I do not imagine in „so dangerous, it is good.“ If a film is particularly dangerous, I might sooner not waste my time since I do not discover particularly dangerous motion pictures attention-grabbing on any degree. So I’ve not seen the cult funds horror film Killer Klowns From Outer Space in in all probability 25 years, once I was a horror-loving child who did not but know he did not like „so dangerous, it is good.“ Meaning I initially wasn’t excited a few recreation based mostly on this film, regardless of my appreciation for the burgeoning asymmetrical horror multiplayer style. Because it seems, Killer Klowns is a surprisingly nuanced PvP horror recreation with sufficient sugary silliness to not be taken too significantly. Fairly than „so dangerous, it is good,“ it is merely good.
Killer Klowns follows video games like Useless By Daylight, Friday The thirteenth, and The Texas Chain Noticed Bloodbath, pitting gamers versus gamers in a well-known horror panorama. Within the case of this recreation, gamers are break up into lobbies of three murderous klowns versus seven survivors attempting to outlast them and escape the map inside a 15-minute time restrict. Although every asymmetrical horror recreation has carved its personal path, Killer Klowns really seems and performs very like Illfonic’s Jason Voorhees recreation, which I discover to be solely a very good factor. It is not a clone, however the place it is comparable, it is welcome, and the place it is totally different, it normally works out, too.
Survivors might want to scrounge for instruments like melee weapons and well being kits whereas, extra importantly, finding and activating one in every of a number of exits throughout one in every of a number of sprawling maps, every of them constructed with intricate shortcuts to find and routes to study so {that a} expert survivor can get a long way between themself and the squeaky sneakers of a klown on their heels. In the meantime, the klowns are tasked with patrolling the map and killing all people, both by immediately attacking them or hanging them up as human-sized cotton-candy cocoons till they wither away.
![There's strength in numbers in Killer Klowns, but that's true for both sides.](https://www.gamespot.com/a/uploads/original/1632/16320660/4313652-screenshot2024-06-05132559.png)
This format means victory and defeat aren’t all that necessary, actually, because the klowns could kill a number of survivors whereas others escape and the ultimate tally could award one facet or the opposite what’s referred to as a „modest“ and even „poor“ victory. Positive, an ideal victory may be achieved, however in my 15 hours with the sport, the group has not appeared too invested on this, which is definitely a pleasant change of tone from the ultra-competitive Useless By Daylight. Survivors absolutely wish to escape, however I discovered as a result of the rounds are so unpredictable and but the stakes by no means so high–I am being chased by a goofy klown, in spite of everything, not Leatherface or Jason–it stays enjoyable even in defeat.
I owe that constant enjoyable to many aspects of the sport. Mainly, it is a pleasure to run and conceal from these cartoonish villains. Ducking into the thick bushes or a dumpster, peeking out as pursuers cross by, is thrilling time after time. And although the melee mechanics can really feel janky and button-mashy, it really works that approach for either side, so it is humorous to get right into a close-quarters brawl with a klown and possibly even live on.
When klowns are defeated, they’re despatched to a respawn display that takes about 45 seconds to get them again into the sport, so it additionally pays to be an aggressive player–or merely a gaggle of gamers sticking collectively. You possibly can clear the map of a number of klowns for a restricted time and make a lot of progress with in-game duties, comparable to discovering fuel, spark plugs, key playing cards, and destroying cotton-candy obstacles which might be lining every exit, a few of which can have been fortified by the klowns mid-game.
One factor I do not take pleasure in is the sport’s motion pace, or maybe it is actually a problem with the animations. Taking part in as a human, I can crouch-walk to make no noise, stroll to make a bit of noise, or dash to make lots of noise. As a result of the stroll pace appears so gradual, I discover myself constantly eager to run, however understanding it is not good to take action leaves me strolling by a state of affairs that, in actual life, would at the least have me speed-walking or jogging. I believe even simply altering the stroll animation to a gradual jog would psychologically really feel higher, as as an alternative what gamers are left with simply seems too lackadaisical for what the sport affectionately calls the Klownpocalypse.
![The game launches with five large maps, each with its own aesthetic, and all are enjoyable.](https://www.gamespot.com/a/uploads/original/1632/16320660/4313653-screenshot2024-06-05132611.png)
However, one of many recreation’s greatest improvements is the way it treats you after you die or escape as a survivor. Fairly than sit idly as a spherical takes maybe one other 10 minutes to complete, you may choose into quick-time-event minigames that reward you with gadgets you may then bestow to allies nonetheless attempting to escape–dropping them immediately into their stock like a present from an unseen benefactor, or you may pocket them for your self in case a survivor is ready to use the single-use respawn machine that brings again all useless people.
