge mission, as if that’s never been done before in a JRPG (snark intended).

Yes, the hero is a silent protagonist whose village was wiped out by this evil duo in search of a magical trinket. The hero survives and is trained in secret until it’s time to exact revenge on the three people who doomed his home: Tytos and Auguste, who were responsible for the attack on the village, and Lady Hermina, a wealthy heiress who gave the two the info on the location of the trinket.

This lackluster origin story of the hero and their motivations really dampens any interest I had in playing as the character. The same goes for the allies that join the hero throughout the game. They have their stories, some a little sad, but for much of the game, they’re just a member of the team.

Thankfully, the real heroes of the game’s story are the bad guys. Following the drawn-out intro sequence, once the hero sets out on their revenge quest, players can choose to go after any one of the three previously mentioned villains. Each has its own story arc, and they’re just deliciously dark. The characters are truly evil, with the most interesting background and developments, giving an almost Game of Thrones vibe. My favorite was Auguste the Playwright, referred to as the Master of Fame. When completing his story arc, there is just a series of these seemingly regular people who show their utter devotion to him by sacrificing their own family members and themselves to Auguste’s delight.

There is something refreshing in seeing true villains. There is no moral quandary or philosophical debate on whether the people you’re fighting against are horrible people or if they are simply misguided with good intentions. No, these people are horrible and need to be stopped. It’s just a shame it’s the boring, silent protagonist that has to do the heavy lifting to defeat them.

Octo-Mazing

Where Octopath Traveler 0 really excels is the combat. It’s turn-based, but to liven things up, the series has the «Break and Boost» system.

Every enemy has a shield number that depletes when attacked, and once it reaches zero, that enemy is «broken» and unable to attack for multiple rounds. To help speed up this process, characters have Boost Points that increase with each round of a fight. When a character has three BPs, they can use powerful attacks or simply do multiple attacks at once. As every enemy has multiple weaknesses to certain weapons and spells, this system adds an extra layer of strategy to determine whether you bide your time to beat them down or rush them down. Occasionally, you’ll end up in a situation where a tough enemy gets broken and you notice that all of your characters are loaded up with BP, which leads to a satisfying beatdown on the bad guy, raining down powerful attack after powerful attack.

And yet, the depth of strategy doesn’t end there. New in Octopath Traveler 0 is a whole second row of characters on the team. These backup fighters can be tagged in throughout combat to provide a bit of a mix-up in strategy. You can keep your physical warriors up front while having the mages hang out in back and switch when needed. Or rotate in the same character type when needed, so when a healer gets low on health, they can swap out with another healer. Couple this dynamic of switching out characters on the fly with the «Break and Boost» system, and you have a very active turn-based combat.

Obtaining these extra characters on the team comes with rebuilding the hero’s village, Wishvale. The burned down town starts off with one home, but as you progress, you’re given more options to expand. Other towns have people looking for new places to live or adventures to partake in, and those choices can be explored via Path Actions, a recurring feature from earlier games in the series.

When talking to particular NPCs, there is an option to learn a bit more about them by inquiring using a Path Action, which is just a matter of pressing a certain button (the X button for the Xbox version, Square for PlayStation and Y for Nintendo Switch). Doing this will then give you some background on the character and some options. Some NPCs will gladly join your team to fight with you for a price, while others will have items to give you by selecting the Entreat option and a success rate will be shown for each item they possess, with the lower success rate set for the more valuable items. There’s also the Contend option to battle the NPC, which isn’t wise to do early on, as it seems all the townsfolk have been battling dragons for generations, so fight them early on at your peril. Fail to obtain an item from an NPC or lose to them in a fight, and your reputation takes a hit. Take too many hits to your reputation while in a town, and none of the NPCs will offer these Path Actions anymore until you visit the tavern and pay a fine to restore it.

The presentation of Octopath Traveler 0 is not much different than the previous games. The graphics are the HD-2D art style Square Enix has been using for this series and the Dragon Quest remakes, a retro mix of 2D sprites amid 3D backgrounds that evokes nostalgia for the games of yesteryear with some modern polish. Octopath Traveler 0’s soundtrack and voice acting are also on par with the higher quality the series has been known for.

