It’s time to take a ride on the nightmare merry-go-round
The Dickies
You’ll be dead on arrival from the likes of the killer klowns
This past weekend at PAX East (held in Boston, MA) I got to demo the upcoming asymmetric horror game, Killer Klowns from Outer Space: The Game, from indie game studio, IllFonic.
Though I was only able to play a single match, my admittedly high expectations (given my deep nostalgia for the 1980s film) were not only met but exceeded as the team at IllFonic hit it out of the (theme) park with this one. I cannot wait to play lots more of this game.
Not only have they managed to craft what seemed to be a well-balanced 3 v.7 asymmetrical horror survival game, but IllFonic also treated the source material with reverence and respect. Fans of the movie will be giddy with excitement as they discover all sorts of little tidbits taken directly from the film including a human-tracking balloon animal dog, a pizza box disguise trap and even a popcorn gun.
Based on the iconic ‘80s movie, Killer Klows from Outer Space: The Game is a 3v7 multiplayer comedic horror title where players either don a (blood) red nose and play as one of a trio of killer space Klowns (Jumbo, Shorty and Rudy among others), intent on harvesting the delicious humans, or as one of a group of seven humans trying desperately to escape the recently invaded coastal town of Crescent Cove with their limbs and lives intact.
The Klowns’ main goal is to hunt down and kill these 7 remaining humans, using a variety of crazy weapons and or by mummifying humans in cotton candy and collecting the cotton candy cocoons. Transporting the sticky pink blobs (filled with human centers) to the lackey generators around the theme park gets the Klowns one step closer to triggering an early Klownpocalypse, which will otherwise set off when the game’s timer reaches zero.
The humans on the other hand, need to race to escape the invasion before the Klowns detonate the aforementioned Klownpocalypse. As a human, you need to find one of several designated escape routes and use the required items to open them for escape. You can evade capture by laying traps that generate sounds to distract the Klowns or by directly attacking the aliens. To add to the chaos, each of these avenues of escape is limited to only a certain number of escapees, so there will most certainly be a bit of backstabbing when it comes to who escapes and who is left as Klown-bait.
After my demo at PAX, I sat down (well…stood by the awesome Killer Klown’s booth, complete with cosplaying fans) with IllFonic’s Jared Gerritzen (Chief Creative Officer) and Jordan Mathewson (Design Director) to discuss the game.
Having already released several successful asymmetrical games based on large IPs (Predator Hunting Grounds, Ghostbusters Spirits Unleashed and Arcadegeddon), this project fits perfectly in IllFonic’s wheelhouse. They too, are fans of the film, which is immediately evident as soon as you dive into the game. When asked about future content, Jared and Jordan did say that additional Klowns would be coming to join the game’s initial roster of film favorites. In the PAX East Panel (held earlier in the day) one thing that let slip was that female Klowns would be joining the fray…so cool!
Seeing as AppAddict.net focuses on “mobile” gaming, I asked Jared if the game would be Steam Deck verified and was pleased to hear that he is also an admirer of the Steam Deck himself, and a big proponent of making sure that ALL of their games perform well on this remarkable little device as well. Grinning, he happily informed me that their previous game, Ghostbusters Spirits Unleashed, performs amazingly on the Steam Deck. As a huge fan of the Ghostbusters franchise, I will certainly be checking that game as well.
Killer Klowns from Outer Space: The Game can be preordered from Steam for $39.99 and will be released on June 04, 2024.
If you pre-order the game you’ll get the following bonus items: 1 Week Advanced Access, 2 Human Cosmetics (Shower), 1 Klown Skin (Junksuit 1/5), 1 Klown Character (Slim)
If you want ALL THE GOODIES, you can pre-order the Deluxe version for an additional $20 which adds: 2 Human Characters (Mike & Debbie), 2 Klown Skins (Junksuit 2/5 & 3/5), 1 Movie Klown Skin (Bibbo), Digital Soundtrack, Digital Art Book
I cannot wait to explore more of Crescent Cove and spin some cotton candy cocoons when the Klownpocalypse arrives this June.
In the meantime you can check out the full PAX East Panel with IllFonic and the Killer Klown film creators, the Chiodo brothers below:
