The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Game is coming this year, and oh boy, it looks fun and gruesome. The developers of the troubled Friday The 13th Video Game are back, this time releasing their new game based on another beloved classic horror. The devs over at Gun Interactive and Sumo Digital Nottingham have clearly been hard at work creating an authentic experience in the asymmetrical multiplayer horror genre. Whilst the game is still in development, fans have been able to have a few sneak peaks behind the scenes. So, let’s take a look at everything we know so far about The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Game.
When does the Texas Chainsaw Massacre Game Release?
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Game will release on August 18th. The game is launching on Steam, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4. Game Pass fans can rejoice because the game will be releasing day 1 on Xbox Game Pass. Unfortunately however, the game will not be releasing on the Nintendo Switch. The developers are aiming to have ‘some form of crossplay’, but this will be fully confirmed at a later date.
What Characters are in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Game?
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Game gives a new spin on the asymmetrical horror genre with a unique 3:4 ratio. This means that 3 family members will be chasing down and trying to kill 4 victims. This marks a pretty stark difference from the juggernaut of the genre Dead by Daylight and its classic 4vs1 gameplay. This makes it the first asymmetrical horror game to have multiple killers. I cannot wait to finally group up with my friends to play as the bad guys. Furthermore, there is voice chat between family members and victims, allowing for teamwork and strategy.
Family Members
There are 5 family members that players can choose from. The roster includes family members from the original movie as well as brand new characters made specifically for the game. Fan-favourite Leatherface is joined by the original movies’ The Hitchhiker and The Cook. The two new family members are the charming Johnny and the unpredictable Sissy. She can be heard roaming around the map with her crazed laughter. Much care has gone into designing these brand-new family members, with the developers even working alongside the original writer Kim Henkel, and they look pretty awesome to me. A response to a Tweet about new survivors has confirmed that more family members and victims will come to the game in the future, but 5 killers is a pretty solid line-up at launch. I do have a feeling though that each match will be a race to see who can pick Leatherface first.
Each family member will have their own playstyle, and they will need to work together to make the most of their abilities. Of course, Leatherface is a much slower and clunkier character than someone like Sissy or The Hitchhiker. More agile characters can easily get into places that Leatherface might not be able to. However, Leatherface can just use his chainsaw to slowly make his way through doors or crawl spaces that are blocking his way.
Each family member also has their own abilities. The Cook can listen for noises around the map and reveal victims’ locations. Sissy can craft poison to contaminate items around the map or she can simply just blow it into victims’ faces. The Hitchhiker sets traps around the map whilst Johnny can see victims’ footsteps. And surprisingly, Leatherface has a chainsaw? Did not see that one coming. When he revs his chainsaw the right amount, he can actually instantly kill a survivor in a fantastically gruesome finisher. I guess his time in Mortal Kombat paid off.
If you’re not liking your favourite family member’s abilities, don’t worry! The developers have teased that each family member will have an individual skill tree to improve the abilities’ cooldowns and effectiveness, as well as some fun changes to the parameters of the skills. More details will come in a developer update later down the line.
The Victims
Of course, what would the family members be without victims to hunt down. Whilst searching for their missing friend Maria Flores, the victims have come across the family, and now must escape and narrowly avoid death. So far, 5 victims have been confirmed: Julie, Leland, Connie, Sonny and Ana. Similar to the family members, each victim will have their own attributes and abilities. One of my favourites is Leland’s life saver ability to charge into a family member and temporarily stun them. A close second place goes to Connie’s ability to pick a lock one time without having a lockpick. It’s pretty useful! Again, these will be upgradable in the skill tree. In terms of attributes, each character will also have different toughness, endurance, strength, proficiency, and stealth stats, but let’s be real, we all just pick our characters based on who has the coolest outfits anyways.
What is the Texas Chainsaw Massacre’s Gameplay
The Beginning of the Match
The victims and Leatherface start the match in the basement. This means that even the start of the matches are intense. In fact, the basement can be surprisingly difficult to get out of. I had several times where I got out of the basement just to be chased back down by family member waiting on the other side. There are several ways out, but it does take a few rounds to get used to its confusing layout.
For the family members, this starting time was good to set-up traps and locks. Playing as the Hitchhiker who starts outside, it is a great opportunity to find the generators to electrify the front and rear escapes. There is counterplay to this, but it does slow down survivors quite significantly.
Stealth and Chase
Stealth is a huge component of this game. Almost every interaction a victim must do has a noise meter, where if you press too fast, the family members will hear you. Sometimes it’s necessary, such as pushing open a crawl space as you hear a chainsaw behind you. There are also obstacles designed to mess up your stealth, such as hanging beads of bones and chickens in cages. To remain stealthy, you can also turn off lights or destroy these obstacles.
However, once the family members find you, it’s time to run! The best thing to do is find small gaps that can slow down your pursuer. Think of holes in the walls, or jumping over a table. Only the smaller family members can fit through, and they have to wait until the victim’s animation has finished. If you are being chased outside, there are a couple of wells that you can jump down back into the basement. Even if it completely negates your progress, it’s better than being dead!
Items
The victims can pick up several powerful items, with a maximum of 2 items in your inventory. In my few hours of gameplay, I found the unlock tool to be my go-to. So many of the ways out require unlocking doors or gates, to the point that I sometimes carried two. Another really fun item is the bone knife. This can cut down the hanging beads which make noise, and even can be used to temporarily knock out Grandpa and other family members.
Speaking of grandpa, the family members also have some items to pick up, in the form of blood. Scattered around the map are buckets of blood. You feed this blood to Grandpa sitting in the main house. This will level him up, and each level he unleashes a scream that reveals the auras of moving victims. This is extremely useful to locate victims. At the highest level, Grandpa permanently reveals victims’ auras, so you definitely want to escape before this happens. Thanks Grandpa!
Escape
Of course, the victims are trying to escape through one of each map’s 4 exits. Some require patience, and others require a certain sequence of items. Playing during the technical test, I learnt that it was important to find which exit was unguarded, as they can only guard 3 of the 4 exits at any given time. Thus, if they were all outside, that’s the time to open up the basement exit. It certainly was a challenging task to escape, especially if your team is uncoordinated. But it was good fun!
How Many Maps Will Be In The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Game
So far, we have seen the blueprints for 3 different maps featuring iconic locations from the franchise. They are the family house, the gas station, and the slaughterhouse. Each map will have different ways to hide and escape, but as of writing, we have only seen gameplay of the Family House Map.
Overall, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Game is one of my most anticipated games of 2023, and certainly looks to be a great addition to the multiplayer horror game genre. If you want to keep up to date with the game’s development before its release on August 18th, make sure to check out the game’s social media, YouTube Channel, or the website’s community hub for new updates.
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