I’d like to say that my predictions for The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Game weren’t true, and that it was extremely popular. It’s gotten a bit of a bump for spooky season. While The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Game doesn’t capture the same sense of dread the film invokes, it does have some exciting moments as you try to escape with your lives.
Screenshot: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Game
So Gun media has a thing with horror movie IPs and asymmetrical horror games, that’s apparent. Their previous entry into this niche sub-genre, Friday the 13th, developed by Illfonic, didn’t do so great after a lawsuit destroyed any chances of that game getting further updates. That’s was a bummer, but The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Game sounded like a great follow-up. Developed by British studio Sumo Nottingham, Gun had new talent working on yet another horror IP–so what could go wrong this time?
I would love to say that asymmetrical multiplayer games were more common, but sadly, there hasn’t really been any great examples since Left 4 Dead, Left 4 Dead 2 and Evolve. There’s an argument to be made for Dead by Daylight, but it doesn’t quite capture the feel of a team working against another team. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Game does scratch the itch for that a bit.
Screenshot: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Game
In The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Game you can play as four survivors trying to make their way out of the house of the murderous Sawyer family. Or you play as the family themselves in a 4v3 format (four survivors, two family members and Leatherface) Each survivor and family member has their own strengths, weaknesses, and abilities to exploit. It’s all pretty run-of-the mill, and makes some characters shine over others. There are also environmental hazards and obstacles that either the survivors or family can exploit, depending on the context. For instance, survivors can run under obstacles that might block family members, while the family can open/lock doors–or even just bust through obstacles.
I would love to speak to the longevity of this game, but The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Game servers are mostly empty. They have even turned off crossplay between PC and console players due to hackers running rampant on PC. So if you own the game on PC, you’re just shit out of luck until these issues are patched out. And by that time, who will care? This game doesn’t have the longevity to last past a few months. It’ll have a DLC or two and then get lost to the next streaming sensation.
Screenshot: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Game
Something that Dead by Daylight did right was have a general IP. There are only so many ways you can exploit The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. And while the game did a great job in its visual recreation of the movie, it didn’t really capture the feel of the film.Sure, it kinda looks like the movie, but the claustrophobic horror and dawning realization of the family’s depravity are all lost to character select screens and character abilities. At least Friday the 13th had schlock built in. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre invoked an acute sense of dread that would be hard to recreate in a game, let alone an asymmetrical multiplayer game. At least I know this game will never be popular enough that Leatherface will make his way into Fortnite.
Hey, it wasn’t all bad. I did get to go to a pre-release party and meet Kane Hodder and some of the cast of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre as well as some actors that did work for the game. I also met some influencers with questionable marketing suggestions and $75 dollar an hour consulting fees. Also, we didn’t get prerelease keys, and smaller publications were relegated to getting post-release keys, guaranteeing that we’ll lose out on the The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Game’s moment. Because that’s all it really had, just a flash and it was gone, off of the radar of most gamers, and into obscurity where it belongs.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Game is available now for Xbox Series S|X, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5, and for PC via Steam.
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