The horror legends of yesteryear are making a big comeback across cinema, with studios fast-tracking reboots or new installments for A Nightmare on Elm Street, Jeepers Creepers and Friday the 13th. In fact, it’s the latter retelling that will hit theaters first, with Platinum Dunes aligning the film for release in May of 2016. But what of the video game industry?
Supermassive recently knocked the really rather difficult concept of a narrative-driven horror game out of the park with Until Dawn, which released to much critical acclaim earlier this year. Placing a unique spin on the cabin-in-the-woods set-up, the studio’s unique and interactive adventure has proven to be one of the sleeper hits of the year, and Gun Media will be hoping to piggyback off that buzz with their own horror title.
Originally revealed as Summer Camp earlier this year, the studio has now launched its project on Kickstarter with the aim of securing $700,000, even getting the blessing – and, crucially, license – from Friday the 13th creator and director Sean S. Cunningham. What sets the team’s project apart, though, is the fact that players will be able to pick up the infamous hockey mask as the marauding Jason Voorhees.
“But actually what intrigues me just as much, if not more, is the ‘killer vs. victim’ dynamic,” Gun Media’s Ronnie Hobbs says. “This is a staple of slasher films and something we’ve yet to see fully realized in the video game industry.”
Yes, Camp Crystal Lake beckons once more, and as the first Friday the 13th game since 1989, there’s already a crackle of excitement surrounding Gun Media’s licensed title. You can find more information via the official Kickstarter page, with exactly 29 days remaining on the crowdfunding campaign.
You get to stalk camp counselors in Camp Crystal Lake and brutally kill in new and inventive ways (as well as some that will seem all too familiar). Grab a counselor in a choke hold, pick them up off the ground, and smash their face into a tree. Repeatedly. Or how about lifting a counselor up above your head as they kick and scream, holding them aloft long enough to walk near a rack of farm spikes to slam your victim down upon them? Yes, you get to do that because that’s what Jason does. He’s an unflinching, brutal killing force; the ultimate predator, and for the first time ever YOU control this horror icon.
