All Articles: Friday the 13th

Absolutely nothing can kill Jason Voorhees. In fact, not even a starring role in a terrible NES game from 1989 can keep the machete-wielding monster down. So it should come as no surprise that Gun Media has announced a brand new Friday the 13th game, which is slated to be released for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One in October 2016.

Friday the 13th: The Game is actually an expanded and reworked version of Gun Media’s previously announced horror game, Summer Camp. Friday the 13th creator Sean S. Cunningham offered the license to the developer (and stealth announced it) earlier this year after Gun Media secured the services of special effects wizard Tom Savini, composer Harry Manfredini, and stuntman Kane Hodder. Now, the developer and their who’s who of horror have turned to Kickstarter to help fund the most authentic Friday the 13th game possible.

Gun Media isn’t “starting from scratch” and a lot of what made Summer Camp interesting will also be present in Friday the 13th. The game is being designed as a 7v1 asymmetrical multiplayer title. Up to seven players will be able to control the counselors, each of which has their own personality and special abilities. But one player will be able to slip into the hockey mask of Jason Voorhees and stalk these teens throughout a semi-open world version of Camp Crystal Lake. A single-player campaign where players can control either Jason or the counselors in scenarios based on scenes from the classic film series will also be included.

A lot more information on exactly how Friday the 13th will work is available on the Kickstarter page. Gun Media is seeking $700,000 to fund the game, and as of this writing, they’ve already received pledges totaling $111,000.

According to IGN’s Game Scoop show, Gun Media’s Summer Camp might be released… wait for it… this Summer. Set to be released for the PC, PS4, and Xbon One, the development team has enlisted Tom Savini, Harry Manfredini, and Kane Hodder to create the most authentic homage to Friday the 13th they possibly can.

You can watch IGN’s Daemon, Jared, Justin, and Brian discuss Summer Camp in the video above. But someone needs to let them know that asymmetric is not the same thing as asynchronous.

Kane Hodder wasn’t the first stuntman to play Jason Voorhees, nor was he the most recent. But he has donned the iconic hockey mask more times than anyone else, and many fans consider him the definitive Jason. So, naturally, he was one of the first people approached by Gun Media when they were looking for an actor to portray the killer in Summer Camp, their video game homage to the Friday the 13th film series.

Hodder will be joined by other icons from the Friday the 13th franchise including Tom Savini and Harry Manfredini. Savini will bring his skills as the Special Effects Supervisor on Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter to his role as a consultant to the development team. Manfredini, who created the “Ch Ch, Ch, Chhh, Ah, Ah, Ah, Ahhh” sound effect, will score the game’s soundtrack.

Summer Camp is currently without a release date, but it’ll be released for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One when it’s ready.

First came an announcement for Summer Camp. Then we learned about Last Year. So now’s the perfect time for the original camp counselor killer to get his first game since an appearance on the NES in 1989. I’m talking, of course, about Jason Voorhees (“Ch Ch, Ch, Chhh, Ah, Ah, Ah, Ahhh”).

EGM has discovered that Friday the 13th: The Video Game is currently in development at an “experienced game studio” for “multiple platforms.” According to Sean S. Cunningham, the director of the original film, an official announcement for the game should be dropping in “the coming weeks.”

Like Summer Camp and Last Year, Friday the 13th: The Video Game will be an asymmetrical multiplayer affair where one player is the hulking, hockey mask-wearing Jason and the other players take control of the expendable (and likely oversexed) teens.

Friday the 13th: The Video Game is currently on track for an October 2015 release and will use concepts and characters from the franchise’s 35-year history as well as the upcoming Friday the 13th television show.

Tom Savini, the wizard of gore responsible for Dawn of the Dead and Friday the 13th, has teamed up with Gun Media to create Summer Camp, a splatter-themed game for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One. Wes Keltner, the founder of Gun Media, is heading up the project and he has also recruited Harry Manfredini, creator of the “Ch Ch, Ch, Chhh, Ah, Ah, Ah, Ahhh” sound from Friday the 13th, to compose the soundtrack.

“This is my love letter to the classic films of the slasher/splatter era,” said Wes Keltner, Founder and Creative Director of Gun Media. “I want that experience of being helpless, running for my life against an unstoppable killer. But I knew I needed help to do it right. Who else could I turn to for a campy, 80s slasher than the Sultan of Splatter, Tom Savini? His FX defined the splatter/slasher genre.”

Summer Camp will be a third-person survival horror game set within the spooky confines of Camp Forest Green (Easter Egg Alert! Camp Crystal Lake was known as Camp Forest Green in Friday the 13th Part VI). A masked killer is on the loose and players will take control of a teen counselor attempting to survive the night in the multiplayer game. Teaming up with five-to-seven additional counselors, players will work together to evade the killer. However, if you identify with Jason more than those naughty oversexed teens, you can also play as the killer and stalk your prey until the morning light.

Gun Media plans to create an entire series of games based on 80s-style splatter movies and Summer Camp is just the first entry in what they’re calling the “Slasher Series.”