The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is a third-person asymmetrical multiplayer horror title from Gun Interactive and Sumo Digital Nottingham. Based on the true story and iconic 1974 movie of the same name, you’ll take on the role of one of the Slaughter Family or one of their victims in three versus four multiplayer matchups. Similar in style to Dead by Daylight and Friday the 13th: The Game, victims are tasked with trying to escape whilst the Family are tasked with brutally murdering all four of them before they can make their getaway.
There really isn’t anything setting The Texas Chain Saw Massacre apart from other similar titles in the genre. The Family must gather blood from buckets and their victims to feed Grandpa, who then lets out a roar revealing all other players’ locations for its duration. They’ll then hunt down their prey making use of their special abilities, setting traps, tracking footsteps, and breaking down barriers with a chainsaw. It’s an enjoyable affair hunting your prey as it cowers in a patch of tall grass thinking it hasn’t been seen. Meanwhile, the less enjoyable to play Victims have very little guidance from the game, as they try to make as little noise as possible scavenging tools to fix up generators, power-up the gates, and escape.
You’ll be able to see the entirety of content on offer within just a handful of hours since most games last less than ten minutes. There’s a total of just three maps that can all be played at dawn or dusk: Slaughterhouse, Family House, and Gas Station — all intricate mazes in their design to allow for the victims to run, hide and evade their pursuers.
There are a total of ten playable characters: five family members — Leatherface, Hitchhiker, Cook, Johnny, and Sissy — as well as five victims, including Julie, Connie, Leland, Ana, and Sonny. Each one has their own progression, abilities, and perks unlockable through their skill trees. There’s a decent range of abilities: climbing up wells, pursuer stuns, and more — all seem useful in the right scenario.
The always-online multiplayer aspect comes with the usual latency issues: you’ll be chasing someone and land an attack but the other person has already run past you, meaning your attack doesn’t hit. We also ended up shutting doors on ourselves rather than behind us due to this issue — it’s incredibly frustrating and can be the difference between a win and a loss. Combined with the occasional visual bugs, precise positioning for interactions, clunky user interface, long lobby wait times, and lack of content, this leaves The Texas Chain Saw Massacre on the floor bleeding out.
