Platforms: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and Series S, GeForce Now, Microsoft Windows
Initial release date:Â May 28, 2024
Developers: IllFonic, Teravision Games
Engine:Â Unreal Engine 4
License:Â proprietary license
Genres: Horror game, Shooter game, Fighting game
Publisher:Â IllFonic
It seems like every significant horror franchise has either been turned into an asymmetric multiplayer game or, at the absolute least, fed to Dead by Daylight, the genre-dominating beast. This may be the reason IllFonic, a firm that has previously tackled films like Friday the 13th, Predator, and Ghostbusters, had to delve quite far for their most recent project, pulling out Killer Klowns from Outer Space, a video store “classic” that very few people have actually seen.
Even though Killer Klowns from Outer Space might not be the most popular horror IP in 2024, playability is what really matters, right? Is IllFonic’s most recent endeavor hilarious or does it make you want to eat pie in your face? It’s time to unload this specific Klown vehicle.
I’m sorry to break your hopes if you were hoping for any kind of in-depth worldbuilding in Killer Klowns from Outer Space: The Game. There is no story mode in this game, and the title tells you everything you need to know about the franchise: there are Killer Klowns, they’re from space, and it’s the end. Even if most people don’t anticipate a lot of storyline from this kind of game, it is disappointing because the humor is sporadic at best. Though it’s not a work of art, the first Killer Klowns movie makes you laugh out loud.
With a few modifications, Killer Klowns from Outer Space: The Game offers a standard asymmetric multiplayer configuration. This game chooses to pit humans against Klowns in a 3v7 match, rather than a single killer against a group of survivors. The distinctions between the two sides don’t feel quite as stark as they do in previous games of this kind. Individual Klowns are not overpowering to the point of helplessness, and people are not passive targets.
When you first start the game as a human, you have nothing on a map. However, you’ll soon find a number of helpful goods, such food and energy drinks to improve your skills, balls and other noisemakers to divert the Klowns’ attention, and even weapons like bats, knives, and firearms to fight back. Generally speaking, humans are the more nimble of the two groups, able to dodge their clumsy pursuers by vaulting through windows and over barriers.
The Klowns are more clumsy and prickly, but they get alerted anytime a possible human victim creates a sound by moving too quickly, shooting, or trying to accomplish specific tasks, including smashing through a barrier that is obstructing an escape route. The key to this game is to remain silent as a human and to keep your ears alert as a Klown. Klowns enter the fight equipped with a variety of melee weapons and a pistol that can imprison a person in a cotton candy cocoon. These cocoons can be connected to generators to create AI Klown lackeys that patrol the region. They are also scattered across the terrain. Additionally, klowns have several cooldown-timed powers that let the player do things like instantly jump to a new area of the game, entice enemies to come near them, and even conjure a balloon dog that can detect humans. The fact that Klowns can return after being killed—you can be restored as a human once, but if you fall down again, you’re out for good—may ultimately be their greatest advantage.
Humans can flee the map in a number of methods (a boat, bunker, portal machine, and more), but most of them can only hold some of the seven survivors at a time. Each side has its own objectives. Although having several routes to safety is desirable, most human escape strategies essentially include gathering a few goods (such as gasoline, spark plugs, keys, etc.) and transporting them to a predetermined spot. It would be nice to see more variation in the real step-by-step escape procedure.
Conversely, the Klowns aim to eliminate as many people as they can before the game is over. You have two options for doing this: either wait for the Klownpocalypse to eliminate the survivors, or cocoon them, beat them down, and use a finishing move on them. The Klownpocalypse is exactly what it sounds like: either Team Klown hooks enough cocoons, or a massive explosion wipes off every survivor after a match’s time limit expires.
Although our interdimensional jesters greatly benefit from the Klownpocalypse, IllFonic has done a respectable job of keeping the game balanced. Humans can escape the map in a variety of ways, for example, but Klowns can obstruct escape routes by covering them with cotton candy, which makes escape more difficult. No matter how strong the Klownpocalypse is, there is always a last-minute human escape path available right before it occurs. Additionally, even if you do end up dead as a human, you can keep playing minigames to get goods that you can give to other players who are still alive to help them survive. Although the Klowns did win most of the games I played, there are a ton of tiny and large elements that make the competition fair, and the survivors can win if they work together effectively.
Killer Klowns from Outer Space seems like a really good asymmetric multiplayer game at this stage in the review, and it is in terms of basic concepts and balancing. Nevertheless, given how crowded this subgenre is right now, the question must be, is Killer Klowns just as excellent as or even better than other popular games of this kind? I would find it difficult to say yes.
Though you get to play as a killer quite frequently because of the 3v7 split, it just doesn’t feel as exciting as it does in comparison to most of its competitors. So, would you rather that becoming a killer be an uncommon and thrilling experience? Or a less exceptional but more typical experience? That will mainly depend on personal preference, however I personally like the former.
Beyond that query, Killer Klowns has a somewhat gritty exterior. Combat is boring, with melee engagements being little more than hectic button-mashfests and ranged weaponry being essentially useless. The game’s audio is generally irritating, and the graphics are bad both technically and aesthetically. Common problems include crashes, glitches, games dropping, and progress not being stored.
Review Overview
Gameplay – 60%
Story – 55%
Aesthetics – 65%
Content – 58%
Accessibility – 70%
Value – 60%
Overall Rating – 61%
Mediocre
Summary: And there’s the content problem. There are five different maps in Killer Klowns from Outer Space, and there is only one launch game mode available. Although those maps have some randomization and are very large, I felt like I had conquered them after about four or five hours. IllFonic deserves some credit for not over-packaging the game with microtransactions at launch, but $40 is a lot to ask for such little content, especially considering how scant the source material is. Although IllFonic has hinted that they would release some post-launch content, I’m not sure how many tricks they can pull off.