While The Texas Chain Saw Massacre perfectly captures the essence of the movie, I am not sure that’s a good thing for players who chose to play as the Family.
Saying that The Texas Chain Saw Massacre the movie is based on a true story is a stretch; while the character of Leather Face was inspired by real-world bodysnatcher and murderer Ed Gein, and he had some very disturbing items made of human skin in his dwelling, there is no proof he ever used a chainsaw to dismember his victims, nor did he have a whole family of murderous relatives to help him do his dirty deeds.
With that in mind, claiming that The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (the game) is “a game based on true events” is entirely absurd.
While yes some similarities exist, I feel it is disrespectful to the memory of Ed Gein’s victims to claim that an asymmetrical multiplayer game is based on real events, considering not one character (good or bad) is based on a real person and the events that transpire in the game have no relation whatsoever to the actual events that the movie and game claim to be based upon.
In short, while it claims to be based on true events, that claim is ironically not entirely truthful.
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre looks stunning. While it’s not yet running on Unreal Engine 5 (and it may never do so), the developers have created one of the best-looking Unreal Engine 4 games I have ever played. The environments are fantastic, and they have captured the essence of the 1970s in such a way that I cannot help but wish we got to experience more of this vibrant decade in video games.
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is a fantastic survival horror game. When you play as a victim trying to escape the Family, it’s one of the best and most feature-rich experiences the genre has to offer, and I personally found it more enjoyable than Dead by Daylight.
That being said, playing as a Family (villain) character feels awful to anyone with an ounce of humanity as human-on-human violent and bloody murder just feels wrong, with the victim flaming about as blood sprays everywhere before they are finally finished off in a variety of gory ways that only a 1970s grindhouse film (and games based upon them) could truly do justice to.
Being forced to keep moving lest you bleed out and trying to open locks as quietly as possible feels as tense as it should. More than once, I felt like yelling “Hurry up!” to the person picking a lock as Leather Face and his weird Family stalked around nearby, mere moments from discovering the small group of victims who were doing their best to avoid becoming someone’s dinner.
I must preface this by saying that pressing quick play to get into a match isn’t a sign you are a murderous psychopath, and even having curiosity about how it feels to play as the “baddies” doesn’t make you a bad person.
However, if you constantly want to play as a member of the Family and mutilate and eviscerate other players (victims), especially in a game like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, which emphasizes realistic human vs human carnage instead of, say, human vs monster, then I am sorry to say it, but you you are spiritually unwell.
Now, I am sure some people reading this won’t like to hear it, but people don’t like to hear that they have six weeks to live either; sometimes, a truthful diagnosis is an unhappy one; thankfully, this spiritual illness does not need to be eternally fatal (although it can be in the worst of ways).
Like every problem we face and every struggle that is too big for us to handle, the answer is Jesus Christ. While you may not think you have a problem, I ask you to consider why you enjoy playing as characters who engage in such horrific acts and why you find such acts enjoyable.
Even the movie (which was pretty intense for the time) encouraged the viewer to root for Sally; moviegoers cringed, winced and occasionally closed their eyes in dread, but they wanted her to escape, live, and be free.
To want to see evil win is not a small thing; it is the sign of a dark and twisted heart, a heart that only God, through Jesus Christ, can heal.
Just like Sally needed to escape Leather Face, and the victims in this game need to escape the Family, in our world, the only way to escape the horror of our own fallen existence is Jesus Christ, and it was for that reason that God the Father was willing to send his Son to die on our behalf.
For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world but to save the world through Him.
Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. - John 3:16-18
You may dismiss this and are free to ignore it, but I hope you never forget this simple truth: no matter who you are or where you come from, you need Jesus.
Sooner or later, you will need a saviour, and I sincerely hope you come to see that before it is too late to do anything about it.
While most of us are lucky enough to never run into someone like Leather Face, our world is full of sick and dangerous people, and honestly, I would never put my eternal destiny in the hands of a drunken driver, serial killer or just plain bad luck, when the way out (Jesus Christ) was right there in front of me.
Dead by Daylight has the asymmetrical multiplayer genre by the throat, and it’s very difficult for new titles to get a foothold. It has it all: crossovers with major franchises, a massive player base, a proven track record, and, for the most part, developers with a very good reputation.
Any other game trying to carve out a niche for itself needs every advantage possible to compete, let alone thrive, and for The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, that advantage was being on Game Pass.
However, it seems the developers and Xbox have not reached a deal for a second year on the service, and the game will be leaving around its first birthday, a colossal mistake.
If I were the developers, I would have accepted a dollar a year to keep the game on the service, as dead games don’t make money.
Without Game Pass users playing the game and purchasing transactions, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre will struggle to support itself as queue times increase and matchmaking becomes unviable for much of the day in less populated regions.
Like Willie Coytete, who could run off a ledge for a few seconds without noticing, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre will not die off instantly, but unless the developers find a way to increase the player base dramatically, be it a return to game pass, or addition to another service such as Ps Plus, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is effectively dead in the water, and will not see substantial growth, despite likely being able to hold onto the majority of its remaining, greatly diminished (non-game pass) community.
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre has a decent progression system that allows players to improve their character and unlock additional costumes, which is nice to see, as while the costumes are mostly recoloured versions of the default outfit for any given character, variety is the spice of life, and if you are going to be tortured and possibly murdered, I suppose it does help to look your best.
For players who like to stand out even more, each character has a selection of premium costumes available to purchase, and yes, some of those outfits include 1970s fashion staples such as flared trousers, wide-collar shirts, and booty shorts.
While some outfits are a little revealing, they are pretty much what young people would have worn in the 1970s. While some are a little sexy, they are not overly done and are unlikely to offend most players.
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is a action video game developed by Sumo Nottingham and published by Gun Interactive, it was released on 18 August 2023 and retails for $39.99.
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is available on the following platforms: PC, Playstation 4, Playstation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre remains in active development, with the developers recently confirming that a second year of content is planned, and possibly more, depending on how well The Texas Chain Saw Massacre does as it enters its second year of life.
As of September 2024, around 28,000 people play The Texas Chain Saw Massacre on a fairly regular basis.
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre suffers from low activity, meaning that while off-peak matchmaking is possible in populated regions, finding full lobbies in less populated regions is unlikely outside of peak playtimes.
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre supports:
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre offers the following matchmaking options:
The The Texas Chain Saw Massacre in-game store sells:
The following peripherals are officially supported:
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is rated PEGI 18+ and contains:
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is a decent enough asymmetrical multiplayer title; it looks great, and playing as a victim is rather fun; that being said, the violence feels more distasteful and visceral than some other games in the genre due to its human vs human focus.
This aspect of the game, when combined with it leaving Game Pass in August 2024 (which will decimate the player base), may be reason enough for some to give it a miss or at least wait and see if it returns to Game Pass, goes on a steep sale, or is added to PS Plus.
Any of these three events would ensure matchmaking times remain reliable (at least for a time) and ensure that new players have an opportunity to play with and against people of similar skill and ability instead of being forced to play with and against veteran players who know the game inside out and who have max-level characters for both teams.
