Friday the 13th: The Game Review (WarChaser)
So darlin', save the last dance for me…
The sad reality of my experience with Friday the 13th: The Game is that I’ve been aware of its existence ever since it launched back in 2017. For a while, it was the main game of a streamer I used to watch, his streams being my favorite thing to come back from school to. Yet, I never got to play it in its prime. Fast forward a couple of years and support for the game has been discontinued, due to some stupid lawsuit, making me lose interest in the game completely. However, having noticed it was on a hefty discount this past December, I simply couldn’t pass it up.
What I found was a game that is as fun to play as it was to watch all those years ago, but in a state where actually getting to play it, as it’s supposed to be played, is an awful chore. This isn’t due to bugs or anything that the developers had done prior to being forced to abandon it, but rather what they hadn’t.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2729769832
Friday the 13th: The Game, based on the films of the same name (sans The Game) is an asymmetrical horror game, pitching seven camp counselors against the iconic killer, Jason Voorhees. That is if you manage to get into a lobby that isn’t modded. Then it pitches like 20 counselors against five Jasons.
No beating around the bush, the game has a huge “modded lobbies” problem. There’s no lobby browser, so you’re at the mercy of the matchmaking to get placed into an unmodded lobby, hosted by another player. You could opt to host yourself, but then you’re just further splitting the already miserable player base.
“Hold on, modded lobbies?”, you think to yourself, “Why, that doesn’t sound so bad!”. And I’d agree with you, if there was still a way to have the intended experience, without having to jump through hoops. Not only do these lobbies make the game run awfully, but they also ruin the balance and have inflated XP rewards, which ruin any sense of progression the game has. I have scoured the internet in search of communities that still organize legit matches, and while I have discovered that the game’s official Discord is still a good place to get one going, not once did I come across a person who enjoys these lobbies being a thing. Why and who they’re up for is a mystery to me.
There is a single-player mode, but rarely is playing against bots as fun. That, and you’ll be missing out on playing as the counselors, the more fun half of the game in my opinion.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2729767235
If you’re playing on the side of the counselors, your goal will be to escape the map. This can be done in one of five ways, such as repairing broken vehicles to drive away in. There’s always a strategy at play here, which is what makes it more interesting, if at all when compared to other asymmetric PvP titles.
Your plans might depend on a couple of factors: your selected counselor, the items you find, and your perks. Yes, the counselor you play as isn’t just an avatar, as each of them has different stats. If a counselor has a high repair stat, they’ll have an easier time with the repair mini-game that happens when fixing vehicles or the fuse box to the phone you use to call the police with. If they have a high stealth stat, Jason will have a harder time tracking them. Sneaking and running around isn’t the only way of avoiding him, as evident by the strength stat - the higher it is, the more damage will a counselor inflict on Jason or have an easier time knocking him down.
To do so, you’ll need weapons, which aren’t the only thing you’ll be able to find as you move around the camp. There are plenty of useful items, such as beartraps that stun Jason should he step on one, firecrackers that can throw him off, health sprays, flare guns, the various parts you’ll need to fix things, etc.
The last thing to keep in mind are perks, which can be equipped as you see fit and are in no way restricted based on which counselor you’re playing as. I’m not a fan of how they’re implemented, but they alter your gameplay in notable ways. Outside of a match, you can spend the unfortunately named CP (Camp points?) to roll for a perk. This will, alongside the main effect of the perk, provide it with two random percentage-based modifiers; a positive and a negative one. For example, one perk will let you start with a health spray, but will also increase the amount of healing you receive, as well as increase the amount of damage you take. There are many more, but you get the picture. Perks will come in six different rarities, depending on how high the numbers are, from poor to legendary. I don’t like this at all. It doesn’t fit the game thematically, feels arbitrary, and grindy. Not to mention, rolling for these is a pain due to some backend server issues, as you can only roll for a few at a time before the game forces you to stop as “you’re doing things too fast”.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2729767387
Jason is a lot simpler, but more limited if you come across a well-organized group of counselors. Basically, you have to kill everyone.
There are multiple Jasons to choose from, each based on a different movie from the franchise. These alter some stats, like weapon damage or cooldowns of certain abilities. Other than that, each Jason plays pretty much the same. He has four fixed abilities that all make him traverse the map faster or track down counselors easier. He has a melee weapon to hack ‘em down with, throwing knives, and traps to place at key locations – both of which come in limited amounts.
Another ability Jason has is the grab, which lets him perform one of four preselected cinematic kills, unlocked with CP. Unless a counselor has an item to break out of the grab with, it’s pretty much over for ‘em. This is the only unfair part of Jason’s kit in my opinion, in an otherwise well-balanced game. Sure, he might feel overpowered when you’re just starting out, but he has to be strong enough to stand a chance against that potential well-coordinated team of counselors. Once you run into one of those, you’ll realize how every tool at your disposal is necessary to deal with them.
As for the single-player mode, you have two options. One is playing the same matches as online, just with bots in the role of the counselors. The other is is a Hitman-esque challenge mode, where Jason has to traverse the camp unnoticed and take out the counselors one by one. They get some fleshing out, as the mode has a neat little story to go along with it. The counselors are actual characters and their gameplay stats reflect their personalities a bit. They’re pretty well voice-acted, too. The game sounds and looks solid in general. The atmosphere is great, which is surprising for a game based on a franchise not known for atmospheric horror or subtlety.
Reviewed on the following system:
CPU AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6GHzGPUGeForce GTX 1050TiRAM 16GB
The game’s a bit hard on the GPU. To get in running smoothly at 1080p, I had to turn down pretty much every setting to Low. Increasing any, other than textures, meant a necessary decrease in resolution as well to maintain performance.
Verdict
Friday the 13th: The Game is a bit corkscrewed. Even if a good chunk of my hours was spent looking for or setting up lobbies, I got it for exactly 3,12€. It’s a deal I’d take again if given the chance. Hell, I’d go back in time and buy the game earlier, if only I could. Maybe you should as well before it’s too late. It is a most recommendable game, in a rather unrecommendable state.
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