HomeNewsKiller Klowns From Outer Space: The Game
I think it’s fair to sayKiller Klowns From Outer Space: The Gamewas one of the more… leftfield reveals from this week’sGamescom Opening Night Livebonanza. In case you missed it, it’s a 3v7 asymmetrical multiplayer adaptation of the cult 1988 horror film of the same name, but details on how its creepy clowning around would actually work werefew and far between, to say the least. Thankfully, I sat in on a developer presentation earlier this week to find out exactly how it stacks up to other asymmetrical horror film games out there at the moment, as well as how it hopes to evolve and redefine the hide-and-seek genre as a whole.
Killer Klowns from Outer Space: The Game — Official Reveal TrailerWatch on YouTube
Killer Klowns from Outer Space: The Game — Official Reveal Trailer
One thing to say upfront: I didn’t get to see the game in action, I’m sorry to say, but the concept, at least, seems sound. There was clearly a lot of love for the original film in the room when I spoke to the developers, both from Randy Greenback, who was the executive director of Friday The 13th: The Game and now works at publishing label Good Shepherd, and from Teravision Games' creative director Luis Daniel Zambrano.
“We want to build on that experience that we had with Friday The 13th,” says Greenback. We know the genre works, it’s become a staple now, and fans are clambering for more."
And ‘more’ is very much the order of the day, here. Of course, having seven players is nothing new. Friday The 13th did that back in 2017. But as you may have already surmised, there isn’t just one killer in Killer Klowns. There are three, and this newfound co-op experience for the offensive team is what Teravision hopes will make for “more exciting, memorable moments”.
“There’s a demon inside, so the humans aren’t dead yet. They have about 30-40 seconds of life while they’re in there, we’re still balancing it, but somewhere in that time region probably,” he says. “If [other] people are around, you can tap a button and actually extend your life so you can buy time for them to save you. But if you know you’re all alone and you want to get back into the match faster, and you don’t mind wasting a life - and lives are pretty important - you can tap another button and kill yourself faster. So there are different ways to handle that.”
Tracking shotThe Tracker klown Spikey’s signature weapon is the film’s iconic popcorn bazooka, which peppers humans in popcorn kernels and reveals their location on the map for other klowns to descend. His ray gun also has a secondary function that lets him fire a cotton candy drone to find more players hiding out in buildings around the map.
Indeed, it’s the lives system that intrigues me the most. Human players also have five classes to choose from in Killer Klowns - sneaky but weak Teens, agile but inept Punks, weapon proficient but unlucky Cops, strong but noisy Bikers and handy but oblivious Rednecks - but when they die, their next class choice is determined but what NPC characters are still left alive on the map. You see, human players have a collective pool of 25 lives to share between them, made up of eight teens, eight punks, two bikers, four rednecks and three cops, so you’ll need to pick your next class carefully on your next respawn. Bikers, for example, are the only class that can carry two heavy weapons at the same time, so you might want to keep them in reserve when you need to, ahem, bring out the big guns.
Each clown also has their own pair of ‘Tricks’, and the balloon dog is one of Spikey’s, who can sniff out humans and hunt them down. His other trick is driving around in an invisible car, and yes, the dog will sit in the driver’s seat and stick his head out the window, the developers are happy to confirm.
Hopefully, these NPC bodies won’t be massively easy targets for the Klown players, either, as Greenback says the NPC’s AI “starts out looking like they’re populating the city, like legitimately - they’re walking around the map living their life. If they see a klown, as long as the klown isn’t doing anything, they’re fine with it, they’re not going to be afraid, they’re not going to run away. But as soon as they see a klown attack another human or get attacked themselves, they’ll run off and go hide in a building, so the city kind of clears out naturally in a way that feels like a real invasion.”
The team at Teravision also hope to support Killer Klowns for the long-term, too, adding new maps, time periods and more with subsequent updates and seasons. For now, though, they’re concentrating on getting their beta ready, which you can sign up for over on theirofficial website. The game itself isn’t set to launch until early 2023, but until then, you can also find out more over on the game’sSteampage.
