Games
Everything You Need to Know About ‘The Texas Chain Saw Massacre’ Game
The 1974 classic, Texas Chain Saw Massacre is coming back swinging in a new way. Here’s what players should expect ahead of the game’s release!
The recent death sentence for Friday the 13th: The Game still wears on horror fans’ shoulders, but a new slasher legend is coming to pick up the slack. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is the latest fresh meat in the co-op, player-versus-player gaming subgenre, joining the likes of tried-and-true Dead by Daylight and becoming the third piece of media in the TCM franchise to share the original film’s name.
Want a crash course on The Texas Chain Saw Massacre? We have you covered!
An Assortment of Playable Victims
TCM is a multiplayer combat game following a group of college students who end up in a life-or-death chase against the now-called Slaughter family. Players can choose to be a victim (one of five characters original to the game) or a killer protecting the Slaughter’s farm. The gameplay itself will be an asymmetrical experience, with three killers pitted against four victims in every round.
The victim characters are grounded not only in classic horror archetypes and gameplay styles but also a narrative plucked straight from the fields of ‘70s Texas. Maria, a burgeoning art student ready to break away from her rural upbringing and attend university, goes missing during sunflower season in the Lone Star State. Her sister, Ana, and her friends Leland, Sunny, Julie, and Connie, head out to bring Maria home, dissatisfied by the fruitless efforts of local police.
Returning Killers, Plus Two New Family Members
On the other side of the fence, the Slaughter family features Leatherface, the Cook, and the Hitchhiker, along with two new family members named Sissy and Johnny. Sissy embodies a cult-obsessed ‘60s chick gone bad, while Johnny is a handsome, serial killer-inspired misfit. Even Leatherface’s beloved chainsaw was treated as a member of the family by developers, designed to evoke the sinister foreboding edge that comes with the TCM name.
Despite their unfamiliarity to fans, these new Slaughter siblings come straight from the brain of Kim Henkel, the co-writer of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), along with Tobe Hooper. This authenticity is at the heart of the game. Wes Keltner, President and CEO of Gun Interactive, said it best: “If you don’t have that voice in the mix, something’s missing.”
An Authentically Licensed Texas Chain Saw Massacre Experience
It’s important to note that Gun Interactive only scored licensing rights to the 1974 film, so gamers shouldn’t expect cameos from Chop Top, Stretch, or anyone else from the rest of the franchise. Even so, this roster is impressive on its own, featuring the legendary Kane Hodder as Leatherface (and stunt coordinator) and Edwin Neal reprising his role as the Hitchhiker from the original. Check out some fun behind-the-scenes of the cast killing each other in motion capture suits here.
Whether you have played Dead by Daylight since 2016 or love the thrilling discomfort of the TCM films, this new installment to the franchise seems worth checking out.
See if you can make it out of the Slaughter house alive!
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre will be released on August 18 for PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S and Xbox One, along with Xbox Game Pass for console and PC. Score it for $39.99 at launch or get 10% off on Steam if you preorder.
Just a few days ago, the highly anticipated Saw: Genesis made a reveal that I don’t think anyone was prepared for: it will be a post-WW1 asymm. Much of that is confounding and beyond frustrating. While that news fell flat for many fans who have been waiting for a single-player Saw game in the style of its aught predecessors, we do have a light at the end of the tunnel. Though that light exists in a different tunnel. Following in the footsteps of games like Evil Dead: The Game, Halloween: The Game will contain more than its asymmetrical multiplayer.
The upcoming Halloween: The Game, developed and published by IllFonic and co-published by Gun Interactive, will drop players into Haddonfield for a six-chapter single-player story mode. Full of cinematic cut scenes with a [hopefully] fully realized story, the single player mode will offer players more than just an exciting story that builds on the Haddonfield we came to know and love from the original film. Players will fully inhabit The Shape as you slash and crash your way through Haddonfield, with story beats narrated by Dr. Loomis.
Play as Michael Myers in a Sandbox Horror Experience
Halloween: The Game‘s story mode takes a sandbox approach to its gameplay. Players can tinker with multiple ways to find, stalk, and kill victims. Whether you decide to silently stalk your victims to dispatch them one by one, or toying with them until you take them out with raw disregard…the choice is yours! Terrorizing the denizens of Haddonfield isn’t the only thing Story Mode will have to offer.
Each chapter will contain secondary challenges and collectibles (and hopefully a few trophies for those plat hunters like myself). Collectibles and successful challenge completions will result in new executions, scenarios, and lore, as well as unlocking exclusive story mode collectibles for multiplayer.
Halloween: The Game Release Date, Editions, and Platforms
Halloween: The Game is available now for digital pre-order. Set at $39.99 for the Standard Edition and $59.99 for the Deluxe Edition (which includes an exclusive Michael Myers skin, 2 exclusive civilians, and more), this game is set to slash its way onto PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC via Steam and Epic Games Store on September 8, 2026.
Do you plan on taking a trip to Haddonfield, or does a six-chapter story mode not make up for the game’s asymm focus? If you’re on the fence, would a declaration that servers would be online for at least a year or two push you one way or another? I know it would for me.
Sex, bloody torture, gore, cosmic terror, and whole lot of BDSM demons. The iconic Hellraiser franchise, known for its queer subtext and dark fantasy-terror, is fucking back…but maybe not the way you might expect. Saber Interactive, the company behind Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 has unleashed the iconic franchise into the video game world with one terrifying trailer. This is Hellraiser: Revival.
The official blurb of the game introduces the story. Protagonist Aidan, who’s Girlfriend is taken into Hell after the Genesis Configuration (a puzzle box seemingly quite similar to the iconic Lament Configuration). He must use and unlock the secrets of the configuration to battle countless demons, Pinhead worshippers, and the Cenobites themselves to save her.
That’s not all for the story, though. Living legend Clive Barker, creator of The Hellbound Heart, and Director of the original film, reportedly helped on the story of the game, returning to the iconic franchise he created decades ago. He is quoted as saying, “Working on the first true Hellraiser game has been a venture deep into the recesses of my darkest imaginings.” With this in mind, one can it expect it to stay true to the roots of the series.
Graphic both in sex and violence, the trailer promises the look and feel of the classic film. It filled to the brim with cenobites, horrendous torture methods, and some deviously designed demons. The color palette is drenched in dark shadows and a menacing Hellscape.
