Some Thoughts on Texas Chain Saw Massacre
If you know me by now, you know that I have always wanted to find an alternative to Dead by Daylight. Its not that I hate Dead by Daylight, but that I kind of get tired of playing it. So, when Texas Chain Saw Massacre was announced and going to launch day one on Game Pass, I was in with no hesitation. Texas Chain Saw Massacre was going to be made by the same team that developed the fantastic Friday the 13th game that I am a huge fan of playing. This made playing Texas Chain Saw Massacre an easy sell.
Texas Chain Saw Massacre plays similarly to most asymmetric games like Dead by Daylight or Friday the 13th. The change up here is that while you have four Victims (survivors), you now have to hide and evade three Family members (killers). Most of the Family in this game are based on characters from the original movie. You have Leatherface, you have the Cook, and you have the Hitchhiker. However, a wholly original character in Sally was added to the game as well to give you another killer to play as in the game. On the other side of the equation, you have five Victims that you can play as you try to escape.
When Texas Chain Saw Massacre first came out, the game had almost flawless matchmaking and quick matches. Normally, matches would come together inside of 30 seconds, and you would have a full room. Games were also snappy, and matching into a new game was just as quick. Over time however, things started to change. First was the removal of PC players from the cross-play, and when that patch came out, matches started to take almost a minute or more to come together. Even when they added PC players back into the mix a few months later, the matchmaking was still worse then at launch. Mix in a drop in player count as there were delays to new maps, outfits, and characters, and games became harder to come by when playing.
Texas Chain Saw itself is a beautiful game and a significant graphical update from Friday the 13th. Lighting effects are fantastic with fingers of light dancing through foliage. Starting under the house as a Victim, the map is dark, with noises and tension echoing all around you as Family scurry around to find you. As you find your way out of the basement, you are presented with several ways to escape the grounds. I like games like these that give you options in your way to escape. Maybe you want to use the direct route out. You can, but maybe you try opening a pipeline in the basement. No matter what your choice is, it gives you different ways to approach each match.
It also helps that each character in Texas Chain Saw Massacre are different from one another, which means that you can try and find the one that fits your style of gameplay. Personally, I found myself gravitating to Connie, as she has a great ability to unlock doors without finding the hotspots. But maybe someone else would go with Ana, who has a better way to charge and escape from a Family member when she is cornered. Family members also have differing perks, although I am normally a Victim main, so I can’t speak to playing as a Family member.
Live service games like Texas Chain Saw Massacre live and die by the support they are given by their developers. This is one of the places where I think the game has stumbled. While there has been a new map, a couple of new characters and a few new costumes, they seemed to take quite some time to hit the release pipeline. I also was a bit sad that the new costumes are more like pattern changes rather than actual new costumes. One of the reasons that I fell off Texas Chain Saw Massacre is because I wanted some new maps and it just took way too long to get this stuff, and when it did come, it was uninspired.
Texas Chain Saw Massacre is a great release that leans heavily on its name brand, and the game hits on all those accounts. It is a ton of fun to play when you can get matches. Sadly, right now, with matches becoming harder to come by, the game doesn’t quite hit like at launch. If you are patient, and want to play a game that plays differently than a Dead by Daylight, you could do worse than sitting down with Texas Chain Saw Massacre.
