Killer Klowns from Outer Space: The Game, the review of the clone you don’t expect

Games are often created with the very banal objective of following in the wake of some success. It’s not offensive to say it and after all it’s natural that publishers and development houses feel like copying each other to try to stay afloat as much as possible and, perhaps, prosper. Dead by Daylight is the game that made 4v1 virtual hide and seek fun, tinging it with strong horror hues, but also with infinite winks to social culture. Faced with millions of copies sold, hundreds of updates and tens of thousands of players who crowd the servers every day, spending money on new content, many have decided to look in that direction, searching for horror series that have not yet been optioned by Behavior Interactive to set their titles.

Thus we had the meteor Friday the 13th: The Game by IllFonic, a title abandoned in 2020 due to less than exceptional numbers, then it was the turn of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre by Sumo Digital, which enjoyed a good start but currently records daily player peaks that never exceed 2,000 units. Now it’s time for the strangest title of the bunch: Killer Klowns from Outer Space: The Game, tie-in to a 1988 cult horror film directed by the Chiodo Brothers, which no one expected, but which someone saw fit to create. We once again find IllFonic in development, accompanied by Teravision Games. What will come of it?

The Klownpocalypse looms

Let’s be clear: Killer Klowns from Outer Space was such a trashy movie that it made the rounds and became entertaining. One of those who occasionally come around to laugh about it. Yes, we know it was a horror film, even a decidedly splatter one, but after seeing it once it was really difficult to take it seriously. Something similar also happens in the official game, which as you may have understood is an asymmetric multiplayer stealth action game (translation: hide and seek) in which clowns hunt for survivors. All games take place on a large procedurally generated map.

At the start you are divided between the two teams, with on one side three Killer Klowns and on the other seven humans. Unlike the other titles mentioned above, here there are more players and, importantly, humans have the ability to temporarily kill the splatter clowns. The very ease with which they can do this is one of the main problems of the game. But let’s not rush too much.

The survivors, selectable from five different classes, each with its own characteristics that can be improved by leveling up, must escape from the game area before the so-called Klownpocalypse occurs, the final event that will lead to the inevitable destruction of all humans present. There are four ways to escape: a boat, a portal, a locked exit and the bunker. In reality there is also a fifth, namely the arrival of the Terenzi brothers with their iconic ice cream truck during the final phase, but it is truly the last chance to not get killed.

In any case, each escape route must be unlocked by collecting specific objects or reaching objectives, usually protected by the Killer Klown, and none guarantees the escape of all survivors. For example, the boat can only carry three people, as can the bunker. So exploring will be essential to create more escape routes, as well as to obtain healing and offensive items. Survivors are killed quite easily by Klowns, but can return to the game. While they wait, they can play mini games that yield items to give to teammates or to keep for when they reappear. Klowns have a similar number of classes to humans, each with its own special abilities. Their goal is, needless to say, to eliminate all survivors or turn them into cocoons for use with machines that produce helpers.

It sells out quickly

On paper everything works really well, the development team has the right experience with the genre and, ultimately, for some games it even works. Unfortunately the gameplay, in addition to being extremely derivative, is poorly balanced and tends to favor teams of survivors who manage to organize themselves.

Which would also make sense, if the Klowns weren’t led by human players. Incidentally, it’s very easy to kill space creatures by attacking all at once, particularly once you’ve figured out their weak point. Survivors simply hit the aliens in the nose to stun them, then finish them off, knocking them out of the game for about a minute. Of course, overall the aliens are incredibly stronger than humans, between the ray gun and the melee weapons that kill with very few shots. Furthermore, their power increases over the course of the games, making them relentless killing machines in the end. It’s a shame about the nose trick which is overused by many players and which makes certain games quite frustrating.

However, the main problem of the game isn’t even this, but that the enthusiasm fades after a short while because you end up having nothing to return to the servers for, between less than exceptional balance, procedural maps with a very weak identity and gameplay so derivative that tires quickly.

Even from a technical point of view, the only outstanding element of Killer Klowns from Outer Space: The Game are the Klown models, which have been given particular care, where however the survivors are really ugly to look at. Perhaps the developers should have given the survivors objectives other than escaping, also considering the care taken in creating the game systems, or they could have added more variety in the Klowns. We are not talking about a bad game, let’s be clear, but about one that offers no particular ideas and which, in fact, ends up following what is already on the market, getting lost in the crowd.

More bad choices

They deserve a separate mention the tutorial and some unlockable content, victims of incomprehensible and counterproductive choices. But let’s go in order. The tutorial is really poorly done: it is basically limited to being a collection of tips and advice, without the possibility of trying the systems before risking the servers. The result is that you enter the game with only a vague idea of ​​what you need to do, with the first few games becoming a massacre.

Playing for a few hours quickly makes up for the shortcomings of the gameplay, which are there and cannot be ignored. As for the unlockables, the problem is excessive grinding to get the new Klowns. In reality, even the survivors are not all available immediately, but they count less because in the end they are all very similar to each other. The Klowns, on the other hand, are very different and are the element that most of all contributes to diversifying the gameplay. So why make some only accessible after hours of play?

Having said that, there is no doubt that where Killer Klowns from Outer Space: The Game doesn’t work is in failing to present itself as a truly valid alternative to its competitors that have already been on the market for some time. After several hours of play we can’t give you a single reason why you should prefer it to Dead by Daylight or to Texas itself, also considering the defects listed. It’s serious, isn’t it?

Conclusions

Killer Klowns from Outer Space: The Game is not a horrible game, but it is one of those that has little to offer to its rivals to stand out, between less than perfect balance, derivative gameplay and many more or less serious problems. In short, it is the classic game launched to try to make money by chasing a beloved genre, nothing more, nothing less. It’s unlikely we’ll still be talking about it in a few months… unless it becomes a cult title like the film it was based on.