The Texas Chain Saw Massacre Review
"Rev it Up!"
Campaign
This is the latest asymmetrical multiplayer offering, with a focus on The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. It’s an experience where four victims will go up against three members of the family. It’s an interesting setup as typically we only see one killer hunting a bunch of survivors in this sort of scenario.
The games are specifically set across a few map locations and it’s about learning the best methods for either hunting or escaping on each of the spaces. That’s the core of the game, just the singular game mode but that is to be expected from this type of game so no issues there.
Victims
As one of the four victims you’ll be moving through the maps using stealth for the most part. You start hung up from the rafters and need to struggle to escape which helps teach you the basic wiggle input for interacting with any object. You start out in the basement and need to find some tools to help with opening locks on doors to make it upstairs.
You then follow a similar method to find a way to escape. You can choose between knocking out generators, blowing gas pipes or even powering a door. You’ll learn of the differing ways as you play, and as you’re chased about by the family.
The Family
This is the other perspective, where you’re hunting down the victims. There’s always a Leatherface in the family team which spawns in the basement beside the victims. The other two will appear near exits and need to move onto the regular map to begin their hunting.
This team varies quite a bit as some will setup trap type creations whereas others will literally just be listening in to find prey. A lot of this aspect also relies on you feeding your grandfather some blood that you collect while exploring the map. The grandfather will create howling alerts that assist in finding the victims.
Gameplay
The core part of this experience is really the interactions between the two factions. I find that in most scenarios the family has quite an edge to the point removing one family member may even things up. At the same time I find that you can swiftly just leave the maps as the victims if you get the right chain of events to line up.
It’s a strange mix as some matches are very much full of conflict whereas others on both sides, I often find myself wondering where the opposition is. I quite like the chase aspects of the game since there are many rules to how you slip into the areas. Some of the family are limited in which crawl spaces they can enter, or which they can destroy and that leaves opportunities for the victims to get away for a time.
There are also some decent options for escaping the estate, though honestly I’d just hop a very low fence that’s everywhere around the properties. Jokes aside it’s an interesting setup though one that does get stale after awhile since there are only a few maps and they don’t really change up much aside from some item locations. You really do end up doing the exact same thing which while fun for a bit can eventually cause some burn out.
It also doesn’t help that the lobby system is rough in this. You have to wait a long time for some players as all seven lobby members must ready up to start. Some are sitting there working through the varied skill tree of perks to improve any of the characters or others are just idling. It can be frustrating, then there’s also the XP glitch where you aren’t leveling at times or de-leveling which is ever so strange.
Other than that it really does run fine, I had one issue getting stuck on the edge of a well but otherwise through many matches it ran just perfectly smooth. When it comes to the Xbox Series X you get two graphical modes, the first is a performance option which is dynamic 1080p at 60fps and the second is quality where it’s 4k 30fps. There’s also Dolby Atmos support for sound.
The game does aesthetically look really cool being grim in terms of what you come across and cluttered as this sort of environment should be. The tall grass and shadows are fun to hide in while the busy rooms offer neat things to see as you run. It is clear where you can go, and the objectives are open but they make sense as you continue to play.
The Conclusion
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre delivers on horror and exciting gameplay while also at times coming across as rather repetitive. The lobby system really needs some quick adjusting and I hope the level up issues get smoothed out. This is fun to play whether you’re escaping as the victim or chasing as the family.
The differing characters all have their own special trait and it’s fun to play as the unique options to get a feel for what they bring to the table. The family can be downright crazy with their audio lines and that was excellent. I do ponder the long term of this one though as the content does feel somewhat limited since the environments don’t really shift much and you learn the spaces too effectively.
It definitely has a good hook to it that I enjoyed but I still think I fancy Friday the 13th a tad more. This does provide a nice new option within the space however, so I believe fans of this asymmetrical multiplayer style of play will feel right at home with this one.
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The Texas Chain Saw Massacre Review on Xbox Series X
Review Code Provided by Evolve PR
Rating Overall: 7.4
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