Friday the 13th: Killer Puzzle Review

The last time I played anything involving Friday the 13th it was the hide and seek style title developed by Ilfonic. After a torrent of mixed reviews and plagued with the misery of bugs, glitches and bugs and also a lawsuit for certain rights within the game, I never thought I’d see another game with Friday the 13th within its name.

Enter Friday The 13th: Killer Puzzle which has actually been around for a few years now, it launched on PC, iOS, Android and Nintendo Switch back in the first quarter of 2018. If you want some inspiration for this game, then you may have played Slayaway Camp, which launched in 2016 and is actually one of the free Games With Gold titles on Xbox in October 2020. Essentially Friday The 13th:Killer Puzzle is almost identical to this title, except with the horror theme coated over the top. Developed and published by Blue Wizard Digital, Friday The 13th:Killer Puzzle is now available finally to the Xbox family.

Obviously it wouldn’t be a Friday The 13th game if you weren’t controlling Jason Vorhees, which is who you’ll be controlling throughout the 150+ levels in the campaign. You’ve got three differing modes at hand here, which are play, daily death and murder marathon. Play is a good base to start as essentially this is where the majority of the meat is in terms of content. For a game that is just movement in four different directions be warned as it is extremely addictive, and though it starts simple and basic I promise you’ll be scratching your head at some stage and kicking yourself when you find out the solution.

As your progress level by level you’ll find that it starts out fairly easy and ramps up difficulty as you go along. Obstacles are added with some of them to be avoided otherwise it will result in death and forcing you to start over again. With a game of a Friday 13th nature you can expect elements that will cause some gruesome fatalities. Fires, holes, electric current and water, to name a few. The aim is to slay any human players on the grid either by moving into position to attack them yourself or to scare them into burning to death or being electrocuted amongst other outcomes. It is truly satisfying to nail a level when you can plan and plot your moves, because some levels are limited to the amount of moves you have.

It isn’t just the puzzle solving that is the fun part here. It is genuinely pleasing to watch the action unfold. Though cartoony it is gory with decapitation and dismemberment essentially, however you can tone down the gore in the settings if playing with kids. I won’t spoil the fun of some of the cinematics of the kills you can gain with Jason here, but they have nailed the art style here. And of course it wouldn’t be a Friday 13th game without the ability to unlock several other versions of Jason which is exactly what you’ll be rewarded with here the more you progress.

You’ll be familiar with the sound effects if you have played previous Friday the 13th titles, the chilling sound when Jason approaches his foe is here. It really is interesting to see how they have blended in sound effects heard on other titles in this but it really does work well.

Friday the 13th: Killer Puzzle keeps the game fresh by offering cosmetic unlocks, weapon upgrades and more as you crack through the levels. I think the developers have done really well to keep the aesthetics different through each stage. The boss levels are genuinely fun and unique and the gameplay will keep you hooked. If you get stuck on a level you do have the option to use in-game currency to give you a hint on where you should move next or reveal the path to completing the whole level. This took the fun out of it for me so I decided not to use this feature much, but it is great that it is there so that you don’t just give up the entire game if you can’t proceed.

I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed Friday the 13th: Killer Puzzle. There is a distinct lack of puzzle titles, especially on the Xbox and after playing Slayaway Camp I was excited to get going with this title. Those who have played Slayaway Camp will want to grab this as it is nearly identical in mechanics, but offers more in the way of levels with that beautiful blend of blood, baseball bats and machetes. For the price point it will give you value for money in the amount of content here and you can always jump on the other modes for more.

If you would like to order your own copy, then follow the link: https://www.f13killerpuzzle.com/xboxone

REVIEW CODE: A complimentary Microsoft Xbox One code was provided to Bonus Stage for this review. Please send all review code enquiries to press@4gn.co.uk.