Friday the 13th is a multiplayer action-horror game in which one person plays Jason Voorhees and seven others play as camp counselors. The objective for Jason is obviously to kill all of the counselors, while the counselors’ goal is to escape in one of a variety of ways.
Before I get into the heart of my review, it’s important to take note of the fact that development on the game was stopped due to a rights dispute over the Friday the 13th franchise. It doesn’t actually involve the game itself, but due to a disagreement between the director and screenwriter of the first movie, the end of the game’s development was collateral damage. This means that there are no dedicated servers anymore and the game is hosted by players. This also put an end to future content updates, so there’s no telling how much better the game could have become. It doesn’t kill the game, but it certainly hurts it.
The gameplay in Friday the 13th is similar to games like Dead by Daylight, but with a singular focus on Jason Voorhees. The game is actually a surprisingly good adaptation of Jason’s powers/abilities in the movies. He is essentially immortal and extremely strong, but also slow and lumbering. In the game, he gets the ability to teleport, mimicking movie scenes in which he seemingly appears out of no where. It’s a nice nod to something from the movies that never really made sense, but they make it work in the game. He also has the ability to sense counselors through walls, allowing him to track them down easier. Finally, he can turn off the in-game soundtrack in order to sneak up on people, similar to some of the jump scares in the movies. If Jason gets close to a counselor, it’s fairly likely that he will kill them or at least significantly hurt them, depending on the character. Typically, a game will end with a handful of counselors escaping and a few dying. It’s a good balance, because it gives both sides something to be happy about, rather than your usual multiplayer game with 1 winner and 1 loser. It makes the game a lot more enjoyable for people who aren’t that good at it because you can usually accomplish something, even if it might be minor.
Playing as a counselor first requires you to pick a character. There are a wide range of available playstyles thanks to the stat system. Some characters are fast with a lot of endurance, but they are bad at repairing things and make a lot of noise. This makes them good at distracting Jason and buying time for other players. Other counselors might be stealthy and good at repairing, making them great for certain escape methods, but struggling when Jason comes after them. There’s a character for every role, and it adds variety to a game that could otherwise become extremely formulaic.
There’s a progression system in the game that slowly unlocks new characters as you play more, but it’s nothing special, just your typical multiplayer game “exp” system. It encourages you to try new things though, so I appreciate what the developers were going for.
The game’s graphics aren’t amazing, but they’re passable, outside of the ugly cutscenes/cinematics that play at the start of each round. The atmosphere is fantastic and does a great job of adapting the Friday the 13th aesthetic. The soundtrack plays a large role in this, alternating between eerie quiet when Jason isn’t around, but quickly becoming an intense horror score once he starts coming after you.
Friday the 13th is certainly a fun game, especially for fans of slasher movies. The main issue is the modest player base and lack of continued development. There are still enough people playing to get into a game relatively quickly, but it never took off as a popular multiplayer game, mostly due to being overshadowed by Dead by Daylight, a game with consistent post-release content and a far larger community.
I’d recommend Friday the 13th if you have a friend or two to play with, but it’s tough to recommend to a solo player, unless you want to primarily play as Jason. The lack of dedicated servers isn’t a huge problem in a vacuum, but it’s a small issue made worse due to the small player base. Still, the gameplay is a lot of fun with friends, especially for fans of horror games.
