The Texas Chain Saw Massacrea game based on the 70s horror cult of the same name, will make its debut this year on PC, Play Station 4, Play Station 5, Xbox One e Xbox Serie X/S. The game, out on August 18thwas developed by the Sumo Digital studio and published by Gun Interactive, already strong in the horror sector with the famous game “Friday the 13th”.
For horror-loving players, the experience will be familiar, in fact, the game is strongly inspired by its predecessors such as the aforementioned “Friday the 13th” and “Dead by Daylight“. In this retelling of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, players will have the opportunity to choose if you want to impersonate one of the three playable members of the family of gruesome butchersor one of the far more unfortunate ones victimswho, starting from the basement of the macabre house, will have to use all their ingenuity and every means at their disposal to be able to emerge alive from the waking nightmare in which they found themselves.
Strategy is the key to slaughter
The peculiarity of the gameplay of the title focuses precisely on this game dynamic; if in the aforementioned horror games the role of the victims was lost on an immersive level given the numerical imbalance between a single killer and four fugitives, in this title the hierarchy between hunters and prey is re-established, in fact the victims will not find themselves having to escape from a single of family members, but every game will feature the three butchers made famous by the big screen, orvvero Leatherfacewho needs no introduction, the hitchhiker his older brother and the cook, father of the two.
Characterized by obvious physical differencesthese will go to also reflect on the gameplay of the game. Indeed, the older brotheras more agile, will have the ability to move quickly, silently, get around obstacles and will be able to place traps aimed at immobilizing the victims. The father on the other hand, less performing in his movements given his age, he will be characterized by highly developed hearing, which will allow the other two players to detect the position of the victims even while they are moving with particular caution. Last, but certainly not least, the family member who became an icon of the film itself, Leatherface will be characterized by his brute strength and the inevitable chainsaw, which will allow him to pass through any obstacles placed by the victims as if they were made of butter, making the feeling of being hunted ever present and distressing for those who are playing in an attempt to save themselves .
While the father and older brother wield much less elaborate weapons, the chainsaw used by Leatherface constitutes itself a further gameplay articulation, in fact, if you keep it running too much, it will risk blocking, while if you don’t keep it running often enough, its shots will do little damage. It will be up to the skill of the players to find the right balance to deliver blows that will be lethal for their victims.
Finally, too the eldest member of the family will be vital for hunting purposes. In fact, the grandfather, although not a playable character, can be fed by the other members of the family of the massacre with the blood of their victims, and will allow from time to time to locate who is trying to escape from the house.
However, not all the fun is reserved for the ruthless triptych, in fact victims will also have skills at their disposal peculiarities, which will vary from the possibility of immediately opening locked doors up to the more intrepid possibility of charging one’s pursuers frontally, to throw them to the ground and gain time. Central in the action of whoever tries to escape will be thestealthy approachwhich must always be accompanied by extreme attention to the surrounding environments, which will often be littered with sound traps to reveal the position of the victims.
The various skills that can be learned by the characters will be enclosed in skill branches unique for each of them, which will be exploited to the fullest, whether your goal is to be able to survive, or whether you are trying not to let unwelcome witnesses escape. There collaboration and coordination therefore they seem to be the fundamental keys, if not the only ones as regards the victims, to arrive at a victorious outcome of the game, in a game where even just leaving an open door behind could jeopardize the entire game.
Goodies for the more attentive
As for thesetting instead, the development team did not spare themselves, far from it, the game brings back a level of detail graphics and sound nothing short of commendable. The game map is in fact an intricate labyrinth in which to move, between the house, the tunnels that move under it and the external environment, all connected by wells located in the surrounding fields. The idea of the wells provides a further element of choice to the players, who could throw themselves into them in a particularly desperate attempt to buy some time from their executioners, only to find themselves inside the house again.
The interiors of the house themselves were faithfully reproduced from the original setting of the film, and if this were not enough to evoke the original angst that the film conveyed to its viewers, the team took care not to use a chainsaw any to record the sound of the eerie weapon Leatherface wields, but they made sure to source the same model as in the original film, in order to get the same sound. Although there is still no official data on any collector’s versions or on the launch price, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is already visible in the various digital stores, ready to be added to users’ wish lists. For the most ardent fans and lovers of physical merchandise, however, gadgets such as a 24″x36″ poster and various themed clothing items can already be purchased from the game site.
Although by now the asymmetrical horror genre has established itself well on the market, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre manages to re-propose it in a new light and with new game rules. In fact, the games on the side of the victims can erroneously always seem very similar and mainly focused on stealth phases, but having to face three sentient enemies at a time will lead to games that are tremendously different from each other, depending on whether you are facing very aggressive butchers, or more prone to ambushes rather than a frontal approach. The game rewards well-crafted strategic action so much that it’s perhaps worth wondering if we won’t see him one day develop a competitive multiplayer mode. We therefore await further information on this new horror title which we do not doubt will be able to give several hours of play to lovers of the genre. To stay updated and not miss any news, we refer you to our website.
