When Gun Interactive revealed The Texas Chain Saw Massacre final 12 months, I used to be underwhelmed by its brief teaser however enthusiastic about its potential. It’s one among my favourite horror film franchises, partly due to how a lot it nonetheless scares me – each good haunted home has a Leatherface on the finish that chases you out to the exit, proper? – but in addition due to its backdrop: Texas. Horror, be it motion pictures or video games, sometimes attracts consideration to dreary atmospheres, spooky ambiance, maybe some unhealthy climate, and nighttime. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre bucked that pattern within the Nineteen Seventies. After going arms-on with Gun Interactive’s upcoming asymmetrical 3v4 multiplayer sport with the identical identify, I’m most impressed by how a lot the in any other case serene Texan farm works as a playground for escape makes an attempt and homicide.
Gun Interactive, previously Gun Media, is maybe finest recognized for Friday the thirteenth: The Game, which it revealed for developer Illfonic. I beloved Friday the thirteenth; it grew to become the nightly hangout sport for my pals and me. It’s dwelling to a few of my favourite gaming reminiscences, like turning on a Tiny Tim tune so campers would hear it via proximity chat as my Jason went in for the kill. However, some mental property rights points held that sport again from reaching its full potential, successfully ending its growth save for normal upkeep. The rights holder of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre have been large followers of Friday the thirteenth: The Game and have been conscious of the problems it encountered as a result of they approached Gun Interactive with this sport thought and the will to let the studio lead the cost.
“They contacted us, which was a very humbling experience,” Gun CEO Wes Keltner tells me. “We were still with Friday the 13th, and I received an email from the rights holders of [The Texas Chain Saw Massacre], and they had played that game and loved it and loved our approach. They loved that it was sort of a white glove treatment to Friday the 13th, and they thought, ‘These are the guys. These are the ones we trust that we want to bring our game to market.’”
Keltner tells me that he speaks with the rights holders of this franchise every day and that they’ve been simple to work with in growth. He says rights holders typically get a nasty rap, however that’s not the case right here. They’ve been open to concepts, progressive in pursuing them, and open to letting the group play with this world.
“Ninety-nine percent of the time, it’s like, ‘Oh my gosh, that’s a great idea, let’s go do it,’ so that’s been really, really cool to work with,” Keltner says, teasing that there would possibly even be some sort of relationship between this sport and previous and future motion pictures, stopping in need of telling me something extra.
Keltner says the group met with them and determined the sport ought to hone in on the unique 1974 movie. It was at all times going to be an asymmetrical sport from the bounce – that’s what the group does finest, in any case – however in what method and to what extent they may play with the franchise was a query. The group finally landed on a 3v4 format that tasked 4 victims with escaping the home of horrors that’s this Texan farm and three murderers, one being Leatherface, with killing them earlier than that occurs.
It’s a singular setup within the already area of interest realm of asymmetrical horrors at the moment dominated by the likes of Dead by Daylight, however enjoying it felt nice in a well-recognized method. Each sufferer has a singular capacity, and Gun designer Robert Fox II says that gamers can customise every with cosmetics and issues that instantly have an effect on how they play. This consists of unlockable abilities, perks, and extra. He and Keltner say that gamers will be capable of determine completely different builds that work finest for them, and this, coupled with the sport’s customization choices and distinctive 3v4 dynamic, is what they’re hoping retains gamers round for 1,000 hours.
In my hour with the sport, I performed as Connie, who has a chargeable capacity to interrupt via locked doorways, which permits her to bypass the easy however efficient door unlock minigame. Smashing via a locked door was extremely helpful, particularly when Leatherface, the Cook killer, or the Hitchhiker assassin have been in tow.
When the match started, all 4 victims have been within the basement. Leatherface was too, which I beloved as a result of it meant that the spherical instantly began with chaos. You can’t mosey round, deciding how finest to flee together with your group. There’s seemingly a chainsaw roaring in your ears, and you might want to get out of the basement as quickly as potential. Connie’s capacity to rapidly bust via locked doorways made doing that simple, however the home’s first and second flooring offered their very own set of challenges. That’s the place the grandfather NPC resides, and the three playable killers can feed him blood to enhance his capacity to see and listen to the place victims is perhaps in the home. It’s additionally the place the Cook and Hitchhiker prowl.
I didn’t get to play with the Cook, however I did go arms-on with the Hitchhiker. This lanky character slashes at victims with a small knife, and killing them takes considerably longer than Leatherface and his chainsaw. Killing is just half of his package, although. He can place bone traps across the map, which alert everybody in the home when stepped on by a sufferer. Hearing and seeing a sufferer step on my lure introduced an thrilling adrenaline rush to my fellow killers and me as all of us rushed to its location, hoping to discover a sufferer to kill.
In the third match I participated in, I managed the present’s star, Leatherface. He’s a large, bouldering determine that’s loud and the precise reverse of agile. That’s okay, although, as a result of the place victims can crawl via cracks in a wall or tight gaps, Leatherface can reduce proper via particular limitations. I preferred that I couldn’t spam the chainsaw; it’s loud, and each sufferer will know the place you’re when it’s on. Plus, turning it on requires you to play a fast and simple minigame. It was enjoyable utilizing this crank and subsequent chainsaw roar to let victims know I used to be onto them, and urgent the left set off to throttle it for a louder impact had me laughing out loud maniacally to myself. The most satisfying a part of this character, although, was the kills. His chainsaw takes victims out rapidly, with loads of blood spurting from my weapon’s incision level.
All these killings and escapes occurred to the backdrop of a stunning Texas sundown on a lusciously inexperienced farm full of sunflowers, outdated barns and sheds, overgrown grass, and a terrifyingly macabre home. Fans of the unique 1974 movie will acknowledge how a lot love and element was put into the house, full with hanging our bodies, buckets of blood, knick-knacks, and extra.
“If you watch that film, the majority of it [is] bright, sunshine-y, happy, beautiful vistas, right?” Keltner says. “[That] allowed us to kind of play around more with beauty and find that balance between the macabre and certain things that were serene. There are moments where that, yeah, you’re running for your life, but you may stop by like, ‘Dang, it’s beautiful here.’”
And he’s proper! The sport seems nice. It’s an enormous step up from Friday the thirteenth’s visuals, however The Texas Chain Saw Massacre nonetheless retains a number of the jank that followers of the previous, in the event that they’re something like me, got here to like concerning the sport. It’s not a large triple-A sport, however the group has crafted it lovingly. And it’s additionally not fairly out but. I might inform what I performed was a preview construct. I hope the group can therapeutic massage the sport extra to make motion really feel smoother, gore extra real looking, and animations extra fluid.
I’m excited to see what the group is ready to polish extra between now and its 2023 launch, and I can’t wait to be taught extra about skins, how Gun will incorporate different Texas Chain Saw Massacre motion pictures into the sport, the opposite maps, and extra. If what I’ve seen to this point is any indication, although, I feel my pals and I’ll have a brand new hangout sport subsequent 12 months.
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