Blood on the Controller With The Texas Chain Saw Massacre

One of the most bizarre crimes in the annals of American history comes to your game console as Gun Interactive fires up The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (Courtesy of Gun Interactive)

For the better part of 50 years, video game fans who wanted to step into their favorite Texas horror franchise had exactly one option: 1983's The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, an early-generation slasher released on the Atari 2600. In that game, players take on the role of Leatherface and his chain saw – rendered in loving Atari detail as an appendage-like blob of pixels – and cut down trespassers on the Sawyer family property as obstacles zip across the screen. But what the game lacked in immersion it made up for in scandal, with retailers around the country refusing to shelve the video game nasty.

So if Kentucky-based video game publisher Gun Interactive has big expectations to meet with The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, at least honoring a legacy of high-quality video game adaptations is not one of them.

This week marks the launch of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, a horror survival multiplayer game from Gun and developer Sumo Nottingham. But while the scarcity of franchise adaptations might add a little pressure to this release, Gun is certainly no stranger to high-profile horror. In 2017, the company published Friday the 13th: The Game, an adaptation that slashed through a mountain of legalese to deliver a dynamic horror experience. And although that game ultimately succumbed to the ongoing courtroom battle for control of the franchise, it did not deter the studio from chasing the next opportunity. CEO and President Wes Keltner – who conducted the interview via email – explained that horror is simply in the blood of the studio.

"We're horror nerds through and through here at Gun," Keltner writes. "We're passionate about these films because they defined our youth and continue to put a fire in our bellies. We're always honored and humbled to even get the chance to work on these iconic horror properties."

Each session of the multiplayer-based Texas Chain Saw Massacre will pit the cannibalistic Sawyer family against a naive group of unlucky victims. To bring members of the family to life, Gun Interactive brought back some franchise veterans, including horror icon Kane Hodder (Leatherface in 1990's The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III), and Edwin Neal as the Hitchhiker, the role he originated in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, the Austin-made 1974 classic directed by Tobe Hooper that began the series. But the publisher and developer also worked hard to bring the film's original settings – such as the Sawyer family house and the iconic gas station – to life onscreen, documenting wide swaths of Bastrop County in the process.

"We took over 10,000 photos and then sat with our partners at Sumo to assure we brought every ounce of Texas DNA to life." – Wes Keltner, CEO & president of Gun Interactive, on keeping Texas in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre game (Courtesy of Gun Interactive)

"We took over 10,000 photos and then sat with our partners at Sumo to assure we brought every ounce of Texas DNA to life," Keltner explained. According to Keltner, their biggest weapon when it came to period accuracy was Kim Henkel, co-writer and producer on the original film. "Being able to work directly with Kim Henkel allowed us to fill in any gaps since so much of the original locations have changed over the years," Keltner added. "Kim has an excellent memory and was pivotal to bringing this game to life."

While The Texas Chain Saw Massacre may break new ground on a decades-old property, the core mechanics will be familiar to any fans of asymmetrical horror. Like Gun Interactive's own Friday the 13th: The Game – or Evil Dead: The Game, another licensed video game adaptation from Boss Team Games – players will unlock different abilities depending on which faction they select. The Sawyers win if they massacre the victims, while the victims at least partially win if any of them are able to escape to the highway – and freedom.

In the hands of many studios, players would take on a single killer. But the teams behind The Texas Chain Saw Massacre went a different route. Instead of just focusing on Leatherface, Keltner's teams looked to expand the possibilities of asymmetrical horror titles while also honoring the unique placement of the Sawyer family in horror history. "We knew that the magic of that first film wasn't just Leatherface: It was the whole family working together as a unit that made that film terrifying," he explains.

Creating a family of killers – each with their own in-game abilities that tied back to the film – presented both teams with a significant challenge. According to Keltner, the creation of the Sawyer family went beyond just voice acting and into the way the characters moved onscreen. "We studied that first film religiously and picked out the little idiosyncratic gestures and movements that each family member had," he says. Thanks to this combination of motion capture and performance, players can now enjoy the little moments of madness and brutality no matter who they choose to play.

And while this game will no doubt be embraced by audiences already immersed in horror video games, Keltner believes that streaming can unlock the true potential of a title like The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. As clips and reaction videos spread through social media, horror and non-horror fans alike will be inspired to check out both the game and the original material. To encourage streaming, Gun Interactive went the extra mile, offering copyright protections for seasoned players. "I put a paragraph in the [end user license agreement] that grants the right to stream the game and all game music/[sound effects]," Keltner adds. "While there's no silver bullet to protect content creators, I felt this was a step in the right direction."

If The Texas Chain Saw Massacre does introduce a new generation of horror fans to the franchise, those fans will find themselves jumping on the bandwagon just in time. 2024 will mark the 50th anniversary of Hooper's original film, a movie that, even in an era of both fictional and real-life violence onscreen, remains as transgressive as ever. And while Keltner hints that there's no shortage of reasons why the original film still holds sway over horror culture, he has no problems sharing his own theory.

"It's because Kim Henkel and Tobe Hooper made an excellent team," he concludes. "They were scrappy, passionate, and pushed each other and the cast as far as possible. Maybe too far." If the team at Gun Interactive is lucky, their adaptation of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre will also be remembered in such terms.

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre will be available Aug. 18 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and on Steam and Xbox Game Pass.