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Killer Klowns From Outer Space Review: Gameplay Impressions, Videos and Features

Chris RolingMay 27, 2024

Killer Klowns From Outer Space from developers IllFonic and Teravision Games has a chance to be a breakout hit on a stacked 2024 video game calendar.

If the past year or so has shown gamers anything, it's that even niche genres can receive heavyweight entries with big staying power if done well—so why not the asymmetrical horror multiplayer survival genre?

It's a mouthful, but it boasts a few notables like Dead by Daylight and has felt like a matter of time before a new arrival really innovates and potentially takes over the space.

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So here's Killer Klowns, obviously drawing from that 80s cult classic movie, with a three-on-seven approach to gameplay that clearly boasts the potential to have long legs.

Graphics and Gameplay

In a multiplayer experience so reliant on gameplay systems and the tension built through human-like interactions, one doesn't necessarily expect Killer Klowns to be candy for the eyes.

Yet, Killer Klowns is a pleasing visual jaunt with interesting locales, fittingly 80s-styled humans, and even some nice depth and draw distances to stages that really help immerse the player. There's even some surprisingly good lighting and shadow work, which makes outdoor areas prone to jump-scares and helps indoor spaces look a tad more realistic.

There are a nice variety of clowns, makeup and accessories one might find at a carnival, too, with solid sound work that both fits the themes and plays well within a game that hinges so much on detection.

To top it all off, there are some hilarious finisher-style moves that can get all sorts of bloody.

Klowns themselves aren't the only thing with a nice, fitting variety, either. A gamut of horror-adjacent stages too, whether we're talking about a straight-up carnival, a spooky lighthouse, eerie forest campgrounds, etc., tops off the whole vibe.

Gameplay-wise, the genre is usually one-on-four and has found some success that way. But Killer Klowns ramps it up even more for a three-on-seven, which adds some fun chaos to the matches.

Humans defend themselves with a range of melee weapons like bats, though there are some guns up for grabs, too. The presence of those makes sense from a realism standpoint, yet they're held in check from dominating the game thanks to some smart ammo and durability restrictions.

On the other hand, Klowns themselves go the fully horror (and humor) route with an arsenal found at a clown academy. We're talking melee weapons like boxing gloves, balloon dogs, a rubber mallet, and more.

Klowns nails mid-match progression, too, with the monstrosities steadily gaining movement abilities or fantastical things like a device that draws would-be victims to them.

There's even a nod to other cheesy 80s stuff like Mortal Kombat in the form of a special move called a Klowntality. Of note is one that kills one of the human players via an onslaught of thrown pies.

Overall, it's a cat-and-mouse game of numbers and detection. Humans are faster, but putting that speed to use risks detection by the Klowns, who tend to dominate in close spaces. But the numbers game favors those humans, so one could theoretically attempt to save the other if a Klown catches them.

But it's never so straight and forward and these spaces of unknown chaos and hilarity are where Klowns shines. Players choices and communication typically makes or breaks the experience, so grouping up with real-life friends should be a great time.

Humans have a few options for escape, like hopping on a boat. But actually getting out and "winning" at one of these exits can require multiple items and drives tension really well, as attempting an escape can draw quite a bit of attention.

While this is a fantastic way to build suspense for a match ending, it is also one of the game's bigger weaknesses. The game attempts to mitigate this by adding little slowly-arriving forms of exit over the course of a match, but mixing up the how and why might be a requirement to long-term success.

Thankfully, death isn't the end in this wacky world, which stops players who punch out early from just sitting there watching the remaining participants. The deceased have a chance to play minigames that help out still-alive teammates and there is a one-use revival mechanic per match that brings all humans back to life—something that if used properly, could swing the tide of a match.

Story and More

Given the endless media from Stephen King or otherwise that has painted clowns as evil or an outright supernatural entity, the story in this one shouldn't be too tough to figure out.

The humans in the game want to escape the Klownpcalypse. But the Klowns want to capture them, hang 'em on hooks, and presumably speed up that event. Plus, dying from pies to the face or getting launched into Earth's orbit via a clown's mallet just doesn't sound all too appealing.

If nothing else, Klowns nails the vibe of the cheesy inspiration. It's a little reminiscent of Helldivers 2 recently capturing the Spaceship Troopers vibe.

It's just nice to catch a dark humor vibe in a somewhat supernatural set of circumstances as opposed to a deep attempt at realism and horror found elsewhere in the genre.

Additional progression systems could define whether Klowns sinks or swims. Leveling up, unlocking skins and other features like being able to tinker with loadouts before a match could boost the game's replayability in dramatic fashion. For now, it seems like there's a nice baseline for customization that the game should be able to expand upon.

Overall performance is good too, which is rather impressive given the number of players in a match, how spread out they can be, and some of the wack effects that can dominate the screen. There's a nice suite of options to tinker with, too.

Conclusion

It might be a little early to call Killer Klowns a breakout hit because it still needs to nail down a long-term plan and keep things fresh within the gameplay loop.

But that loop? It's a blast to play, especially over the course of the first few hours when everything is new and fresh.

There's a fantastic foundation here that is worth checking out, be it in the three-on-seven detection loop and balancing of abilities, but also in how bold the game was to embrace the fantastical.

The result is a fun debut that will keep players entertained while, perhaps more importantly, leaving them anticipating whatever comes next.

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