Everything we know about The Texas Chain Saw Massacre

Ever since Dead by Daylight took the world by storm in 2016, asymmetric multiplayer games became a staple subgenre for survival horror. In 2017, Gun Interactive took things to the next level, introducing a game solely focused on one horror film franchise Friday the 13th. Now, the team that brought Jason Vorhees to your home console aims to do the same with Leatherface in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.

First revealed during The Game Awards 2021, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is an asymmetric multiplayer horror game starring everyone’s favorite chainsaw-wielding psycho. However, the new game looks to separate itself from Gun Interactive’s previous entry by offering up three killers in matches instead of one. So, as we near the game’s August 18 release date, here is everything we know about The Texas Chain Saw Massacre so far!

Give a warm welcome to the Sawyer family

Since the game’s announcement, Gun Interactive CEO Wes Keltner elaborated on the emphasis of making The Texas Chain Saw Massacre feel distinct with multiple killers. In a previous statement from last year, he explains that including additional killers to matches not only ramps up the tension, but also stays more true to the game’s source material. Fans of the horror film franchise will appreciate that detail, as all members of the Sawyer family were threats throughout the movies.

Well, when it came to the design of Texas [Chain Saw Massacre] we knew that 3 vs. 4 was different. All the mechanics and features are built around this fundamental rethinking of asymmetrical multiplayer. Additionally when you look at the ’74 film, you’ll note there’s an entire family to deal with, not just Leatherface. So it felt natural to have three killers chasing victims.

Wes Keltner

With the strategic design choice of including three killers for each match came the new challenge of balancing gameplay. To accommodate for the triple threat, the developers spent additional time ensuring the game’s levels, as well as the killers’ abilities, don’t make winning impossible for survivors.

Recreating a foreboding world

Another way Gun Interactive stays faithful to the 1974 film is through the game’s environmental design. In a showcase, Gun displays a side-by-side comparison of locations from the movie as recreated in the game. Apart from photorealistic visuals, the locations look spot-on in nearly every small detail.

The locations look so much like the original movie, they almost appear identical. From the lighting to the placement of items within the environments, everything appears like a one-to-one transfer.

Capturing the sound of horror

Apart from staying faithful visually, Gun also employed advance sound design to capture authentic audio to immerse players as well. In one behind-the-scenes video, the team elaborates on the attention to detail spent recreating the sound of the chainsaw itself. You can watch for yourself below.

One way the team employed authenticity is by recording the noises of a chainsaw from the era of the film. They explain that while a modern chainsaw would have been easier to handle, the sound would be too inauthentic. Additionally, the SFX artist utilized a variety of high-end microphones placed in different positions to capture the chainsaw sounds from all different angles for a deep stereo experience.

Prepare for a visceral experience

From all the gameplay revealed thus far, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre shows no mercy. In the first unrated gameplay trailer, the intense chase sequences and kills hold no punches.

Throughout the game, victims will need to navigate claustrophobically tight spaces as the Sawyer family systematically hunts them down. With danger at every corner, there’s no time to rest. Victims must take advantage of everything in their surroundings to escape.

The grisly kills also deliver on the visceral feeling in the movies. From slitting throats to chainsaw impalements, players can expect brutal deaths. Another short trailer released recently also reveals more devastating kills, as you can see below.

Make use of some deadly attributes

Those who favor playing on the evil side can take advantage of a variety of unique abilities across the game’s five family members. However, to balance the killers, each of the family members also have trade offs that make teamwork crucial to killing off the victims. Overall, each of the killers will fall into three main attribute categories that serve their own purpose in gameplay.

The Savagery attribute increases the amount of damage dealt with melee hits. However, as opposed to substituting simple strength, Savagery refers more to a proficiency level to killing best used in conjunction with Endurance.

Speaking of Endurance, the second attribute deals primarily with your killer’s stamina. All melee attacks drain stamina, which in turn, affects damage. Higher endurance means more stamina and a quicker recharge rate.

Lastly, the Harvesting attribute affects the amount of blood you gain for Grandpa when interacting with Victims. However, this will not impact the amount of blood you gain from buckets around the map. Depending on your Harvesting stat, hits, grapples and kills will determine how much blood you collect from victims.

Each killer offers something special

Although only three killers will be active during a match, the game offers five total family members to choose from. Each character brings something special to the table to suit a variety of different playstyles.

The Cook: Seek

The Cook has the Seek ability, which allows him to better hear and detect strange sounds. His perceptiveness allows him to focus in on noises and hone in on the location of victims.

Sissy: Bane

Sissy’s Bane ability allows her to craft poisons from local plants. She can then use these poisons either directly in the faces of victims or to contaminate other items around the map.

The Hitchhiker: Trap

The Hitchhiker is phenomenal with laying traps to devastating effect. Using simple piles of bones, these traps can alert him of any unsuspecting victim caught.

Johnny: Hunt

Johnny can use his Hunt ability to stalk and track victims. Able to see fresh footsteps, Johnny can quickly locate anyone nearby.

Leatherface: Maim

With his trusty chainsaw, Leatherface can utilize his Maim ability to dismember any unfortunate victim in his path. In addition, Leatherface can also use his ability to destroy crawl spaces and barricades, leaving victims more wide open and unable to hide.

Let’s meet the victims

Like the family, each of the victims also have multiple attributes and specific abilities to give them an edge. For the victims, their attributes fall into five categories: Toughness, Endurance, Strength, Proficiency and Stealth.

Toughness refers to the amount of damage players can take and their overall survivability. With higher toughness, you can not only take more damage, but you’ll also recover your health much faster.

Endurance deals with your stamina. Players with higher endurance will have faster recharge times, in addition to more overall stamina.

Strength deals with how effective a victim is when interacting with a family member. Higher strength can increase the sun effect for actions like sneak attacks, close encounters and bursting out of hiding spots.

Proficiency refers to how victims deal with skilled tasks like lock picking. Victims with higher proficiency can accomplish such tasks quicker and more effectively.

Lastly, the stealth attribute influences victims’ abilities to perform actions silently. The better a character’s stealth, the less likely they’ll be noticed by killers.

Now, let’s look at each of the five victim’s unique special abilities.

Connie: Focused Ability

Connie’s focus allows her to pick locks much faster without consuming the unlock tool. However, the drawback is that it will affect her stamina and family proximity warnings.

Sonny: Heightened Sense

Sonny has heightened senses that allow him better situational awareness. This gives him the ability to detect noises, pinpoint their location and track their movements.

Julie: Ultimate Escape

Julie can utilize her Ultimate Escape to make family members unable to track her while also getting significantly reduced stamina drain for a short time.

Leland: Life Saver

Leland’s strength translates into his Life Saver ability which allows him to bump charge and stun family members. He can use this ability to interrupt fatal clashes with killers for himself or other players.

Ana: Pain is Nothing

Ana’s Pain is Nothing ability significantly reduces the amount of damage she takes from attacks and falls. The added buff also gives her temporary immunity to poison.

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre slashes into your house this August

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is developed by Sumo Digital and published by Gun Interactive. The game launches on August 18 for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One and PC.

Are you excited to jump into this new terrifying experience based on the classic horror film? As always, let us know what you think down in the comments!