Summary
The developers behind the upcomingTheTexas Chainsaw Massacrehave stated that they wished to not see the game go down the same route asFriday the 13th: The Game. Much likeFriday the 13th,Texas Chainsaw Massacreis an asymmetrical horror game based on the successful 1974 film, with the game acting as a pseudo-prequel while featuring iconic locations.The Texas Chainsaw Massacrehas the same developer that worked on the 2017Friday the 13thgame, Gun Interactive, with a lot of the same staff and developers. Considering the circumstances that ended up axingFriday the 13th, Gun Interactive made sure that wouldn’t happen withTexas Chainsaw Massacre.
Back whenFriday the 13thwas hitting its stride with a year of post-launch support, the horror franchise ended up being caught in an ugly and lengthy legal battle, which affected the development of the game itself. Illfonic and Gun Interactive were told that they couldn’t develop any more content for the game, which also resulted in the multiplayer servers being shut off in 2020. Gun then announced thatFriday the 13th: The Gamewould then be delisted from digital storesat the end of 2023 due to Gun’s license expiring, with online play shutting down a year later. The studio’s creative director went into detail about howThe Texas Chainsaw Massacrewill avoid the same fate that Jason Vorhees and his franchise did.
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In a PCGamesN interview with creative director Ronnie Hobbs, he states thatthe legal situation surroundingFriday the 13thwas incredibly complicated, due to the franchise having multiple rights holders. WithTexas Chainsaw Massacre, however, there is only one sole owner of the IP, Kim Henkel, and the developers had been working closely with him from not only a creative, but legal perspective. Hobbs stated that they were extremely thorough in making sure the game’s launch was smooth and wouldn’t be beset by any legal trouble.
Hobbs also went into how Kim Henkel was involved in creating the game with Gun Interactive, along with the wiggle room that the team was provided when adapting the IP to a game. WithThe Texas Chainsaw Massacre’s prequel premise, it allows for more original content not directly lifted from the franchise to be included in the game. Hobbs also hints that possible expansions could be made as things move forward, but notes that film rights are a complicated web to untangle.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacreshares a lot of gameplay aspects withFriday the 13th, where it provides plenty of escape options, searching for items, and finding ways to open each exit. Gun Interactive has been doing a lot to polish the experience ofTexas Chainsaw Massacre, stating that its goal was to “push the asymmetrical horror genre as much as possible,” which meant learning from the troubles that cropped up when working onFriday the 13th.
The Texas Chain Saw Massacrewill release on August 18 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
