Being a murdering psychopath can be hard work, don’t you know. First you have to stalk your victims, then you have chase them down, and finally you need to get the job done with your bloody implement of choice. And all the while, you’ll need to appease the decapitated head of your late mother who keeps urging you to kill your unfortunate string of targets. So, the perfect subject for a puzzle game, right?
As macabre as it might sound, Friday the 13th: Killer Puzzle turns the fine art of slaying into an isometric set of challenges, where you’ll need to guide Jason Voorhees - the iconic hockey mask-wearing murderer - around an enclosed area, immolating helpless NPCs, avoiding dangers and pulling off that all-important killer blow. The result is a simple yet devilishly tricky prospect that’s all about using the environment to guide Jason as he eviscerates every character in sight.
If you’ve played Blue Wizard Digital’s previous offering - which arrived on Nintendo Switch earlier this year in the form of Slayaway Camp: Butcher’s Cut - you’ll know what to expect here as the Canadian developer has taken the same basic concept and improved on it with some welcome changes. As before, each small map is divided into a grid, with Jason able to move in any direction. However, he’ll keep moving in that direction until he reaches an unsuspecting victim or a piece of scenery, so you’ll to use the environment to manoeuvre and change his path.
Early maps are set up in such a way that you can easily see how to kill each victim (you just need to be next to them and facing them to automatically end their sorry existence), but as you push further, the optimum route to completing each map isn’t so obvious. Each kill will stop your progress, which will enable you to then move in a new direction without having to use the environment to stop. Then you realise you can scare victims away, enabling you to use them as a tactical means of 'setting up' the next kill.
You don’t even have to slash/bludgeon/skewer each victim, either. You can scare them into running into icy water or a nearby campfire, but these hazards can also damage you so you’ll need to make sure going for a kill doesn’t leave you destined for the same fate. There are even police officers that will arrest you should you end up stopping in a reticule placed right in front of them. All of these mechanics were present in Slayaway Camp in one form or another; however, this time around, Jason ends each map by performing a 'Final Kill' rather than heading for a portal.
This is marked by a black ‘X’ on the floor, so you’re often having to think a few moves ahead in order to reach that final murder. Each one of these round-ending slays also involves hitting the sweet spot on a meter, which will net you a big dose of XP. While Slayaway Camp offered you coins with which to buy new weapons, Killer Puzzle uses these kills to gradually level you up, which in turn unlocks crates full of weapons in a variety of rarities. From smashing a victim over the head with a skateboard to bisecting them with a giant axe, this improved (if overly familiar) system works far better as a means of coaxing you into playing more.
If you do get stuck - which you almost certainly will in the latter half of the game - you can tap your mother’s decapitated head (because mother knows best, obviously) and she’ll offer a solution as to what to do next, or reveal the entire solution should you reach a puzzle that’s really got you stumped. You won’t need it for the first couple of settings, but it’ll definitely come in useful once the game starts juggling maps with multiple direction-changing scenery, hazards and myriad victims to chase down.
Each kill also serves as a resource in and of itself, enabling you to unlock a new chapter and its corresponding skin for Jason once you surpass certain kill count milestones. From running riot in the iconic locale that is Crystal Lake all the way through to some madcap settings (including a Jason X-style futuristic theme and a caveman-style chapter) to the new visual aesthetic (Blue Wizard has done away with the blocky character models in favour of rounded, South Park-esque ones), the whole package makes the most of the Friday the 13th licence with buckets of cartoonish blood and guts.
Conclusion
While Friday the 13th: Killer Puzzle doesn’t stray too far from the template of Slayaway Camp: Butcher’s Cut, it does offer some much-needed adjustments to its gory puzzle formula. With 12 chapters to work your way through and 150 different scenes to drench in gore, plenty of costumes to unlock, and all manner of implements to wield (complete with grisly death animations), this cartoonish puzzler offers a fitting way to ring in Halloween on Nintendo Switch.
Comments 31
I normally don't comment on the rates but I heard this game is a glitch fest on the other versions (many say it gets fun because of it but still 8 seems to high for a game with those issues)
Working with javascript, JSON comes up a lot, and I can't help myself with shouting Jason everytime!
I didnt read the review...
I’ll have to put this on my wish list for later. I really enjoy the puzzles in Slayaway Camp, but I’m happy they went with a different art style on this.
