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[Anthony Soprano]

Gun Interactive (Friday the 13th publisher) dropping the ball again, this time with the Texas Chain Saw Massacre IP.

Over the course of the year they have insisted they only release patches once they are ready to ship and after undergoing QA. After failing to fix meta imbalance which is causing matches to boringly end within minutes and after recently switching developers, they just released a patch on the game's anniversary which broke major aspects of the game and left many players unable to even get into a match.

Incomplete Timeline:

• Game launches on Gamepass in August 2023, game was allegedly ~4-5 years in the works
• Game is a shit show at first, both sides complaining each are overpowered, typical of any asymmetrical game's fun/fair balance conundrum
• Survivors begin to memorize map layouts and learn they can simply rush objectives to complete a game in 2 minutes, this becomes the meta and pre-match queues (5-10 minutes) begin to take longer than matches last
• Crossplay is disabled on Sept 5th due to complaints of PC players cheating, re-enabled on October 3rd, 2023
• In an interview with gaming.net on October 29 2023, Ismael Vicens (Executive Producer) says this regarding roadmaps and QA;
  • "So if we're announcing a date you know we're doing that because we've got something ready to go – it's been developed, tested, polished, tested some more, passed through certification, and is ready to be downloaded on the date we announce." ( https://www.gaming.net/wes-keltner-ronnie-hobbs-ismael-vicens-gun-interactive-interview-series/ )
• Gun release the Danny victim on Nov 28, 2023 for $9.99. Largely seen as a pay to win character due to his ability to open escape objectives near indefinitely, takes several months to see a nerf
• Gun cave to player complaints that Leatherface is too difficult and not fun, Leatherface is removed as a requirement to start a match and made an optional pick, arguably throwing balance off as the game was designed with him in mind ( https://www.txchainsawgame.com/hub/patch-notes-nov-28 )
• Gun release a Community Check In video on Dec 7, 2023;
  • Matt Szep (Gun Brand Strategy) answers a player in chat who states the devs simply have to play the game to see the bugs. Matt responds, says it's an absurd thought that they haven't put the last five years of their lives into the game and that they play the game significantly, test the game significantly internally and play the game "a hell of a lot for a very long time". He says the concept that they don't know what's going on with the game because they haven't played it is a silly one. ( youtu.be/Gl2uCfM_f2E?t=2322 )
• Gun release a Community Check In video on January 19, 2024;
  • Wes Keltner (Gun CEO) confirms the lobbies are not refilling when someone leaves and has been an issue since launch, they have been unable to pinpoint the root cause and is even open to reaching out to other contacts in the industry that aren't in their development team to see if it is a known or widespread issue related to cross-platform matchmaking ( youtu.be/3E-QjwjXeFE?t=4986 )
• Gun release a Community Check In video on April 18, 2024;
  • Lobby backfill issue cited in January confirmed to still be an issue, says players dodging lobbies not wanting to play against certain characters/perks/undesirable maps is hindering investigation ( youtu.be/qERKRvmjO48?t=777 )
  • Says not meeting recent roadmap milestones for previously promised 90 day timelines has no bearing on the longevity of the game and they plan to continue to support the game in and throughout 2024
  • Says that they aren't going to release content just so they can meet 90 day marks if it isn't ready ( youtu.be/qERKRvmjO48?t=1031 )
  • Confirms TCSM code developer Sumo Nottingham contract expiring, game is currently undergoing developer transition to Black Tower Studios
  • Fan in chatroom asks on behalf of all the community if Gun would apologize for what fans are going through with their game, Matt Szep says he isn't sure what there is that needs to be apologized for but he's sorry if you are going through things ( youtu.be/qERKRvmjO48?t=1994 )
• Gun releases Hands family member on Jun 11, 2024 for $9.99, a character that can reset family objectives instantly (bypassing what would normally be a cooldown)
  • Probably designed to combat the broken victim rushing meta. The character is largely considered a pay to win mechanic and an insulting addition without addressing the originally curated and arguably flawed gameplay design.
• On August 5th 2024, Gun announces future DLC plans including a cosmetic pack and execution bundle, a new victim, new family member and early access to a new game mode & map called "Rush Week"- over $45 worth of content for $19.99 ( https://www.txchainsawgame.com/hub/content-pass ) with cosmetics and executions to be released from September '24 through February '25.
  • This paid early access to an exclusive mode and map could contradict previous statements made during Community Checkin videos that they would not charge for maps because it would divide the player base, at least temporarily.
• On August 12th 2024, Devs announce a wide array of bundle cosmetics on sale to celebrate the game's anniversary ( https://www.txchainsawgame.com/hub/1st-anniversary ), along with a free map variant called "Family House - Blood Moon" and free chainsaw skins for Leatherface.
• On August 14 2024, Wes Keltner (Gun CEO) talks about the upcoming "Rush Week" mode, says that the game will feature a new game mode and new map as a way to bring a unique experience to the game without having to need additional IP from the other Texas Chainsaw Massacre films ( youtu.be/GtPUHLJF82E?t=2718 )
• On August 15th 2024, the game is removed from free Xbox Game Pass lineup.
• On August 15th 2024, the anniversary patch is released. ( https://www.txchainsawgame.com/hub/patch-notes-august-15 )
  • The patch was to be a small bug fix mostly to allow launching solo private games and fixing a couple of small map visual bugs (lighting/reflections).
  • Instead, the patch largely broke the game, introducing the following bugs: ( reddit.com/r/TexasChainsawGame/comments/1ev6zcl/list_of_every_bug_on_the_anniversary_patch_so_far/ )
    • Crawl spaces glitch on their opening animation
    • Victims and family can swap characters
    • The puddle referenced removed in the patch notes is still present
    • Games can begin without all seven players
    • Character images on game hud replaced with a white square
    • Players can hear other players actions (grapple, healing, lockpicking, etc)
    • Victims can see Sonny's ability when active
    • After entering a Virginia powder cloud, the cloud's sound effect never ends
    • Several hitbox issues
    • Player's level can get erased
    • Family's stun animation after getting barged doesn't work
    • Two Leatherfaces or other family members appear in opening match scene
    • Character's info section on the lobby can get changed to strange text
    • Skin selection of lobby can glitch, show duplicate skins
    • Game crashes on loading screen before a match begins
    • After dropping down a well, the camera glitches momentarily
    • Grandpa perks don't activate on their defined order
    • Victim players aren't able to move once the game begins
    • Characters won't say any voicelines
    • Character skill tree randomly resets
    • Generator sound effects do not work
    • Fusebox's round fuses might randomly disappear
    • Hands ripstall ability doesn't function
    • Blood Moon variant filter for Family House makes the character's shadows be visible through walls and floors, ruining hiding spots ( reddit.com/r/TXChainSawGame/comments/1etaryb/anyone_notice_this_you_can_see_shadows_of_players/ )
    • Character stats randomly get set back to default
    • Family members colliding may cause them to jump or get stuck
    • Victims can't win grapples
    • Players might not get XP
    • Family's perks might be randomly set back to default
    • Sissy gets all her stamina drained after 3 hits
    • Victims may permanently get stuck if they search toolboxes or bone piles
    • Escaping the restraints as victims glitches the camera
    • Cutscenes happen in realtime, showing players on it
    • Certain players skip the start cutscene or get it later mid-game
    • Loading screen get bugged for 1 minute or so
    • Same character able to play simultaneously multiple times (clones)
    • Lobby can show duplicate victims or family
    • Lobby UI elements for victim and family swapped
    • Game is laggy
    • Lobby does not function for first two minutes
    • PC players on Xbox store (PC app) unable to play game at all
    • Game Launcher Icon on PS5 shows development name and build number on thumbnail instead of showing box art ( reddit.com/r/TexasChainsawGame/comments/1etgefo/these_bugs_are_bad_right_now_lmfao/ , reddit.com/r/TexasChainsawGame/comments/1et15aq/patch_now_live_on_ps5/ )
    • Blood Moon variant map is missing textures, hurts everyone's eyes because it looks like a Virtual Boy game ( reddit.com/r/TexasChainsawGame/comments/1et3ojn/new_bloodmoon_map/ , reddit.com/r/TexasChainsawGame/comments/1et94hv/stamina_and_attack_animation_bug_for_fuck_sake/ , reddit.com/r/TexasChainsawGame/comments/1et3bfv/wtf_is_this_updated/ )