Like other games in the series, Octopath Traveler 0 can easily take players 100 hours to complete, especially if they delve deep into the town-building aspect. While I wish there were more interesting heroes to embody, once players get past the generic plot premise and delve into the meaty combat, there is no question that this game is a worthy entry into the franchise and a pick for those looking for a new JRPG to spend all their time with.

Octopath Traveler 0 is now available on Nintendo Switch 2, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.

Technologies

Galaxy Z TriFold vs. Huawei Mate XT: One Is the Most Versatile Phone I’ve Ever Used

Samsung’s Galaxy Z TriFold and Huawei’s Mate XT, part of a new category of phones called «trifolds,» offer diverging experiences when it comes to using them.

Huawei introduced the world’s first «trifold» phone, the Mate XT Ultimate, last year and launched it outside of China in February 2025. Despite only actually folding in two places, the phone was called a trifold because its 10.2-inch display divides into three sections.

I’ve been using it on and off since February and I liked the Mate XT so much that it made me skeptical about the Galaxy Z TriFold‘s design when Samsung first showcased it at the APEC CEO Summit in October. But after trying Samsung’s first trifold for myself, during a brief hands-on test at a Samsung store in Dubai, I changed my mind.

As foldable phone sales are expected to rise 30% year over year in 2026, according to analysts at IDC, it’s important for both Samsung and Huawei to find their own hook for customers. Each of these foldable phones has their place in the market and offers a different appeal. One is a tablet that folds into a phone, while the other is a three-in-one and the most versatile smartphone I’ve ever used. One of them has «Z TriFold» in its name but the other actually folds in a «Z» shape.

Here’s how the newly-launched Samsung trifold phone compares to the Huawei Mate XT Ultimate — the phone that pioneered this category.

Samsung Galaxy Z TriFold vs. Huawei Mate XT design

Both the Galaxy Z TriFold and Mate XT have large screens that divide into three panels (hence the name) and have two hinges to connect them. And yet, they’re vastly different.

The Huawei trifold phone has a single screen that folds in a Z shape to allow for three different forms. You can use it as a phone (fully folded), a mini-tablet (half-open), as well as a wide-screen tablet (fully opened). I’ve mostly used the Mate XT either in mini-tablet mode (one fold) or fully unfolded. And I found myself using it in phone mode (fully closed) only when I made calls.

In comparison, the Galaxy Z TriFold folds in a U shape as both panels fold inwards. You can only use it fully folded as a phone or fully opened as a wide-screen tablet, without the added ability to use it as a mini tablet.

Samsung’s Z Trifold uses two different-sized hinges and three panels of varying thickness, allowing the device’s flaps to fold on top of one another. The left hinge is like the one on the Fold 7 and comparatively tighter than the right hinge (the wider one), which springs open after you push it to a certain angle. On the back of the phone is a second display that occupies the «middle» section to use when the phone is fully closed.

When fully folded, its lowermost panel has a protruding edge, giving it a solid lip to grab onto while unfolding. It’s a nice addition to the flat-sided design, which doesn’t leave much space between panels. I found it easier to unfold than its sibling, the flat-sided Galaxy Z Fold 7.

The Huawei Mate XT has curved sides and a single screen, but because of that Z shape, it gives you three ways to use it. The right hinge unfolds like the Galaxy Z TriFold — you pull it out — but you don’t need to unfold the other side. With just one panel unfolded, it becomes a usable mini-tablet.

You can unfold the third section, at the back of the left panel, to open it fully and use it as a wide-screen tablet. Because it uses a single flexible screen, part of the soft folding display is always exposed to the elements when the device is folded shut in phone mode. So far, I haven’t noticed any scratches on the display but it is definitely less protected than Samsung’s inner screen. However, Huawei bundles a case with an extended lip to protect the always-exposed right side of the screen.

Both of these trifold phones have minimal screen creases but Samsung’s Galaxy Z TriFold feels better when I run my finger over the folding parts. While Huawei’s creases are deeper, they don’t bother me in day-to-day use. The creases on both phones are visible under direct artificial light and at an extreme angle.

