There hasn’t been a Friday the 13th game since 1989 – and that was one of the most hated games on the NES. The bar isn’t set especially high for Gun Media, then, who will now be setting to work on the new possibilities allowed them by the more than $735,000 raised for their new adaptation.
The concept is a contemporary one and makes a lot of sense. Friday the 13th: The Game will be an asymmetrical multiplayer affair in which one player puts on the hockey mask and several others become the jocks, nerds and cheerleaders he’s intent on murdering.
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“One of our major goals is overcoming the stigma that some players have about asymmetrical multiplayer games,” write Gun Media in their Kickstarter pitch. “We know the worst feeling in the world of multiplayer gaming is believing you are ‘stuck’ and ‘without hope’.
“Horror in general, but specifically Friday the 13th, lends itself well to this style of game. We can prove that asymmetrical multiplayer can work, be balanced, fun and frightening as hell.”
The dev team began with a game named Slasher Vol.1: Summer Camp, but were approached by original Friday the 13th director Sean Cunningham earlier this year, who offered them the license they so clearly wanted.
Jason is the chaotic element in every match, and Gun Media are convinced he needs to be intimidating enough to throw players’ plans into disarray. That’s why actor, stuntman and former Jason, Kane Hodder, will be adding his motion-captured bulk to proceedings. He’ll also be directing a team of stuntmen in providing Manhunt-level animations.
They’ve also enlisted legendary effects specialist Tom Savini, whose role is to “creatively kill teenagers in the woods with household implements”.
Gun Media’s stretch goals go very, very high – up to five and a half million dollars – and mostly concern very specific and very gory kill animations. That sound like your sort of thing?