Friday the 13th
HOW TO BREAK FRIENDS AND EVISCERATE PEOPLE. $55.95 | PC, PS4, XO | www.f13game.com
AS THE NAME suggests, this is based on the film series and is both a tribute to Jason Voorhees’ machete-waving attempts at socialising, and a cleverly crafted game that weaves stealthy scares from its slasher movie tropes. The rules are simple: there are seven teen ‘counsellors’ at a summer camp, all trying to escape Jason. It’s basically one big murderous game of hide and seek. For the teens, it’s about scouring cabins for tools, either to escape Jason or to escape full stop. The options for the latter are limited and mostly involve teamwork. There are cars if you can find gas, a battery and the keys, or a boat, which needs fuel and a propeller, plus you can call the police, who appear at an exit and let survivors flee the scene. For the most part, whatever the plan, you need to find each other and work together.
It creates beautifully frantic, whispered attempts to co-ordinate and escape. Voicechat is used brilliantly here; you can hear anyone if they’re close enough, counsellors and Jason alike. One minute you’re crouched in a corner, discussing where to hide or who has the car keys in hushed tones, the next you’re listening to whoever’s playing Voorhees singing “Found youuu!” as they smash all the windows in with a boat hook. Like the films, this creates comedy horror gold.
None of this would work if it weren’t fantastically balanced. Counsellors can climb through cabin windows, while Jason can only use easily barricaded doors. Jason can’t run but he never tires, while counsellor stamina is gone in an instant, creating slow, inevitable chases. Voorhees can’t die (except under very specific and tricky conditions) but can be stunned and distracted. Mechanically, it’s well crafted to recreate ’80s horror, and nowhere more so than with Jason’s powers: he can warp anywhere on the map to confuse and surprise, a sense mode highlights buildings with people in, and using ‘shift’, he briefly becomes invisible and can move short distances.
But by far his best power is fear itself. Just seeing Jason is enough to induce terror in his victims. Finding bodies or seeing people killed raises it further, and as it peaks you lose key abilities. A terrified counsellor’s HUD disappears, characters start to cry out and make more noise, drawing attention to themselves. When utterly terrified they appear red on screen, easy pickings for any passing hockey-masked slasher.
The game is a little clunky in places, with glitches and a shaky lobby, but that barely detracts from the fun of a perfectly recreated, playable slasher flick. The only drawback is that you need seven friends to enjoy this. It works with randoms, but the real joy is playing with people you know: all those howling recriminations, the taunts, cheering the kills. Who knew murdering your friends could bring you closer together?