While the idea of running around as Jason Vorhees slicing up camp counsellors sounds like loads of fun, the bit where he teleports around – and occasionally through the centre of the earth – has been received less warmly.
That’s the gist of the reception that has faced Friday the 13th: The Video Game (F13) on Steam, although the game has launched simultaneously on PS4 and Xbox One as well. Amongst PC users, the reception has been quite literally Mixed: the game has a 61% rating from over 3400 reviews at the time of writing.
While the game has a decent player base on Steam right now, with an average of 3000 concurrent players over the last month and peak concurrents of 13,630, it hasn’t been a smooth launch. Bugs have been the biggest problem facing fans and detractors alike, with complaints ranging from Jason being able to grab players through walls, Jason’s teleport occasionally bugging out, extended server downtime and player progress being reset or not properly tracked.
The biggest positive across Steam reviews so far has been the recreation of the atmosphere from the Friday the 13th movies. It’s also gotten a big tick from people who have played F13 with groups; the counsellors have to work together to survive, especially given how efficient a killing machine Jason is.
But while the look and characterisation of Jason has gotten praise, his animations haven’t. Users have drawn unfavourable comparisons to Andromeda‘s animations, with some saying it makes Jason, and the game by extension, look a little cartoonish. Users have also questioned Jason’s arsenal of tools and his movement abilities, as well as the game’s reliance on RNG with the counsellor spawning points and starting perks.
Here’s what users are saying about Friday the 13th: The Video Game:
Comments
24 responses to “Friday The 13th, As Told By Steam Reviews”
You know what this should do?
Create a rush of other developers to go after the other horror legends. Bid for the rights where possible and iterate on this.
The kernel of the central idea is there, but with the proper model applied (ie a publisher that can take a bit of the overhead that the player base is currently having to deal with) a Halloween game or similar could really be quite enticing.
Scream – a film that at its heart is a satire – would be a hard franchise to turn into a game, let alone a game like this one. I know there’s a tv show currently out, but I’ve not seen it. If that means the franchise has gone away from its satire or gallows humour origins, more power to a game adaptation.
A Scream game could take on more of a murder mystery game you used to always see held in wine cellars and the like. One person at random is ‘the killer’ but also has to masquerade and blend in as a typical ‘normal’ player. This sort of game obviously means matches wouldn’t be over and done with in a timely manner, but you could have community-driven ‘saves’ where the game takes your group several sessions.
That’s an interesting idea, and we already have a few Aliens and Predator games obviously also The Thing and Evil Dead (though I’d love new, better versions of both). Evolve was meant to be similar to the various “big monster stalks people” movies. Pretty much any zombie movie has been imitated in dozens of games. There are a bunch of vampire and werewolf games too. So what does that leave?
Halloween would produce a game very, very similar to Friday the 13th. Maybe make it a reskin and DLC? Various other slasher movies could easily be the same.
Nightmare on Elm Street would be a nightmare (excuse the pun) to make because of the insane dream powers. How do you build that into a game when the main villain can basically manipulate reality (when they’re asleep)? If they could manage it that would be cool though.
Off the top of my head I can’t think of another horror franchise that would really benefit from a game adaption. Maybe Gremlins or Critters? Maybe an inbred redneck game ala Hills Have Eyes or Wrong Turn?
Yeah, Halloween is a walk-up start for a studio backed by the likes of EA, Acti, etc to bid for the rights, acquire the rights, and then get to work. And by work I mean ripping this game off shamelessly.
The most innovative open world game in years was based on a property rooted in Lord of the Rings franchise, for crying out loud.
Nightmare would work, but surely a Free to Play game that can be iterated upon (they should stay within the framework of the movies, not make a modern take on Freddy) would be the best bet.
You’re missing the obvious – Child’s Play. That’s the healthiest horror movie franchise of the lot I’d say. Dourif’s still going strong he isn’t on-screen and needing to be quite so physical like Englund.
Sorry, I lumped Child’s Play in with “various other slasher movies”. It’s basically a very similar premise just from a lower POV 🙂
I was trying to think of iconic franchises that had different “mechanics”. Pretty much every zombie movie works basically the same, the only real difference is how fast/slow they are, and maybe speed of infection. Same with slashers, Chromeskull, Hatchet, Halloween, Friday, Childs Play etc are all much the same – hard to kill bad guy with a sharp weapon. So I was trying to think of films that were a bit different.
