Friday The 13th: 1v7 Multiplayer Murder On Kickstarter
Murder, murder
A 1v7 multiplayer game with a near-supernatural killer hunting down hapless teenagers at a summer camp sounds grand to me. Third-person murderfest Slasher Vol 1: Summer Camp was announced earlier this year, but has since picked up a license to the slasher movies it's riffing off and is simply Friday the 13th: The Game [official site]. I'm not bothered about the license - Braindead and Hellraiser were more my type - but dang, the game idea tickles my murderfancy. If that's up your (Elm) street, hey, it's now on Kickstarter for funds to finish development.
Friday the 13th is being made by Gun Media, the folks behind Breach & Clear, along with IllFonic Studios, whose work includes the commercial version of Nexuiz and prototyping Star Citizen's FPS module. Neither has produced something truly great, but they have released games. They've also dragged in horror makeup maestro Tom Savini, Friday the 13th composer Harry Manfredini, and recent Jason actor Kane Hodder. Having landed the license, they decided to expand their plans, hence Kickstarter.
The role of Jason Voorhees is pretty clear - murder everyone brutally with melee and environmental kills - but what about the camp counsellors? Their objective is to find a way to escape, such as repairing a boat, and maybe they can slow Jason or even kill him. They're class-based and come in classic horror victim archetypes, so the nerd might be better for repairing phonelines to call the rozzers or the final girl might have a better chance to kill Jason. It sounds grand, if they can balance it.
They're looking for $700,000 (£450,000) on Kickstarter and, with 11 days still to go, it's almost at $600k. Pledging $30 (£20) would get you a copy of the finished game, which is due in October 2016. Stretch goals are, ah, interesting - mostly adding violent new murder animations for Jason. They'd like to make a single-player mode too, but don't promise one. Here's the pitch:
If you dig slasher movies, do also have a gander at the traps and antics of Lakeview Cabin Collection. My only other point of gaming reference for slasher movies is Horrorshow Quake, and I suspect Friday the 13th will be nothing like that.