This can be a welcome boost not simply to the sport, however the style, because it solves the oft-seen challenge of getting died or escaped before your allies after which, usually simply… sitting there. It would not all the time work, however the Killer Klowns IP permits on your gifted gadgets to magically seem in entrance of gamers, and it is all dealt with with a enjoyable tone and colourful visuals that each one scream „video-game arcade circa 1988.“
Taking part in as a klown is quite a bit like enjoying Jason in Illfonic’s earlier effort. You are outfitted with a number of talents, a few of that are distinctive to sure courses, and every of them on cooldowns, in addition to weapons comparable to a cotton candy-ray gun that traps survivors, a popcorn shotgun that causes its targets to make noise for a short time, and an enormous mallet (after all) that’s used for up-close bludgeoning, amongst others. Just like the people, it advantages the crew of klowns to work collectively and have a plan, as a result of just a few feisty people can choose off a solo klown like a roaming band of thugs with baseball bats heat-seeking for purple noses. Maps really feel greater in Killer Klowns than they did in Friday The thirteenth, so the tripling of enemies would not really feel disruptive however quite spot-on.
No matter crew you are on, there is a ton to study and the sport does a poor job of explaining these items. The tutorial is restricted to textual content and static photographs on the primary menu, and although it consists of some suggestions that transcend the floor degree, none of it actually compares to how useful enjoying a stay demonstration could be. This makes the preliminary studying curve fairly steep, as chances are you’ll not properly perceive what goal the sport’s many various gadgets serve. Early on, I discovered myself current as mere klown bait at instances. It is enjoyable to get higher on the recreation and begin to see methods emerge for each groups, however the place to begin feels hostile to new gamers, even when they have been enjoying comparable video games earlier than.
![Experimenting with builds for either team is oddly limited at first.](https://www.gamespot.com/a/uploads/original/1632/16320660/4313654-screenshot2024-06-05132624.png)
The sport has additionally been a bit tough out of the gate. Moreover the janky melee fight, the in-game challenges are within the technique of being reset because of an unspecified drawback on the backend, which can take away anybody’s progress on challenges they’ve not already accomplished. It is not an ideal first impression to supply gamers a restricted tutorial and reset a few of their in-game progress days after they paid further to play the sport sooner than most, however hopefully it is a short-lived hiccup.
A extra lasting concern could also be elements of the metagame. On one hand, the gradual however regular unlock of latest cosmetics and weapons is par for the course and makes for enjoyable new rewards to chase. However unusually, character builds are additionally locked behind ranges, that means a foyer of 10 new gamers will solely characteristic two totally different builds–the three klowns as their starter construct, and the seven people because the starter construct on that facet.
Given that every human is form of a visible clean slate–in basic ’80s trend, I could make them a jock, a nerd, the favored woman, and so on–it feels unnecessarily restrictive to drive them into stat silos by which they share the identical stamina, power, and different attributes till you degree up, with the final of those not unlocking till you attain degree 42 for people and 50 for klowns. Whereas the janky fight and lack of a tutorial really feel extra forgivable, arguably even charming at instances, the sport’s approach of locking me out of tuning my construct is more durable for me to make sense of. In Friday The thirteenth, the sport that is most like, human characters had distinctive beginning builds and have been obtainable instantly, which meant extra range in play kinds in any given spherical. Right here, the sport has stripped away that range, and I am unable to see the way it helps.
Maps really feel greater in Killer Klowns than they did in Friday The thirteenth, so the tripling of enemies would not really feel disruptive however quite spot-on.
Nonetheless, the sport survives even this detriment because it by no means feels as sweaty or aggressive as another video games on this style. It is as if its shortcomings are each not so quite a few or extreme, but additionally made extra digestible for the reason that recreation is reliably a very good time. No matter which map I load into or which crew I am randomly assigned to, I’ve come to anticipate one thing attention-grabbing and even hilarious to happen with every spherical.
The sport has an ideal humorousness, like permitting for chaotic proximity chat and muffling the voices of anybody cocooned in cotton sweet. The Klowntalities–kill animations proven if you remove downed players–include sights comparable to a pizza-delivery entice, a carnival-style mallet recreation, and a scene by which the klown grows to be an enormous and crushes the human. This stuff are hardly ever graphic, so whereas it is tense, it is probably not scary, and extra usually fairly humorous. Operating for my life from a seven-foot klown with blue hair and squeaky sneakers is such a goofy however joyous subversion of this style’s standard touchstones.
Killer Klowns feels prefer it ought to have a steeper hill to climb than a few of its counterparts. Whereas different asymmetrical horror video games profit from iconic killers at their facilities, this cult-classic ’80s movie-turned-game would not have the identical model recognition–did anybody assume we might get a recreation based mostly on Killer Klowns earlier than A Nightmare on Elm Avenue? However what it lacks in starring sadists, it makes up for with a tense however foolish core of intricate maps, numerous weapons, and a extra lax PvP environment than the style is understood for. Points with the metagame exist, and, like a number of the crew’s previous horror video games, it is all a bit tough across the edges. However it’s the sport’s fluorescent, squeaky coronary heart that makes this a circus value becoming a member of.