I suppose there’s stuff like Jeepers Creepers where the gameplay can include vehicles and flight, and absorbing the victims. Or maybe Tremors with a variety of monster enemies, though I feel a bit like Tremors is covered by Evolve. A lot of other monster movies (Anaconda, Lake Placid, The Host etc) could also work a bit like Evolve – big enemy small group of hunters.
Ooh just had a thought about another series with different gameplay – Jaws. Hunter/Hunted style gameplay but being water based would make it different mechanics wise.
That’s been done, the game is called Depth.
I think Telltale could make a great Nightmare on Elm st game.
I’d rather not give Telltale more properties that they make a ‘new’ game for by reskinning one of their older games on the same engine and slapping a new name over the top.
When there storytelling is as good as it is I don’t have a problem with it. Is it much different to the 100s of games made with the unreal engine for example?
I must have missed that. Looks pretty much like what I was thinking. Good catch.
And I am tempted by this update for it; “Sharks with Frickin’ Laser Beams II: Judgment Day”
http://www.depthgame.com/
The Thing style game would be so good. Can you just imagine the tension of not knowing who in the group is the thing while trying to escape?
Sadly it didn’t play as well as the movie, at least for me. I’d love to see them try again in the next couple years. Better hardware means potential for better graphics and AI. The last version felt like it was designed for console then ported, with the limitations that entails.
Slight spin-off: Harlan Ellison’s I Have No Mouth, but redone as an asymmetrical multiplayer game where the other survivors pitch in suggestions to help each other survive the hellish sccenarios HAL creates for the last remaining survivors of humanity.
Oh, man. If people think Jason is OP in this game, wait ’till there’s a human controlled AM (HAL is 2001). Although, playing as something with God-like powers with the goal to ‘break’ character as opposed to kill them would be a very different experience.
Halloween is currently snapped up by the Dead By Daylight people unfortunately but it plays quite well tbh.
I like the idea of the Scream game, but it definitely would have to be slower paced than the others. Of course we’d want classic Ghostface not that shitty thing from mtv…
Oh, meant to ask – does this have a single player mode, as in just you versus bots? Or is only player controlled?
Not yet, but there are plans to release one down the track.
Cool thanks. I’m not a fan of games that rely 100% on multi-player since communities come and go. I hate picking up a game after six months and discovering it’s got no community and therefore it’s unplayable.
I am curious if you can create a private match LAN Party style?
You can create private matches which switch to peer-to-peer connection/hosting I believe, said matches also reward XP and such just like public matches. It’s arguably the best way to play the game currently since XP carries across and you can actually find people in your region through the likes of Discord to make matches that aren’t a lag fest.
As for an actual proper LAN match I’m unsure on that specifically, though I’d doubt it simply due to the nature of games like this always having to be ‘connected’ in some way for rewarding/spending XP, etc.
Props to this tiny group of devs for making a game that stays true to the 80’s slasher feel of the films.
They may not be a big AAA studio, but it’s clear they’re all passionate about what they’ve created. And it’s nice to see them staying constantly up to date with the players as they fix the launch problems.
We know plenty of AAA studios that don’t even do that.
Good job guys.
I was one of the first to kickstart this game. I got my copy on PS4 and jumped right in.
Cons:
– It takes about 10 minutes of queueing to find a game
– Animations and physics are pretty janky
– Heaps of bugs resulting in crashes or freezing
– No real tutorial to help understand how the noise meter actually works relating to Jason’s ability to sense you
– There’s too much luck involved in where crucial items spawn (if the propellor spawns on the other side of the map to the boat, it’s a lost cause. If the propellor spawns next to the boat, it’s a free win for a group of people)
– Trophies are ridiculous (win 1000 games as Jason? Yeah, ain’t nobody got time for that. Not when there’s a 1 in 8 chance of being Jason)
– Controls could use a once-over (Press X to open a draw. Press X to close the draw. Hold X to pick up the items in the draw. Why not press square to pick up items? This control system is prevalent all through the game and is very confusing, especially when you’re trying to climb through windows and instead you stand there opening and shutting them).
Pros:
– Thanks to the fact that you can only hear people near you (unless you have the walkie talkie) the feeling of isolation is very real
– Atmosphere is very well done
– Music is well integrated
– Controls are generally fun and responsive
Overall impression:
The game is a fantastic representation of the movies. You will be running scared as a counselor. You will have plenty of fun stalking people as Jason. They’re a small company who had to kickstart the game because they couldn’t get funding. Give them a break to try and deal with the unexpected volume of people wanting to play.
Right now, this is a perfect Twitch game. If I can convince some friends to pick it up, I think I’ll purchase it.
I love that one guy who thinks children born this century are Millennials.