Highlights
- The development team working on The Texas Chainsaw Massacre game has decided not to include bots and an offline option, despite their previous use in other multiplayer titles.
- The decision was based on the team's experience with Friday the 13th: The Game, where implementing bots proved to be time-consuming and difficult.
- The developers' primary goal is to push the asymmetrical horror genre forward, and they felt that implementing bots would have disrupted that pursuit. They are instead focusing on creating a unique PvP experience in the world of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.
Members of the development team working on the upcoming The Texas Chainsaw Massacre have stated in a recent interview that the game will not feature offline bots. Some of the studio's previous multiplayer titles have included bots to allow for solo play, but the developers have opted not to include this accommodation in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
In some multiplayer-focused online games, players are given the option of experiencing the action offline, with computer-controlled bots filling the roles of their teammates and/or opponents. Many fans enjoy playing multiplayer games with bots, and their inclusion is also helpful for players who may lack the consistent, stable internet connection needed to participate in online gaming.
Despite this, developer Gun Interactive has confirmed that The Texas Chainsaw Massacre will not include the option to play offline with bots. The decision not to include bots apparently came down to time and resource allocation: the team had learned from their experience developing Friday the 13th: The Game that implementing bots could be "incredibly time-consuming and difficult to do well." Now that Friday the 13th has lost its license and is shutting down, Gun Interactive is evidently looking to that game's successes and failures to guide its development of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
In their statement, the developers went on to clarify that their primary goal with this game was to "push the asymmetrical horror genre forward as much as possible," and they felt that having to implement effective AI bots would have disrupted the pursuit of that goal. For several years, Dead by Daylight has dominated the asymmetrical horror genre, and the team at Gun Interactive is evidently seeking to change that by creating what they describe as "a unique PvP experience steeped in the world of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre."
Given the many issues that plagued Friday the 13th: The Game during its lifetime, it is understandable that the developers would want to learn from their experience with that fraught project and attempt to improve. Certainly, their decision to focus exclusively on the online PvP aspect of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre will allow more attention and resources to go toward the refinement of that gameplay system, which will most likely result in a more polished final product. This reasoning likely also contributed to the decision not to include a battle pass system in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, another departure from many modern multiplayer games. However, this news will likely be disappointing to fans who are unable to consistently play online, as well as those who simply prefer not to.
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre will release on August 18 for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.
Source: MP1st