 

[Bkdk]

They need to develop a offline singleplayer mode where you could customize your chainsaw killer and customize the looks of your victims, hire some koreans to do the character customizer, then just add some dismemberment in and it would have been a great game too, seems like they can't handle constant update on multiplayer.

 

[Anthony Soprano]

Hotfix was released today, seems to have addressed lag and connectivity issues, some reports that other game breaking issues still present. No patch notes.

 

[Anthony Soprano]

We are now consistently averaging < 1000 on steamcharts daily.

 

[kunonabi]

Yikes at that anniversary patch. I wanted to love the game but their pathetic attempts at balance and their refusal to buff Johnny or Sissy while dropping the extremely overturned Hans pretty much turned me off entirely.

 

[Luipadre]

Game has so much potential but these devs are just utter garbage.

 

[havoc00]

That's the divorce from gamepass effect baby

 

[Danknugz]

got my 100 escapes last october and stopped playing. the last day it was in gamepass a couple weeks ago, i made the mistake of trying to clean up some achievements before it left. wasted a bunch of time getting them on xbox only to go over to the PC install to also pop them automatically (since cross progression is a thing in this game) and their horribly tested bugfest of an "update" literally prevented the game from running at all on PC. no way in hell i was gonna buy it.

 

[Optimus Lime]

Fan in chatroom asks on behalf of all the community if Gun would apologize for what fans are going through with their game

I mean, the game might be falling apart, but 'what fans are going through'? His reply should have been 'fuck off and get another parasocial relationship you absolute lunatic'.

It's a fucking video game. Jesus christ. You're not 'going through' anything.

 

[BacklashWave534]

Should have tried harder to get the Friday licensing fixed. That games was a blast. Just needed more maps. Texas is boring after a while.