Before we get too far into this review, I want to throw out a few disclaimers. First off, my review is strictly based on pre-release gameplay where I was pitted against other “journalists.” I hate throwing my hat in the ring with them since I am not paid to do this, it’s just a hobby for me, but it is what it is. Additionally, I am probably not the best critic when it comes to asymmetric gameplay; I’ve played every major release in this small genre and I have yet to find one that really struck me as something more than a way to kill some time in private lobbies with friends. Now that we have this out of the way, let’s look at The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. 

If you’ve played Dead by Daylight or Friday the 13th, you know what you’re getting into, but there are a few mild changes that set this apart from those releases. The biggest is that the killers are much higher in numbers. You can play as either The Family or the victims, in a 3v4 standoff that tasks Leatherface and his family with killing the victims before they escape. It’s definitely a situation where if you’ve played one of these games, you’ve kind of played them all. The only mechanic that truly felt new to me was the addition of Grandpa, the elder member of the clan that is immobile, but is still bloodthirsty. Literally. You have to collect blood from buckets and such or by killing the victims to feed him, which in turn grants the entire team buffs and occasionally blips that allow them to see where the victims are.

There is something else that sets this apart from other games in the genre, albeit unintentionally by the developers – the survivors are generally more coveted than the killers. They are only slightly less powerful than the killers, come in greater numbers, and generally start off in a better position on the map. Even more confusing is the fact that Leatherface is fairly unpopular once you start matching with more veteran players. I’ve still to this day never been able to match properly in Predator Hunting Grounds as the Predator, but here we are where I had to play as Leatherface almost every single time I played via the quick match option. Making matters worse, someone in the lobby has to be Leatherface as a requirement to start the game and if no one selects him before the countdown reaches zero, the lobby is disbanded and you’re required to start the lengthy matchmaking process from scratch. I feel like a better choice would’ve been having the system randomly select one of the Family members to swap characters and proceed, but that’s just me. And before you say “be the bigger person,” I was many times, literally.

Don’t get me wrong, when you find someone and give chase as Leatherface, it’s thrilling and easily the high point of my time with the game, but starting off as him is a pain. Half of the maps require you to go through a series of motions that is just downright frustrating and easily gives the victims an unneeded head start. I’ve even had a few matches where the survivors escaped before I could even find my way out of the basement. He always begins in the basement of the map, generally has to pull out his chainsaw, rev it up in a mini-game and then bust his way through some specific assets to make it out into the rest of the map. There are many holes that the victims can slide through to easily evade him, and most of the other killers can’t even slide through either. It definitely feels unbalanced unless you catch one of the fodder players in the open.

The game looks great outside of the frame rate issues we’ll revisit later. Everything looks dingy and dirty like I was transported to the Sawyer (or Hewitt depending on which version of the film is your favorite) residence from the film, even if it was missing the standard John Larroquette narrated opening. Even the character models lean more on realism as opposed to the slightly cartoonish look of similar games. While Sumo Digital put great care into replicating the look and feel of the original film here, there isn’t much to do outside of grinding through the same three maps that come in night and day flavors. There is a brief tutorial that explains the basics and then multiplayer, which hinges on filling lobbies or talking 3 of your friends to play with you in a private game. Most of the meat comes in the form of a larger-than-average skill tree for each character that buffs their individual abilities. I am sure more maps will come as time goes on, but I personally would have loved some additions from the other films in the franchise in the form of maps or characters, specifically R. Lee Ermey’s Sheriff from the early 2000s remake. I also would’ve enjoyed some form of single-player modes as well, even if I had to practice against bots to really hone my skills.

There are some technical issues as of now that may be ironed out at launch, but as it stands, there are frequent framerate drops when conflict erupts, which impacts not just those in the thick of battle but everyone in the game. Additionally, I ran into connectivity issues that I initially chalked up to journo’s quitting, but as much as it was happening I feel like they were disconnected largely due to seeing it first hand after we installed the game on my wife’s setup in the same room hoping her additional headcount would speed up the matchmaking process. As it stands, you also cannot send invites via the Xbox Menu; you must create a party and give the other people your room code, and even when it works and allows you to group, it throws up error messages at first. I hate to blame the game for player behaviors, but this is also a situation where regardless of which side you’re on, communication is key. I am not sure if the PC players I was matching with were using mics or not, but I never heard a single one of them, and am assuming crossplay voice communication isn’t a thing based on the sheer number of the players I encountered being on PC versus the Xbox pool.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a game that I would struggle to recommend, at least as it is now, simply due to the strict limitations put on how many players you need to proceed and requiring specific characters to be present. I easily spent more time sitting in lobbies and loading screens than in the actual game. In one instance I cycled through lobby after lobby for more than an hour failing time and time again due to either a disconnect, not enough players, or when I was holding my ground in an attempt to try out the last of the characters I hadn’t got to in my other sessions. The success of the game will likely hinge on how the online community runs with it, and since there isn’t an offline component, there’s a good possibility this will be dead on arrival and will shred your money like a chainsaw to the gut.

5 out of 10

Pros

• Faithfully Recreates the Look and Feel of the Original Movie
• You Won’t Have a Hard Time Playing as Leatherface
• Easily the Best Looking Asymmetrical Game

Cons

• You’ll Probably Have to Play as Leatherface All the Time
• Unbalanced Gameplay
• Framerate and Connectivity Issues
• Lack of Content

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre was developed by Sumo Digital and was published by Gun Interactive. It is available on PC, PS4, PS5, X1, and XSX. The game was provided to us for review on XSX. If you’d like to see more of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, check out the official site.

 

Here at GBG we use a rating method that you are more than likely familiar with – a scale of 1 to 10. For clarification, we intend on using the entire scale: 1-4 is something you should probably avoid paying for; 5-7 is something that is worth playing, but probably not at full price; 8-10 is a great title that you can feel confident about buying. If you have any questions or comments about how we rate a game, please let us know.

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