The Texas Chain Saw Massacre Review

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is an asymmetrical 3-vs-4 multiplayer game based on the iconic 1974 horror movie, where three players as Family members attempt to hunt down four players put in the virtual shoes of Victims. As you progress and level up, you’ll earn skill points that can be used to increase skills and attributes to get a leg up when trying to survive as a Victim or being more vicious and dangerous as a Family member. Given that the gameplay vastly differs between Family members and Victims, let’s look at how it plays as a Victim.

Playing as a Victim feels like a brand-new level of tension for a horror game, let alone a multiplayer experience. As a Victim, you need to survive and escape the map. However, every helpful thing you do, walking aside, makes noise. When trying to escape at the beginning of a match, you’ll make some noise if you do it too fast—trying to open a hatch too quickly, noise. Rummaging through boxes and piles of bones, noise. When you interact with something, you’ll need to press X, but a noise meter appears, and if you press X too often or too fast, you’ll alert the Family members. But on the flip side, do it too slowly and one of the maniacs can creep up on you.

Additionally, you’re hurt because you were attacked before the match. You can pick up health items to slow down the damage, but you can’t fully heal yourself. Let the damage go on for too long, and you’ll bleed out, leaving a blood trail for your tormentors to find. Victims can temporarily stun Family members so they can try and escape their line of sight. They can also hide in various house appliances and furniture, such as dressers or freezers. Victims can also duck and be hidden in tall grass. As victims, you can crawl through some small spaces; however, certain Family members can shut them off, forcing you to try and re-open them, making you lose precious time. Victims can also carry only two items at a time, so you’ll need to make some tough choices: Do you keep an unlock tool and a health item or drop one of them for the water valve?

“My family’s always been in meat.” – Hitchhiker

Each Victim has unique abilities that can be unlocked and equipped to stand a chance at survival. Thanks to skill points earned while playing, you can unlock different skill tree paths; once you go in a direction, the rest will be locked (unless you Respec, i.e. reset and refund). So, for example, one of Ana’s skills you can unlock will regenerate your stamina 20% faster once you run out. And the more you play with specific characters, the more they will level up alongside their skills. Once you max out the aforementioned skill, it can go up to 60% less time to regenerate your stamina.  On the other hand, Leland has an endurance skill that will give players a 10% boost in health and stamina if he ends up the last victim. Each character has their own unique abilities, so players are sure to find one that suits their playstyle.

Playing as Family members, you’ll be on the offensive. You have to hunt and kill all four victims before they can escape. While you can play as either Leatherface, Cook, Sissy, Johnny or the psychopathic Hitchhiker from the first movie, Grandpa also has a role here. You can collect blood from victims and bowls of blood scattered around each map. If you give the blood to Grandpa, he will temporarily highlight moving Victims around the map, allowing the family members to head for the location of a Victim. The more you give blood to Grandpa, the stronger it becomes. If you max it out, victims aren’t safe anywhere. Even if hidden, the old man will find them.

Similar to the Victims, each member of the deranged family has their own unique skills and attributes but also kill animation. Alongside this, they all play differently. For example, Sissy can squeeze through small spaces that Victims primarily use to give themselves some distance and her special skill allows you to poison health potions or use her poison to stun Victims temporarily. While Johnny, too bulky to move through small spaces, can enable his skill to find footprints that will lead to a nearby Victim. As you earn skill points, you can unlock a path and increase your character’s attributes. For example, for Sissy, unlocking a specific skill tree will increase your damage output when carrying a full blood vial. Thankfully, you can reset at any time and have your points refunded to try a different path.

Matches are surprisingly tense and borderline stressful, especially as a Victim. As a Family member, it’s pretty straightforward, and nothing really nerve-racking will happen, given Victims can’t really gang up and kill you. Playing as Victims is where the tension is at. While other games, such as Friday the 13th, can be tense (until people start ruining things by helping Jason), there are now three killers pursuing you, and there’s a real sense of foreboding dread because some members can follow a Victim almost everywhere, making sure no Victims are safe. And given that most essential things, such as trying to free yourself at the start, unlocking doors, and rummaging for helpful items, can generate noise if you’re not careful, you’ll be hoping that no one is near.

The game looks excellent; while its visuals won’t rival games like Call of Duty, and also considering its cross-gen, the game is a visual step up from Friday the 13th. Fans of the movie will quickly recognize the various maps as places from the film; everything is so well represented and faithful, clearly showing Sumo Digital’s appreciation for Tobe Hooper’s classic horror flick. The soundtrack is also quite authentic to the 1974 classic; some familiar tracks and soundbites exist. It features a new soundtrack composed by Ross Tregenza and additional tunes by Gun Media’s Wes Keltner and Jim Bonne. It adds a layer to an already taut and nerve-racking experience.

As you’d expect, not all is perfect. The first problem is the lack of bots and single-player content. If a match doesn’t have seven players, you’re booted out back at the menu, meaning that if the player base drops, fewer people are going to get into matches, and more people will move on to something else. Akin to other multiplayer games, whether you’re on Team Family or Victims, if people don’t mic up, it pretty much kills the purpose of this kind of game. It’s a multiplayer game, but if people are still going at it solo, it can ruin part of the experience.

Combat is a bit wonky, as it looks like you’re randomly flailing about. Also, the lack of a mini-map is a bit frustrating at first because you have no idea of the map(s) layout and trying to find Grandpa can waste precious time spent hunting victims instead. Annoyingly enough, trying to level up while playing as a Family member is tedious. Unless you get kills, the amount of XP earned feels like the bare minimum. And microtransactions such as new kills are already available… *sigh*. Additionally, if a match disconnects, you’ll lose any XP earned. We’re in 2023, people. Can’t we figure out a way to not lose amassed XP?

Even as a die-hard fan of single-player content, I’ve been hooked on The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. The game has some surprising depth regarding character customization/upgrades, and whether you’re playing as a Victim or Family member, the gameplay is fun and addictive; it’s a prime example of the old saying “just one more match”. But it’s also a perfect case study of why bots are vital to multiplayer experiences; even if you’re missing one player, the lobby closes, and you’re booted back to the menu. If the player base starts to dip, this could make the game unplayable. At least with Game Pass, it ensures a steady stream of players for now. These nuisances aside, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is definitely worth your time.