The newest addition to the PVP horror genre adds new scares, tantalizing gameplay, and amazing variety in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is the newest addition to the asymmetrical PVP horror genre, a market that has had minimal releases making a splash of late. The tidal comes from Sumo Digital, one of the biggest British gaming developers, who recently celebrated 20 years in the industry.
The publishers were Gun Interactive, who have experience in the horror genre with Layers of Fear 2 as well as being responsible for the publishing of one of the biggest asymmetrical horrors of the time, Friday the 13th: The Game, in 2017. This suggests The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is in good hands as, before their licensing issues, Friday the 13th was one of the best PVP horrors.
Releasing on PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox One and Series S/X and PC, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre has crossplay available, so playing with friends on different platforms is possible, and queue times are massively reduced due to the larger player base. Along with being released on so many consoles, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre was also free to play with the Xbox Game Pass, making it accessible to an even larger audience.
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre came out on 18th August 2023 and was met with much excitement from fans of both the Texas Chainsaw films and PVP horror games in general. The appeal to fans of the series is increased by the reappearance of Kane Hodder, the stunt actor who was the original Leatherface in the 1974 film.
He performed the motion capture for the game so the appearance and actions of the character feel very true to the original. Edwin Neal also returned to voice the Hitchhiker, one of the members of the family who tracked down the survivors trapped in the house. The presence of these actors is a fun easter egg for those familiar with the original film.
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre opens with a scroll over a black screen that tells the events that lead up to the games that are about to take place. The story is of Maria Flores, a woman in her early 20s who went missing in Texas and fell victim to The Family. This then leads to the playable online games that make up the content of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.
The story of each of these games follows a group of teens who have travelled to where Maria was last seen in an attempt to find her. The Family, including Leatherface, have captured the survivors and have them trapped in the house, which they must now escape.
While the story of every match follows this same outline, the player can cause it to differ by picking different survivors and family members for every game. These characters exist to allow different perks to come with each one, varying the gameplay for each match. For the survivors, this can affect how much noise they make, how fast they can run, and how quickly they can complete a task. The families differ in their stamina, how lethal they are, and how much blood they can gather from their victims.
The aim of each round of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is explained as the player first launches into a game as either a survivor or as a part of the family. A tutorial video opens that explains how the game is played as well as gives tips and tricks for while you are playing. The video is really informative and tells the player what to do in a very entertaining way. There are separate ones for the family and survivors, with both being equally helpful.
It would probably be helpful to have a game against bots available to learn the mechanics while playing. This is common for many PVP games, so it is very strange that this was not included in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, particularly as some of the features are things I haven’t seen before in similar games. This includes the deterioration of the survivors and the blood collecting the family has to do. Both of these are explained in the opening video, but playing them can be a very different experience, so a game against bots would really benefit new players.
The deterioration of the survivors in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is one of the most unique and fun elements in the whole game. This deterioration is given in the lore because the survivors were injured when they were first captured by the family, which means they become slower and also spill blood as the match goes on.
These blood trails can be tracked by the family while the survivors are attempting to escape, meaning the match gets held the longer it is happening. This differs from many PVP asymmetrical horrors that are similar; while they seem to get harder as the one being pursued, it is often because the pursuer is getting stronger rather than them getting weaker.
The injury leading to them slowing down is true for all survivors, but beyond that, each one of the characters in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre has perks and traits that go with them. For the survivors, this can affect how a survivor chooses to play.
Most players will start off playing as Connie, as she has the most balanced stats, being fairly good at each of the traits the survivors have. Along with these traits, there are skill trees that can be progressed through in a variety of ways, meaning there can be a lot of unique ways to play each character.
This added variety is an excellent addition to the game. It is hard not to compare The Texas Chain Saw Massacre to Dead by Daylight, a game by Behavior with a similar concept. One of the common complaints about DbD is the lack of variety between each of the survivors, as each of the perks is available to every survivor after a certain level. This means that there isn’t a change in the speed or stamina of the characters, for example. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre has this issue to a lesser extent, as each of the character traits and skill trees means every survivor feels very different.
The family members also have traits that differ from each other, and this can affect the savagery with which they can kill their victims, their stamina, and the amount of blood they can gain from buckets and victims. This blood plays a very unique role in the game as it activates Grandpa. Once blood has been collected, it can be fed to Grandpa, allowing him to have a radius with which he can detect survivors if they cross by him.
