''Yes hes back, the man behind the mask. And hes out of control hes back!''
Slayaway Camp: Butchers Cut is developed by Blue Wizard and published by Digerati. The game is a puzzle slasher horror game inspired by horror icons of the past,mainly Jason Voorhees of Friday The 13th fame.
Story:
As the notorious Skullface,a ruthless murderer hell bent on making campers pay just because you feel like it. You must take your trusted machete and show them the true horrors and the true justice of some of the cheesy 1980s slasher horror flicks.
Game play:
Slayaway Camp's game play is pretty standard. You control the character skullface as you navigate him through a grid like play board. On this board you must find out the best direction to take in order to kill each camper on the grid board without getting yourself killed by environmental hazards or caught by the police.
Movement is controlled by moving your character left,right,up or down, you cannot move diagonally. It is your job to move in a correct order to make it to your objective: the actual campers. If you successfully make it to the camper you are treated with a blocky brutal kill of said camper, in form of a mini cutscene. they're both cute and hilarious.
Early on the levels are pretty simple and straight forward,it takes very little thought in the first 10 stages or so. However, after getting passed those initial stages,you have to start thinking more and paying attention to other obstacles that are in your way across the map, such as pot holes,police and fire pits,etc.
Moving in the wrong direction when there's a pit hole nearby will cause you to fall to your death and the game ends with a funny credit scene that will roll by as if its the end of a movie. Same thing happens if there are police near by, who have a red target symbol in front of them. If you happen to land in the wrong square and on top of that target spot,you're immediately arrested and the game ends.
Your best bet in these scenarios is to try to find the best direction possible to go in by using the actual environment itself. By moving up against book shelves,walls or fences,you're able to move to sections of the grid that will open you up to different directional movements,movements that will allow to to take out specific campers in the right order. This is because yes,some campers have to be killed in a specific order or you cannot complete the level.
But wait how do you even complete the level? well you see that's also part of the puzzle you must solve. The end of the level does not come with the objective of killing all campers is complete,nope. Instead you are offered one last puzzle that you must get to and that is in the form of a summon/demonic type symbol that spawns at a specific area of the map.
Once this symbol spawns, you must make your way to it without actually dying from fire,falling in a hole or getting caught by the police. Sometimes getting back to it is straight forward,while other times it will take a little trial and error to get it done,but as soon as it done though,you're warped to the next area to begin your killing spree once more.
Lastly I want to name one feature I haven't mentioned yet and that is the rewind feature. During any level, if you happen to mess up a specific puzzle and scenario or you just straight up die,you're able to completely rewind the game and take back the mistake you made. This allows for you to seamlessly continue trying a puzzle and level over and over again without having to go back to the main menu and ruining your fun.
Graphics:
Graphics is reminds me of a minecraft horror game. Every character in the game,including the killer,is a little block man or woman,all of which are extremely cute(I want a plush of skullface). The animations are very well done and with how over top the murders are,mixed with the cute character models, it makes each death animation a hilarity to watch and enjoy.
Replayability:
While the game might sound a little straight forward to most people,which honestly it is, there still exists some form and some reason to be able to go back and revisit the game,such as collectibles. You get these collectibles by earning money in game.
With your gained coins you're able to unlock brand new skins and outfits for your murderous friend Skullface,as well as a variety of new weapons to buy and use at your disposal to get rid of those pesky campers once and for all. Gaining new weapons helps keep the game fresh in both the first time playing and even towards your second and third time. Don't stop till you've collected them all!
Final thoughts:
Overall my final thoughts on Slayaway Camp: Butchers Cut is a positive one. Its embrace of cheesy 1980s horror culture gives it a certain charm that you do not see very often in games nowadays. From its cute character models,to its homage to jason voorhees and camp crystal lake, Slayaway Camp Butchers cut manages to deliver on a fun puzzle horror game that I could see myself playing again just for laugh value alone.
I say give this one a go, ''Mommy demands it'' of you,Jason.
*Review code provided by Digerati
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