Players guide a counselor through six separate time periods in history as they try to survive while encountering unseen and deadly threats. The game has been critically panned and commercially unsuccessful, spawning multiple lawsuits and a licensing dispute between Crystal Dynamics and New Line.
Development
The idea for a Friday the 13th game was created by David J. Ellis, who worked at Cat Daddy Games. While researching H.P. Lovecraft, Ellis came across multiple cases of mysterious killings in early summer that killed their victims on Friday the 13th, which Ellis used as a basis for his game. David J. Ellis pitched the game at E3 in 2005, and two years later, New Line Cinema agreed to develop the game. The game had gone through several different design concepts before being worked on as a full-fledged development by Cat Daddy Games.
The game was developed for PlayStation 2, Xbox, and the PlayStation Portable. The game was directed by Curtis Beach and produced by Noah Adams, a former director of The Curse of Monkey Island. The game's setting was developed in collaboration with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.
Gameplay
Players take the role of a counselor, who must survive a series of time periods in history. In doing so, they encounter various fictional and non-fictional enemies. The story is split into six separate time periods: the 19th century, the 20th century, the 1960s, the 1980s, the 1990s, and the present. Each period's enemies behave differently than the last, and they are spread throughout history.
Players are informed of their objectives by displaying a map of the area, which is split into two screens. The second screen, on the right, is populated by enemies who must be hunted, captured, and dispatched by shooting, punching, or by using items such as stun guns. Players must use a combination of stealth and violence to survive. Players can be discovered by enemies, which result in a non-survivable death. However, if the player is observed and a specific enemy, such as Jason, confronts them, they can be killed by the monster. If the player is discovered and no special item is available, they will receive a fatal injury. If the player is discovered and a specific item is available, they will receive a fatal injury, but they will receive a counter, which increases at a rate determined by their proximity to Jason. If the player survives in the night time, the counter will increase and the player is given a choice to either flee or enter
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