The Huawei Mate XT is slimmer than the Galaxy Z TriFold. It’s just 3.6mm thick at its thinnest part when fully unfolded and 12.8mm when folded. In comparison, the Samsung phone is 3.9mm thick at its thinnest part and goes up to 12.9mm when fully unfolded. At 309 grams, the Z TriFold is also slightly heavier than the 298g Mate XT.

The Huawei trifold phone feels more premium than the Galaxy Z TriFold — probably because of its faux leather back, curved sides and gold accents. Samsung’s foldable has a carbon-fiber finish, which feels durable but not as premium.

The Mate XT has an IPX8 rating, while the Galaxy Z TriFold is rated IP48 for dust and water resistance. The «4» in IP48 means it’s protected against dust particles measuring over 1mm but not against everyday dust and pocket lint. Neither of these phones is truly dust-proof, but both are rated for water resistance, just like a standard smartphone.

Samsung Galaxy Z TriFold vs. Huawei Mate XT displays

The Galaxy Z TriFold has two screens: a Galaxy Z Fold 7-like 6.5-inch AMOLED screen with a 120Hz variable refresh rate and a 422ppi pixel density. It unfolds to a 10-inch tablet-sized screen with a 120Hz dynamic refresh rate with a lower 269ppi pixel density.

The Huawei Mate XT has a single 10.2-inch OLED screen with a 90Hz refresh rate and 382ppi pixel density. It has a lower refresh rate but a higher resolution and slimmer bezels. You can use it as a 6.4-inch phone, a 7.9-inch mini-tablet or a 10.2-inch widescreen tablet which makes it a more versatile design than Samsung’s trifold phone. The Mate XT’s display when folded down into «cover screen» has a wider aspect ratio with slimmer bezels than the TriFold’s cover display.

I haven’t watched videos on the Galaxy Z TriFold, but I assume the experience would be better on the Huawei since the main screen has a wider aspect ratio (when fully unfolded). It has less letterboxing (thick borders on top and bottom) than the Galaxy Z TriFold, which provides a slightly narrower aspect ratio when fully unfolded. However, it could be better for multitasking, especially when running three apps side by side, but I’ll need more time with the Samsung phone to come to a conclusion.

Galaxy Z TriFold vs. Huawei Mate XT performance and battery

The Samsung Galaxy Z TriFold has the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy chip, the same processor that powers its other 2025 flagship smartphones including the OnePlus 15. The chip is tuned for efficiency and I expect it to handle multitasking on a standalone DeX with ease. The TriFold also comes with 16GB of RAM and 512GB or 1TB of storage.

In contrast, the Huawei Mate XT runs on an in-house Kirin 9010 chip and is paired with 16GB of RAM and 512GB or 1TB of storage. It runs EMUI 14.2 operating system on global variants, which doesn’t have preinstalled Google apps. Despite the ban on US companies working with Huawei — including Google, the company behind Android — there are workarounds for installing the Play Store. You won’t encounter these kinds of hurdles on the Galaxy Z Trifold.

The Samsung trifold phone runs on One UI 8, based on Android 16. You get fast animations, smooth multitasking, a multitude of customization options and a better overall experience. The Galaxy Z TriFold will also get seven years of OS and security updates.

Both phones pack a 5,600-mAh battery but it remains to be seen how they fare against each other. I haven’t pushed the Mate XT to its limits and it delivers an entire day of use on a single charge. When I need to top up the battery, I use the bundled 66-watt charger or use wireless charging at up to 55 watts. The Galaxy Z TriFold supports 45-watt fast charging and Qi wireless charging.