@Balta666 given up actually looking at scores here . so many 8 or 9 especially some games get worse reviews for other systems run worse on switch costs more and gets a higher score. Confused I am.
Is there anything different with this to the mobile version? This is free on mobile. I was thinking of buying this in my switch.
@Hunt3r_Cr0wl3y No doubt it probably just runs faster...
And the '12' chapter stuff you have to pay for on Mobile you probably don't have to with the Switch hence the price tag.
Mobile was free after all
(you still had to pay for the rest)
@Hunt3r_Cr0wl3y to purchase everything via IAP (skins, level packs) on mobile version it would cost like $23. So the sale price of $16.99 isn’t bad to get everything on the Switch version.
This game is terrible. They've basically just made an entire game out of a Pokemon gym mechanic.
It seems like maybe NLife should go with a different rating system... it is starting to seem like any game the reviewer "likes" is an 8 or 9... and if the game is really "disliked" or just a mess, it gets a sub-5.
Maybe just a "Recommend" "Not Recommended" "Check it out if you're really interested" scale...
Port of a free mobile game: $20
8/10 - NintendoLife
lol this site...
@Supadav03 Who the hell buys everything for a mobile game? Saying it's a bad deal because you could spend more on buying all items on a mobile game is ridiculous.
@BigKing Point is, if you want all the content, it’s not “over-priced” compared to mobile. I stated on other boards that I enjoyed the free start of the game on mobile & would buy it on Switch if it got down close to $10. I personally, would not pay $20 or even $16.99 for this.
Honestly after going through Slayaway Camp I don't really see the point in this. At $5 that was a great price, $16 is a little steep to me especially when you factor in what's available at that price.
That's my name, don't wear it out! 😂👍
@Supadav03 So if a mobile game sells 500 ingame socks for $1 each and they release a Switch version for $200 with all the 500 socks, that's a great deal.
I picked up Sleepaway Camp based on the review here and really regretted the purchase. One of those things where in hindsight you're like, "What was I thinking?!" Jumping on here to warn anyone who's got the itch to pick this up to take a walk outside or something. I was incredibly underwhelmed by Sleepaway Camp b/c it's a one-trick pony. This seems like even a narrower passageway to squeeze the sliding tile concept through.
TL;DR: PASS
That said, there are still a lot of reviews for other, perhaps less derivative games, that I would like to see write-ups for.
An Eight????? seems like any old rubbish gets an eight on here these days.
Nintendolife not to be trusted for reviews
@BigKing Agreed.
"8 - Great
If we award a game an eight, you can be sure if you like the genre this is a sound buy for you. Minor niggling factors or a badly judged difficulty spike may have made this game fall short of a nine, but it is not to be dismissed lightly."
I put the key point in bold, for those that seem to be missing the mark here.
The first game is great but I haven't finished it yet. I will wait for a sale on this.
8/10....really?
IGN regularly gives MLB the Show and Forza Horizon very high scores for the genre they are. But it doesn’t mean I ever wanna play them.
Press X To Jason
Wait... Was that a reference to both Heavy Rain and MGS? wut
@hatch
But they are posting in comments online! It must be true!/sarcasim
@Anguspuss It runs perfectly. I haven't encountered any glitches. It was probably the same for the reviewer, which is why nothing was mentioned.
@BigKing hey BurgerKing, you're missing the point. The game itself, as in the full game in its entirety, was NOT free. Only the first bunch of levels were free. If one were to perhaps enjoy such a game, they would have to pay to further unlock the rest of said levels. People normally do not play part of a game only. That's just a tad mildly stupid and/or illogical. Unless they happen to hate it, and decline paying beyond the free sample.
Your comparison to cosmetic IAPs is almost entirely null and void in this case, as there are not 500 socks in the game. Only a handful of socks, one for each movie in the series or "iteration of Jason", and not much else.
Just be honest next time and explain how you're having a tough time quantifying the value of a puzzle game, as you're a dullard, and likely won't be able to enjoy more than the first 2 tutorial levels.
It’s currently discounted at £7.50 on the UK eShop, and I’m still thinking it’s overpriced. Now way should this slight affair cost more than a fiver
-everygrainofsand-
@Supadav03 - Agreed: it’s way overpriced; shouldn’t cost more than five quid/dollars. Has as much build depth as the shallow end of a paddling pool, and the price should reflect that
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