Killer Klowns from Outer Space: The Game – First Impressions from Hands-On Preview

ComicBook was invited to preview the upcoming Killer Klowns from Outer Space: The Game, and while I'm generally not the target audience for multiplayer games like this, I have to say I had a really great time in my two preview rounds, and I'm honestly looking forward to playing the game's full release and checking out the other maps it has to offer. It's as stylized and campy as you would hope a Killer Klowns video game would be, the maps are impressive, and the gameplay is perfectly straightforward and intuitive, so you don't have to spend too long figuring out how to play before you can be bashing human or Klown brains in.

As mentioned, I was able to play two rounds on this game, so I played as both a Klown and a Human. If you're on the Klown side you're on a team of three with the ability to spawn minions to help you out, and if you're a human you're on a team of seven. The objectives are as you'd expect in a horror game – the Klowns are trying to kill humans and harvest their organs, the humans are trying to...not have that happen, of course. Your ultimate goal as a human is to escape, and you've got multiple opportunities to do so throughout the 15-minute round, if you're able to survive being harvested.

I had a lot of fun with both rounds – it's super serotonin inducing to bash humans with a hammer as a Klown, but Human is great for me personally because it involves a lot of stealth, which is always my preferred method of handling combat. There are noticeable gameplay differences between the two – Klowns move much slower (thanks, big shoes), humans are nowhere near as strong. Klowns can fast travel around the map, Humans cannot. Humans die "permanently" (you can be revived one time, but you're in observation mode ((playing a mini game to get an item just in case you are revived)) until then, Klowns respawn if a human is lucky enough to take them out. The escape routes you're seeking as humans seem really fun and sometimes force you to make tough (and harsh) choices.

I really enjoyed the overall design for the game, particularly for the user interface which is just as fun and campy as you'd hope (and pretty much expect) something based on an 80s movie about space clowns to be. Throwing caution to the wind too often for a game where the stakes are pretty high, I was particularly enjoying the details in the map I explored – they're well designed explored the carnival. Apart from visuals the sound is great as well – sound effects while playing as a Klown were so fun, and I'm a big fan of the cotton candy gun sounds.

In my preview session the developer team continually referred to the game as the "best space clown game ever made," and while that's because this is (the only one ever made?), its lack of competition doesn't mean it's any less impressive. I can easily see myself convincing nine of my friends to play a few rounds of this game, and that's only after a two round preview!