Samsung Galaxy Z TriFold vs. Huawei Mate XT cameras

Both phones have three rear cameras that are identical to those found in the Galaxy Z Fold 7. The Galaxy Z TriFold has:

a 200-megapixel main camera with optical image stabilization (OIS) and a f/1.7 aperture
a 12-megapixel ultrawide camera with a 120-degree field of view
a 10-megapixel 3x optical zoom telephoto camera with OIS and support for 30x digital zoom
two 10-megapixel front-facing cameras — one inside the cover display and the other inside the folding screen

In comparison, the Huawei Mate XT has:

a 50-megapixel main camera with OIS and a variable aperture (f/1.4 — f/4.0)
a 12-megapixel 5.5x optical zoom telephoto camera with OIS
a 12-megapixel ultrawide camera with a 120-degree field of view
a 8-megapixel selfie shooter

Based on my experience with the Fold 7, you can expect vibrant colors, good dynamic range and balanced processing in low-light photos on the Samsung trifold phone. Images from the Huawei tend to have an over-processed look and it doesn’t do well with certain skin tones. But the Mate XT captures better portraits than my Fold 7. I’ll be able to test the photography chops from both phones once I have the Galaxy Z TriFold.

Here’s how the two foldable phones specs compare:

Samsung Galaxy Z TriFold specs vs. Huawei Mate XT Ultimate

	Samsung Galaxy Z TriFold	Huawei Mate XT Ultimate
Cover display size, tech, resolution, refresh rate	6.5-inch AMOLED, 2,520×1,080 pixels, 1-120 Hz refresh rate	none
Internal display size, tech, resolution, refresh rate	10.0 AMOLED, 2,160×1,584 pixels, 1-120 Hz refresh rate	10.2-inch AMOLED, 3,184×2,232 pixels, 90Hz refresh rate
Pixel density	Cover: 422 ppi; Internal display: 269 ppi	382 ppi
Dimensions (inches)	Open: 6.27×8.43×0.15 inches (leftmost panel) / 0.17 inches (center panel) / 0.16 inches (rightmost panel with the side button); Closed: 6.27×2.95×0.50 inches	Open: 6.17×8.62×0.14-0.19 inches; Half-open: 6.17×8.62×0.19-0.29 inches; Closed: 6.17×2.89×0.50 inches
Dimensions (millimeters)	Open: 159.2×214.1×3.9mm (leftmost panel) / 4.2mm (center panel) / 4.0mm (rightmost panel with the side button) Closed: 159.2×75.0x12.9mm	Open: 156.7x219x3.6-4.75mm; Half-open: 156.7x219x4.75-7.45mm; Closed: 156.7×73.5×12.8mm
Weight (grams, ounces)	309g (10.9 oz.)	298g (10.51 oz)
Mobile software	Android 16 with One UI 8	HarmonyOS 4.2 / EMUI 14.2
Cameras	200-megapixel (main), 12-megapixel (ultrawide), 10-megapixel (telephoto), 10-megapixel (cover screen, selfie)	50-megapixel (main), 12-megapixel (ultrawide), 12-megapixel (periscope telephoto), 8-megapixel (front-facing)
Internal screen camera	10-megapixel	10-megapixel
Video capture	8K	4K
Processor	Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy	Kirin 9010
RAM/storage	16GB + 512GB, 1TB	16GB + 512GB, 1TB
Expandable storage	No	No
Battery	5,600 mAh	5,600 mAh
Fingerprint sensor	Yes	Yes
Connector	USB-C	USB-C
Headphone jack	No	No
IP rating for dust and water resistance	IP48	None
Special features	45W wired charging speed, Qi wireless charging, Galaxy AI, NFC, Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4	66W wired charging speed, 50W wireless charging, NFC, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections Hints, Answers and Help for Dec. 24, #927

Here are some hints and the answers for the NYT Connections puzzle for Dec. 24 #927

Looking for the most recent Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.

Today’s NYT Connections puzzle is kind of tough. Ooh, that purple category! Once again, you’ll need to look inside words for hidden words. Read on for clues and today’s Connections answers.

The Times has a Connections Bot, like the one for Wordle. Go there after you play to receive a numeric score and to have the program analyze your answers. Players who are registered with the Times Games section can now nerd out by following their progress, including the number of puzzles completed, win rate, number of times they nabbed a perfect score and their win streak.

Read more: Hints, Tips and Strategies to Help You Win at NYT Connections Every Time

Hints for today’s Connections groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Cash out.

Green group hint: Chomp

Blue group hint: Walleye and salmon.

Purple group hint: Make a musical sound, with a twist.