Friday the 13th is making a return to video games after a 25-year absence. Jason Voorhees' new killing spree will be released on multiple platforms this October.
“With a new television series on the horizon and plans announced for the thirteenth installment of the film franchise, we felt the timing was right to finally explore Jason, Camp Crystal Lake, and the rest of the Friday the 13th story in interactive form,” Friday the 13th creator Sean S. Cunningham told EGM. “We have some exciting new ideas for a game that supplies plenty of replay value, while delivering the kinds of thrills and scares that fans of the franchise have come to expect.”
Like the Friday the 13th movies, the new game has Jason hunting down a group of innocents. One player will be Jason while the others will control his victims. It's like Evolve except with sex-craved teens and a psycho in a hockey mask.
The game's plot will tie into the upcoming Friday the 13th television show. The series is said to follow camp counselors at Crystal Lake who discover Jason Voorhees has returned to kill again. The connections between the show and game suggest that the latter will stick to the summer camp setting rather than venturing into, I don't know, outer space?
This game sounds great on paper but that won't matter if it isn't executed well. Unfortunately, we don't know who the developer of Friday the 13th is yet. Cunningham merely said that the project's being created by "an experienced studio" - which doesn't narrow things down at all. It could be an AAA multiplayer studio or a company that makes mobile quiz games.
There's good reason to be paranoid about any licensed game. More often than not, they're terrible. Games like Batman: Arkham Asylum or GoldenEye 007 that manage to be faithful to the source material and fun at the same time are really rare. What usually happens is that the licensed game turns out to be a rushed, low-budget affair. Tripe like Rambo: The Video Game is the average outcome.
I'd love to be proven wrong, though. We'll get some indication of whether this game's worth being excited about when the formal announcement happens in a few weeks. Perhaps we'll find out the platforms then, too.
If you'd rather just watch a new Friday the 13th movie, you'll get your chance soon. Last we heard, the next movie will be arriving this fall.
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