This is a fantastic feature in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre as it splits the attention of the family. They are far more powerful than the victims, so if they are laser-focused on them it can make the survivor role feel a little relentless. However, the duty to feed Grandpa means the killer’s aims are split as they have a few more tasks they must complete.
Like the survivors, there is a well-balanced character that a player can start with; in this case, it is Johny who has even stats across the board, although most would likely start with Leatherface due to his iconic nature in the cannon and increased savagery making him look like the most fun character.
This isn’t a huge issue, however, as I found all killers and survivors came with their own joys and frustrations, with one not being a hugely overpowered or more fun character to take on. The loading scene in each match allows the players to see who they are up against, meaning once you have become very familiar with each of the characters, you can start to counter-pick in a very effective way. A fun trick with this can be levelling up a character to make them play very differently from how they do at the base to throw the opposition off. Due to the varied skill tree, this is possible.
Seeing who you are up against can cause an issue with some people not selecting their character until the last second, making waiting in the lobby sometimes last a little longer than necessary, although this is fairly infrequent.
One of the joys of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is the differing methods of escaping. Once the game has started, the survivors need to make their way out of the basement through one of the blue doors. This wakes up Grandpa and allows the family access to the basement, which can endanger other survivors who may not have had time to find defences yet.
These defences are found from pieces of bone that can be made into shivs. The ability to defend yourself doesn’t exist in many asymmetrical horrors, with running away normally being the only escape, so this does make a fun change.
Once out of the basement, the survivors can choose many differing methods of escape that can be stalled by the family. These can include a vehicle that can be fixed, a road exit with a generator that needs to be turned off, a door that includes finding a fuse box, and a valve exit that can be opened.
As a survivor, many of these ways of escaping are very well explained in the game, with the player being able to follow clear directions that have been laid out. An example of this is the gate that requires a generator, which has a yellow wire next to it that leads all the way from the gate to the generator.
The family has to prevent these escape methods from happening, either by undoing the survivors’ progress or finding and killing them. One of the main ways a member of the family can find a survivor is through the various sound traps that can be located throughout the maps.
These are triggered by both parties and allow the family to gain an idea of where the survivors are hiding from the noise notification and the red ring that will pop up on the screen. These are very effective and add a fun element to the game, as decoys can be placed to distract the family.
Another effective method of finding survivors is when they pass Grandpa and lead him to alert the family. This is a big part of the reason the blood collection is such a necessary part of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. This can be very difficult at times, however, as many of the maps feel like a complete maze.
It can be incredibly hard to find Grandpa in order to give him the blood, which can be very frustrating. The maps are even more like a labyrinth for the survivors who don’t get the opportunity to look around due to the pursuing family.
The balancing of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre feels pretty good. While most games of this genre are often 1 vs. 4, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is 3 members of the family plus the Grandpa NPC and 4 survivors. Some games felt very fairly matched as long as the survivors were able to escape the basement in a timely manner.
The harder to navigate basements, however, were far harder to get out of, putting the survivors at a huge disadvantage once they finally got to the main level. It feels as though an additional survivor could be potentially added to give a slightly more split focus for the family members and to make the game feel a little more evenly-sided.
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre can be a lot more fun when using the team chat as it allows teams to work together, so the in-game chat is a welcomed addition. This can mean that teams without members using voice chat are put at a significant disadvantage, however. However, this is hardly the fault of the game as the option is available, as well as having options for closed lobbies that can be filled just with friends.
Graphically, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is very impressive. The character models all look true to the original film where they need to be, and much of the gore is very effective. There are sections of the game that are truly haunting and disgusting to look at while exploring the environment.
Players may find it useful to make the game a little brighter than the suggested brightness when launching the game. After a few games of wandering around in the dark, most players will find it helpful to just raise the brightness as; otherwise, the darker sections are near impossible to work through.
The sound is absolutely amazing. Much of the gore makes awful noises that can be stomach churning in moments. The voice acting is also very good, thanks to the inclusion of some of the original actors from the film. There are some very realistic screams, and the noises Grandpa makes as survivors pass are so guttural and primal that most players will leap out of their skin upon hearing it.
The gameplay of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is well-varied, exciting, and certainly full of horror. It is a fantastic addition to the asymmetrical horror genre and allows for a very fun experience. The only worry when it comes to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is the longevity of the live service experience. Unlike DbD, a very similar game, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is locked within one IP, potentially meaning there isn’t a great deal of room for expansion. Despite this, the game has a lot of entertainment value and is well worth playing for some very tense online gaming.
