Friday the 13th: The Game will now feature a third map, a single player mode and a playable Tommy Jarvis, who killed Jason Voorhees as a child, thwarted a Jason copycat killer and damned us all to the unending, bloody rampage of the undead zombie Jason. This all comes at a price: Friday the 13th: The Game has been delayed. Originally expected this month, Friday the 13th will now have a beta release later this year and a full rollout early in 2017.
"It's rare that devs get to announce that a game is getting bigger and better for everyone, though that news here comes with a delayed launch. We feel that the benefits far outweigh the additional time we need to deliver the added content. So far, it sounds like the fans agree with us, and that makes us very happy,” Friday the 13th: The Game Executive Producer Randy Greenback told iDigitalTimes. “Our goal has always been to launch the best Friday the 13th possible, to honor the films with a great Multiplayer game, and now, an amazing single player experience.”
Developers Gun Media and IllFonic announced the delay in a Kickstarter update, providing this graphic laying out the planned changes for the game:
Joining the existing Higgins Haven and Camp Crystal Lake maps is a third location from Friday the 13th: Part 2 , Packanack Lodge, where Jason slaughtered counselors-in-training. The Jason Voorhees of Friday the 13th: Part 2 had yet to adopt the iconic hockey mask, preferring a burlap bag with a single eyehole cut in it. Baghead Jason will be one of the many versions of Jason Voorhees to appear in the game (including a new Jason designed by legendary special make-up effects artist Tom Savini). “Paired with our baghead version of Jason Voorhees from the film, it should make for some amazing matches online,” Greenback said.
In addition to the expanded multiplayer, Friday the 13th: The Game will be adding AI bots for single player. But even more intriguing is the addition of campaign missions “ripped straight from the films.”
But it may be the addition of Tommy Jarvis that will prove most intriguing for Friday the 13th completists. Originally portrayed by Corey Feldman in Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter, Tommy Jarvis defeated Jason Voorhees as a child, but lost a chunk of his sanity in the process. He’d return in two subsequent Friday the 13th films, each time played by a different actor. In the graphic released by the Friday the 13th: The Game development team, Jarvis is portrayed wearing his sherpa-lined denim jacket from Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (in which Tommy accidentally brings Jason back to life). But according to Greenback, the Tommy that will appear in-game has yet to be announced. Might we see the young Tommy Jarvis who disguised himself as the deformed child Jason Voorhees, turning Jason’s own machete against him?
While it’s disappointing that we won’t be killing each other in time for Halloween, the additional features coming to Friday the 13th: The Game sound worth the wait.
