PREVIEW – Darkness surrounds me, my shirt is torn, and I take cover behind a tree while trying to hold back my screams. As I try to clean the blood from my face, it ends up being smeared all over me. I hear a sound and slip into the hollow tree trunk. My prayers are cut in half as an ax hits the ground next to my leg. I scream in terror, I wanted to get up, but the sudden pain in my chest was too much. He sees me, and his gaze is like a spear. I can hear a quite growl from the hockey mask, and then he suddenly strikes with the ax again.

In the 80s, a lot of people had nightmares due to one of the most prominent horror movies called Friday the 13th, in which a group of teens gets slaughtered by Jason Voorhees near Crystal Lake. The serial killer craze started back in 1978 with John Carpenter’s Halloween. After this movie, Hollywood pretty much started releasing such movies from an assembly line for the masses. However, none was able to stand out as much as Friday the 13th. As the movie became a series, we wished to be part of something interactive. Atlus was more than happy to bring us a video game, which later would earn one of Nintendo’s worst video game title.

Later sadly the franchise has been ignored unless we Google some unfinished projects, or browser games (which won’t!). However, this time, it seems that a program is in the making that will hopefully be worth our attention, and money as Gun Media will finally allow us to visit Crystal Lake for the next generation consoles. Let us see what we can expect from the Kickstarter program.

Crazy minds think alike

First of all, it is worth mentioning that in a few days, the team was able to get five hundred thousand dollars from the seven hundred thousand dollars. As I am writing this article, there is still twenty-one days until the team has to gather the money to fully fund the game!
The good thing is that the entire crew of the movie is also behind the production of the videogame is a positive sign for Friday the 13th: The Game. The project is supported by the first movie’s director Sean Cunningham, who only gave his name to good or okay productions, never bad ones. It’s also a good thing that Harry Manfredini, and Tom Savini is helping the project.

Home, sweet home

Seeing a show successful the crowd funding of this game looks, we can say it will be fully funded. If the developers keep their words, then we will get a nightmarish multiplayer game. Multiplayer? YES! Friday the 13th: The Game will be an eight player multiplayer game, where seven players are campers, and one lucky guy gets to be Jason hunting down the rest.

The game’s only objective is to escape! As to how we do that is dependent on us. Banding together with other players, to kill Jason (which will not be easy, as he is stronger than our characters), we can fix the phone lines to contact the authorities, or even fix a vehicle to escape. It is worth noting that the monster will be controlled by a living breathing player this time, who’s the only objective is to cut the players up.

Once we enter the level, we meet our camp mates, who we can team up to survive. However, Jason’s super hearing allows him to sense anything within miles. Creating noise is much easier in a group than alone, so it is a risk being a team player.

Greatness awaits?

A lot of things will make the campers survive the encounters, such as the fear meter, that will make our characters more clumsy, and hasty if the meter runs up. This meter will be influenced by things seen and heard, from unknown sounds the player character will get scared, and if they see one of their teammates they’ll go nuts! If these happen, our character will have a harder time completing their tasks, and they’ll tire quicker. So there will be no issues with the challenge factor.

The question is, though, how will we be able to cooperate with the others, if we know others around us can only cause trouble, or slow us down? I wonder how many times we’ll throw them at Jason so that we can save ourselves, and how many times they’ll throw us in front of Jason? The opportunities are endless in this environment. The fear itself!

A+ for atmosphere!

Based on the pictures, and videos from the game we can safely say that the atmosphere will be top notch. The constant darkness, the sounds, and the shadows will provide such environment that no player will be able to resist it. The levels will be a constant nerve racking experience, which will be aided by the lack of an AI. Every character will be a real time player, so the mistake factor is way bigger than with an entirely programmed AI. This makes the program more exciting, and tense.

The cherry on the cake is that there is no time limit, so a round lasts until we die, or at least one player escapes. We can help each other, but it is important to note that our team player might not so consider it. It is enough to get out! Of course with this only we get to escape, and the others will still be hunted by Jason until everyone else is dead or escape the camp.

Friday night fever!

This is one the most promising Kickstarter projects that I have seen lately, and it is worth following its progress. It is sure that soon all hell will break lose in Crystal Lake Camp on the digital realm, where we get to be the prey, Jason Voorhees. The gameplay looks great, the atmosphere phenomenal. And it will be one of the most anticipated games in the indie category. Let EA, Activision, and Ubisoft stay at AAA; we’re happy that we get something fresh outside of the usual franchises. It’s a plus that it is coming in the form of a Friday the 13th game.

We hope that the next article will be a review, but for now, this is enough for Gun Media’s latest game. If you were not afraid in videogames, played Silent Hill, Penumbra, and Amnesia with a smile on your face, then Friday the 13th: The Game will take that smile off your face. Play it only in the dark!

-Kese-

Publisher: No data

Developer: Gun Media

Genres: Horror/Survival

Publication: TBA