Killer Klowns from Outer Space: The Game, review version you don’t expect

Games are often created with the very mundane goal of continuing on the heels of some success. It’s not an insult to say that, and it is after all normal for publishers and development houses to feel a desire to imitate each other to try to stay afloat as much as possible, and perhaps even thrive. Dead by Daylight is the game that made 4v1 virtual hide and seek fun, mixed with strong horror tones, but also with countless winks to social culture. Faced with millions of copies sold, hundreds of updates and tens of thousands of players crowding the servers every day, spending money on new content, many decided to look in this direction, looking for horror series that had not yet been picked up by Behavior. Interactive to set their addresses.

And so we had the meteor Friday the 13th: The Game by IllFonic, a title that was abandoned in 2020 due to less than exceptional numbers, and then it was the turn of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre from Sumo Digital, which enjoyed a good start but is currently recording daily player peaks that… Never exceed 2000 units. Now it’s time for the strangest title of the bunch: Killer Clowns from Outer Space: The Game, based on the 1988 horror film directed by the Chiodo brothers, which no one expected, but someone saw fit to create it. We find once again that IllFonic is in development, accompanied by Teravision Games. What will come of it?

The Klownpocalypse looms

Let’s be clear: Killer Klowns from Outer Space was such a trashy movie that it got published and became entertaining. One of those people who sometimes comes to laugh about it. Yes, we know it was a horror movie, even a smutty one for sure, but after watching it once, it was very difficult to take it seriously. Something similar also happens in the official game, which you might have understood Asymmetric multiplayer stealth action game (translation: hide and seek) Where the clowns search for survivors. All games take place on a large procedurally generated map.

At first you are divided between two teams, with On one side are three Killer Klowns and on the other side are seven humansUnlike the other titles mentioned above, there are more players here, and more importantly, humans have the ability to kill the scattered clowns temporarily. The ease with which they can do this is one of the main problems with the game. But let’s not get too excited.

The survivors, who can be chosen from among five different classes, each with their own characteristics that can be improved by leveling up, must escape the game area before the so-called Klownpocalypse occurs, The final event that will lead to the inevitable destruction of all humans present. There are four ways to escape: boat, gate, locked exit, and hideout. In fact, there is also a fifth reason, which is that the Terenzi brothers arrive with their famous ice cream truck during the final stage, but it is really the last chance to not get killed.

However, each escape route must be unlocked by collecting specific items or reaching objectives, which are usually guarded by the Killer Klown, and nothing guarantees that all survivors will escape. For example, a boat can only carry three people, as well as a dugout. So Exploration will be necessary to create more escape routesAs well as to obtain healing and offensive items. Survivors are killed quite easily by Klowns, but can return to the game. While they wait, they can play mini-games that produce items to give to teammates or keep when they reappear. Clowns have a similar number of classes to humans, each with their own abilities. Needless to say, their goal is to eliminate all survivors or turn them into cocoons for use with machines that produce helpers.

It sells fast

On paper, everything works really well, the development team has the right experience with the genre, and in the end, it also works with some games. Unfortunately The gameplay, in addition to being very derivative, is unbalanced It tends to favor teams of survivors who have managed to organize themselves.

This would make sense, too, if the Klowns weren’t led by human players. By the way, it’s very easy to kill aliens by attacking them all at once, especially after discovering their weak point. Survivors simply punch the aliens in the nose to stun them, then eliminate them, taking them out of the game for about a minute. Of course, in general, aliens are incredibly stronger than humans, between the ray gun and melee weapons that kill with very few shots. Furthermore, they grow in power over the course of the games, eventually making them relentless killing machines. It’s a shame about the nose trick that many players overuse and which makes some games very frustrating.

However, the main problem with the game isn’t even that, it’s that the enthusiasm fades after a short while because you end up with nothing to return to the servers for, between less than exceptional balance, procedural maps with identity and very weak gameplay. So derivative that it tires quickly.

Even from a technical standpoint, the only outstanding element in Killer Klowns from Outer Space: The Game are the Klown models, which have been given special care, as Survivors are really ugly to look at.. Perhaps the developers should have given the survivors goals other than escape, also considering the care taken in creating the game’s systems, or they could have added more variety to the Klowns. Let’s be clear, we are not talking about a bad game, but about a game that does not offer certain ideas and that, in fact, ends up following what is already on the market, and gets lost in the crowd.

More bad choices

They deserve a separate mention Tutorial and some unlockable content, victims of incomprehensible and counterproductive choices. But let’s go in order. The tutorial is really poorly implemented: it’s basically limited to being a collection of suggestions and tips, without the possibility of trying out the systems before risking the servers. The result is that you enter the game with only the vaguest idea of ​​what to do, with the first few games turning into a bloodbath.

Playing for a few hours quickly makes up for the game’s flaws, which are nonetheless present and cannot be ignored. As for the slots, the problem is excessive grinding To get new Klowns. In fact, even the survivors are not all immediately available, but their number is less because in the end they are all very similar to each other. Klowns, on the other hand, are completely different and are the element that contributes more than anything else to diversifying the gameplay. So why are some of them only accessible after hours of play?

Having said that, there’s no doubt that where Killer Klowns from Outer Space: The Game doesn’t succeed is in its failure to present itself as a truly viable alternative to its competitors who have already been around for some time. After several hours of playing We can’t give you a single reason why you should prefer it over Dead by Daylight Or to Texas itself, also taking into account the disadvantages mentioned. It’s dangerous, isn’t it?