(Review) The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: a macabre and fun game of hide and seek (2023) | Revista Level Up

By Pablo Vargas | pvargas@revistalevelup.com.

'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre' (2023) immerses us fully in the recreation of the crude real events that we saw portrayed in the film 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre' (1974), an acclaimed cult work of horror films about psychopaths and serial killers , in which four young people must survive and escape the nightmare of their lives, while the fearsome Leatherface and his family try to hunt them down.

The premise of the game, a multiplayer horror title, turns the game of hide and seek into an addictive, macabre and interesting proposal in which four players must work together to avoid deadly traps and gather the necessary tools to escape from the famous and macabre sawmill inspired by the crimes of Ed Gein, while 3 other players assume the role of the ruthless family of Leatherface, the brutal chainsaw killer who made masks from the skin of his victims, to hunt him down. to the group of kidnapped youths, before they can escape from the farmhouse based on the classic Tobe Hooper horror film.

As members of the Leatherface family, we will have to hunt down the victims, who are trapped in the basement, using the classic characters of the saga such as Sissy -the poison expert sister-, Johnny -the ruthless gas station hitchhiker- , and of course Leatherface, the brutal man with the mask and the saw; working as a team, using tracking skills, securing the perimeter of the farm, blocking the escape exits, with the traps and electric fences, while feeding and protecting the "grandfather" the patriarch of the family - and the greatest murderer in history , according to the game-, to be able to use special abilities that will allow us to track and kill the victims.

On the other hand, as victims, we will have the possibility to choose one of the 5 protagonists of the game, with whom we will have to escape from our ties and remain silent while we try to escape from the farm, in a game strategy, where each survivor You are on your own, but we can also work together with our companions, to use our ingenuity and skills, find the necessary tools to evade the Family and to obtain our long-awaited freedom, something that sounds easy, but it really is not. because time is against us and every minute that passes, we slowly bleed to death.

Our skills will be key in the process. As survivors, we will have to force doors and traps to escape, for this, we will occupy ourselves quietly and calmly looking for tools in interesting mini-games, in which if we do it too fast, or carelessly, we will make noise and this will reveal the position to our captors; in our favor, we will have a unique ability -such as breaking locks quickly, surviving attacks or tackling assassins-, and which we can activate from time to time, after a recharge, but beware, assassins also have They will be able to activate abilities such as listening to nearby sounds to detect where they come from or finding fresh tracks of their prey, in addition, they all have passive advantages, such as finding the closest closed doors for a few seconds, or that each slash does double damage .

The mechanics are simple, but entertaining. Players in the Family of Assassins must seek out, track down, and prevent their "guests" from escaping. While the victims must discover if they have what it takes to survive this mythical nightmare, all this through a game system that takes the best of titles like 'Dead by Daylight' and 'Friday13Th', improving each one of them. its technical aspects of the works in which it is inspired -especially in its next-gen version-, and expanding the experience of being able to work as a team, where a great difference with other titles of the genre -and in personal opinion, its greatest success-, it is having turned the lone assassin into a team, which not only gives it its own essence and stands out from other games of the genre, but also makes the games more dynamic, interesting and fun.

Some small and slight technical limitations could be the stain on the white shirt, but its addictive gameplay in cooperative mode, well achieved setting within the horror genre of psychopaths and serial killers, and the addition of being able to enjoy in the company of our friends in custom parties, make the title a macabrely fun, satisfying and highly recommended experience that fans of the horror genre cannot miss.

The game is already available on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, PC, Xbox Series X/S; On the latter platform, it is free within the Xbox Game Pass catalog, so it is worth giving it a try.

Final rating: 8/10

For more information of the best in the video game industry, technology, eSports and geek culture in Revista Level Up through our social networks on Facebook, YouTube y Twitter. 

____________________________