Horror story: As an actually good Friday the 13th game dies, another implacably rises
This week brought the sad news that Friday the 13th: The Game, which has not had an easy ride of it over the years, is now ticking down the days until its closure. Publisher Gun Media's license expires on December 31 this year, at which point the Illfonic-developed game will no longer be offered for sale, and at the end of 2024 it will stop working completely. It's a sad end for a genuinely great asymmetrical horror experience.
Then, just like the movies, Jason Voorhees will rise again. That's according to composer Harry Manfredini who, speaking to Rely on Horror, discussed a little about how he composed the music for the 2017 game ("modules of material" creating a unique score for each player) before revealing he's been hired to worked on another game in the iconic horror series. Manfredini has been the composer for Friday the 13th material ever since the original film, and it's only fair to describe his work as iconic within the slasher flick genre.
The new and as-yet unannounced Friday the 13th game is not being developed by Illfonic nor does it involve Gun Media (and honestly after their experience with the last one, who can blame them). Manfredini says it will feature "more realistic looking" characters and will be in a different style to the asymmetrical multiplayer design of the 2017 game. There's no other details on the new title, though fans will at least be consoled that they're having another stab at it.
Friday the 13th has a long history in games and, with Gun's game in particular, felt it had found a niche that suited. It's not too hard to look at something like Dead by Daylight and see the similarities, but the nature of Jason and the hapless crews that find themselves around him suited that particular setup so well. It would be no surprise to see a licensed title that hewed even more closely to the DBD model, though there are of course plenty of other directions this could go in, most obviously a singleplayer horror game (there was even quite a good puzzle game a few years ago which, surprise surprise, was removed from sale due to licensing issues). Either way, one Jason Vorhees is dying agonisingly slowly: And here's another one ready to take his place.