Slayaway Camp Review – An Ode to Classic Horror Movies

<p>I admit&comma; I&&num;8217&semi;m a fan of campy horror movies&period; The cheesier&comma; the better&period; For my most recent birthday&comma; I dragged my significant other to a screening of the 1981 Troma classic&comma; <em>Graduation Day<&sol;em>&period; Now&comma; I wouldn&&num;8217&semi;t say <em>Graduation Day<&sol;em> is a great film&comma; but it&&num;8217&semi;s fun&period; A masked killer stalks a high school track team&comma; taking them out one-by-one&period; As fear builds within the team&comma; the deaths become more inventive&period; <em>Slayaway Camp<&sol;em> captures the essence of classic 80&&num;8217&semi;s horror films like <em>Graduation Day<&sol;em>&comma; but it combines campiness with an interesting slider puzzle mechanic&period; There&&num;8217&semi;s gore&comma; oh there&&num;8217&semi;s so much gore&period; But when the murders are played out with <em>Minecraft<&sol;em>-style block people&comma; it only comes across as adorable&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Thematic as can be&comma; the <em>Slayaway Camp<&sol;em> menu is a VHS movie store&period; You start the game with the movie&comma; <em>Slayaway Camp 1<&sol;em>&comma; and your objective is to complete all 10 scenes of the film&period; Every scene is its own puzzle grid&comma; and in <em>Slayaway Camp 1<&sol;em>&comma; those scenes all fit within the traditional teens-out-camping horror theme&period; With completion of a movie&comma; another one unlocks&period; Every movie reveals a new killer and new components to add to the puzzles&period; Does your killer cut electricity before murdering&quest; Does he make phantom phone calls&quest;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>You begin the first movie as the killer&comma; Skullface&comma; voiced by none other than Mark Meer of <em>Mass Effect<&sol;em> fame&period; Much like Jason Vorhees&comma; Skullface was the victim of a camp prank&comma; and his primary goal is revenge&period; Character controls are simple&comma; you just pick one of four directions to move your killer&comma; and he slides across a grid until he hits a wall&comma; victim&comma; or some other obstacle&period; The difficulty increases as new puzzle mechanics are introduced&comma; some of which include water hazards&comma; police officers&comma; and electric fences&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;125820" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-125820" style&equals;"width&colon; 960px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"size-full wp-image-125820" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;05&sol;29122051&sol;4-e1496109984178&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"960" height&equals;"540" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-125820" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Slayaway Camp&comma; Blue Wizard Digital<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>After every movie scene is resolved&comma; a bonus Kill Scene round begins&period; A slider moves quickly back and forth across the screen&comma; and you simply click while it&&num;8217&semi;s in the Kill Zone to win&period; A gory Kill Scene is then displayed&comma; and you are rewarded bonus coins that can be used to make in-game purchases&period; 25 coins will reveal a hint during a movie scene&comma; and another 100 coins will unlock a full step-by-step walkthrough&period; The coins can also be used to unlock new Kill Scene fatalities&comma; including killer bees and hedgeclippers&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Achievement hoarders will enjoy the dozens of achievements available in the Steam version of Slayaway Camp&period; Each purchasable fatality for use during the Kill Scenes is its own Steam Achievement&period; Each movie you complete rewards one&comma; and many of your in-scene murders can unlock other achievements&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;125819" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-125819" style&equals;"width&colon; 960px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"size-full wp-image-125819" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;05&sol;29122041&sol;3-e1496110040810&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"960" height&equals;"540" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-125819" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Slayaway Camp&comma; Blue Wizard Digital<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>I found myself fairly smitten with one particular killer&comma; and I was pleasantly surprised to find that I was able to play as that killer through all of the movies if I wanted&period; The developers leave plenty of room for flexibility for cases such as this&period; You are able to turn off specific Kill Scene fatalities&comma; for those days you only want to watch victims die by lawnmower over and over&period; Now&comma; if gore isn&&num;8217&semi;t for you&comma; <em>Slayaway Camp<&sol;em> allows you to select a PG version of the game during the first puzzle&period; There&&num;8217&semi;s no blood and no violence in this version&period; When your killer attacks his victim&comma; he simply hops on him&comma; and the victim is turned into a skull&period; Instead of the super gory bonus kill scenes&comma; the PG version shows your killer using his weapon to hit a target&period; You still get the bonus coins&comma; but don&&num;8217&semi;t have to subject yourself to the gore if it isn&&num;8217&semi;t your thing&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Although you may be able to turn down the gore in the PG version of <em>Slayaway Camp&comma;<&sol;em> the death screams remain&period; They perfectly capture the overacting found in many of the 80&&num;8217&semi;s films the game is designed to emulate&period; As I played through <em>Slayaway Camp<&sol;em>&comma; my partner played a board game behind me&period; As I killed more and more victims&comma; he couldn&&num;8217&semi;t help but giggle at the agony of their screams&period; The sound design in this game is some of the best I&&num;8217&semi;ve heard in a long time&period; The music is even better&period; Close your eyes and you are in <em>Sleepaway Camp <&sol;em>or <em>My Bloody Valentine&period;<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;125821" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-125821" style&equals;"width&colon; 960px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"size-full wp-image-125821" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;05&sol;29122101&sol;6-e1496110074738&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"960" height&equals;"540" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-125821" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Slayaway Camp&comma; Blue Wizard Digital<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>For dedicated fans&comma; there&&num;8217&semi;s an email list to sign up for&period; Each month&comma; the developers will send you a Killer Kode that you can use to unlock a limited edition monster&period; Some are holiday-themed&comma; and others are just odd&period; It&&num;8217&semi;s a fun bonus to thank players for following the progress of <em>Slayaway Camp&comma; <&sol;em>and a smart way to keep players coming back to the game&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Overall&comma; <em>Slayaway Camp<&sol;em> is an entertaining gem for fans of the horror film genre&period; It captures the best parts of cheesy horror movies and seamlessly combines them with sliding puzzle mechanics&period; It&&num;8217&semi;s a unique and refreshing find at a time when most new indie game releases appear all too similar to the rest&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><strong>A PC review copy of <em>Slayaway Camp<&sol;em> was provided by Blue Wizard Digital for the purpose of this review<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;