The Texas Chain Saw Massacre Preview – Everything’s Bloodier In Texas

Gun Interactive’s Texas Chain Saw Massacre was revealed last year. Although I wasn’t impressed by the short teaser, it did inspire me to see its full potential. It’s one of my favorite horror movie franchises, partly because of how much it still scares me – every good haunted house has a Leatherface at the end that chases you out to the exit, right? – but also because of its backdrop: Texas. Movies and games that feature horror are often characterized by dark atmospheres and spooky ambiences. This was a 1970s trend that Texas Chain Saw Massacre defied. After going hands-on with Gun Interactive’s upcoming asymmetrical 3v4 multiplayer game with the same name, I’m most impressed by how much the otherwise serene Texan farm works as a playground for escape attempts and murder. 

Gun Interactive (formerly Gun Media) is best-known for Friday 13th: The Game. It was published by Gun Interactive for Illfonic. Friday the 13th was my favorite game. It became our nightly play date. It’s home to some of my favorite gaming memories, like turning on a Tiny Tim song so campers would hear it through proximity chat as my Jason went in for the kill. However, intellectual property issues prevented the game from reaching its full potential and it was stopped from being developed beyond regular maintenance. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre’s rights holder was a big fan of Friday the 13th: The Game. Gun Interactive approached him with the idea for the game and the intention to let the studio take the lead. 

“They contacted us, which was a very humbling experience,” Gun CEO Wes Keltner tells me. “We were still with Friday the 13th, and I received an email from the rights holders of [The Texas Chain Saw Massacre]We had previously played this game with them and they loved it. They loved that it was sort of a white glove treatment to Friday the 13th, and they thought, ‘These are the guys. These are the ones we trust that we want to bring our game to market.’” 

Keltner tells me that he speaks with the rights holders of this franchise daily and that they’ve been easy to work with in development. He says rights holders sometimes get a bad rap, but that’s not the case here. They’ve been open to ideas, progressive in pursuing them, and open to letting the team play with this world. 

“Ninety-nine percent of the time, it’s like, ‘Oh my gosh, that’s a great idea, let’s go do it,’ so that’s been really, really cool to work with,” Keltner says, teasing that there might even be some kind of relationship between this game and past and future movies, stopping short of telling me anything more. 

Keltner said that Keltner met with the team and determined the game should be based on the original 1974 film. It was always going to be an asymmetrical game from the jump – that’s what the team does best, after all – but in what way and to what extent they could play with the franchise was a question. The 3v4 format was eventually adopted by the team. It allowed four victims to escape from this Texan farm, and three of its murderers (one being Leatherface), with killing them. 

It’s a unique setup in the already niche realm of asymmetrical horrors currently dominated by the likes of Dead by Daylight, but playing it felt great in a familiar way. Robert Fox III (gun designer) says players have the ability to customize their victims with cosmetics that can directly influence how they behave. These include unlockable skills and perks. He and Keltner say that players will be able to figure out different builds that work best for them, and this, coupled with the game’s customization options and unique 3v4 dynamic, is what they’re hoping keeps players around for 1,000 hours. 

My hour spent playing the game was as Connie. She has the ability to recharge and break open locked doors. This allows her bypass the easy but powerful door unlock minigame. It was extremely useful to smash through locked doors, particularly when Leatherface and the Cook murderer or the Hitchhiker killer were present. 

The match was about to begin when all the four victims were already in the basement. Leatherface was there, too. I liked that because the round started in chaos. You can’t mosey around, deciding how best to escape with your team. There’s likely a chainsaw roaring in your ears, and you need to get out of the basement as soon as possible. Connie’s ability to quickly bust through locked doors made doing that easy, but the house’s first and second floors presented their own set of challenges. That’s where the grandfather NPC resides, and the three playable killers can feed him blood to improve his ability to see and hear where victims might be in the house. It’s also where the Cook and Hitchhiker prowl. 

I didn’t get to play with the Cook, but I did go hands-on with the Hitchhiker. The lanky, slender character cuts at his victims using a small knife. It takes much longer to kill them than Leatherface or his chainsaw. However, killing is just half his arsenal. If a victim walks on the bone trap, it will alert the rest of the house. My fellow murderers and I felt an adrenaline rush when we saw a victim walk on my trap. We all raced to the location to search for a victim. 

In the third match I participated in, I controlled the show’s star, Leatherface. He’s a massive, bouldering figure that’s loud and the exact opposite of agile. That’s okay, though, because where victims can crawl through cracks in a wall or tight gaps, Leatherface can cut right through specific barriers. I liked that I couldn’t spam the chainsaw; it’s loud, and every victim will know where you are when it’s on. It requires that you play an easy and quick minigame to turn it on. This crank worked well and I enjoyed the chainsaw sound to alert victims that I was serious. The left trigger allowed me to throttle the machine for even more volume, which made me giggle maniacally. But the most rewarding part about this character was his ability to kill. His chainsaw takes victims out quickly, with plenty of blood spurting from my weapon’s incision point. 

These killings and escapes took place in front of the stunning Texas sunset. The farm was lush with sunbeams, barns and sheds, green grass, and an eerie house. For fans of the 1974 original film, you will see how meticulously the house was built. There were hanging bodies, blood buckets and knick-knacks. 

“If you watch that film, the majority of it [is] bright, sunshine-y, happy, beautiful vistas, right?” Keltner says. “[That]This allowed us to play with beauty more and found that perfect balance between the macabre, and some things that are serene. There are moments where that, yeah, you’re running for your life, but you may stop by like, ‘Dang, it’s beautiful here.’”

And he’s right! This game is great. It’s a big step up from Friday the 13th’s visuals, but The Texas Chain Saw Massacre still retains some of the jank that fans of the former, if they’re anything like me, came to love about the game. It’s not a massive triple-A game, but the team has crafted it lovingly. And it’s also not quite out yet. It was clear that what I saw was just a preview. The team should massage the game to improve movement, animations, and gore. 

I’m excited to see what the team is able to polish more between now and its 2023 release, and I can’t wait to learn more about skins, how Gun will incorporate other Texas Chain Saw Massacre movies into the game, the other maps, and more. If what I’ve seen so far is any indication, though, I think my friends and I will have a new hangout game next year.