Officially licensed Friday the 13th game clears Kickstarter goal

By Danny Cowan November 11, 2015

Friday the 13th: The Game - Official Announcement Trailer

Gun Media has reached its Kickstarter goal for

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Friday the 13th: The Game, ensuring a release next year for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PCs.

In Friday the 13th: The Game, players can assume the role of a Crystal Lake camp counselor stalked by slasher movie icon Jason Voorhees. In a unique twist, the game also allows players to control Jason himself as he attempts to track down his victims.

Friday the 13th: The Game is an asymmetrical multiplayer game in which up to eight players try to survive a night at Friday the 13th film series setting Camp Crystal Lake. Seven players control counselors, while the eighth player controls Jason in an open-world killing spree.

Presenting its gameplay from a third-person perspective over the course of a single night, Friday the 13th: The Game opts out of the psychological approach adopted by many survival horror games, and instead places its focus on stealth-driven gameplay in which players will likely meet a quick and brutal demise.

“It’s a classic horror fan’s dream, no shaky cam, no found footage,” Gun Media assures. “We want you to know we’re revitalizing the golden era of slashers, and putting you at the controls of each horrific, blood-splattered moment.”

Gun Media doesn’t have a high bar to clear when it comes to licensed games based on Friday the 13th. An 8-bit adaptation for the Nintendo Entertainment System published by LJN is widely regarded as one of the platform’s worst games, and a 1985 Commodore 64 version didn’t fare much better.

“The biggest challenge is not screwing this up,” the team admits. “Too many times we’ve seen gaming and movie franchises jump the shark or take a beloved character and throw them through the mud. We’re working on a game that demands a lot of horror and tension, but we’re giving players the control to create those scenarios. That’s a lot of balancing, that’s a lot of testing and that’s a lot of immersion and depth. The biggest challenge is that we do it right and that we deliver a title that lives up to the expectations of all fans.”

Friday the 13th: The Game has met its initial funding goal of $700,000, and will launch next October for consoles and PCs.

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