Slayaway Camp

 PC
User Score
7.6

Generally favorable reviews- based on 30 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 19 out of 30
  2. Mixed: 7 out of 30
  3. Negative: 4 out of 30

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  1. iseeall
    Jan 16, 2017
    9
    A puzzle game with a familiar mechanic of straigh sliding moves until you hit an obstacle to navigate a maze-like field - but this time you control a serial killer and kill "voxelated" teens and policemen.

    The good: - puzzles are well designed, the difficulty grows at an appropriate rate - tons of dark humor - good graphics, nice colors The so-so: - the killing animations get    A puzzle game with a familiar mechanic of straigh sliding moves until you hit an obstacle to navigate a maze-like field - but this time you control a serial killer and kill "voxelated" teens and policemen.

    The good:
    - puzzles are well designed, the difficulty grows at an appropriate rate
    - tons of dark humor
    - good graphics, nice colors

    The so-so:
    - the killing animations get stale after some time playing. Actually, after a long time playing you get somewhat tired of the whole killing theme and wish it was just an abstract puzzle. Also, watching the same teens get killed over and over when you rewind turns in an attempt to solve a difficult puzzle may get a bit annoying. But well, that's the topic of this game: serial killing. It's very fun at first but a not as fun (rather, neutral) after
    - the screams and the facial expressions are a bit too realistic. Every time I looked at them too closely I felt real pity for them. But the killing is so ridiculous and for no reason that you kind of get guilty pleasure from it... This game **** up your mind!

    The bad:
    - nothing

    If even for a short time, this game is fun and definitely worth a look! Make sure to play it with small kids (joking)    … Expand
  2. MrCandyworm
    Jan 26, 2017
    10
    Im all for horror themed games, and games where you can be the killer always has plus points for me, so naturally I love Slayaway Camp. Now that we got my personal preferences out of the way, these are the other reasons why you should play it:

    - The atmosphere is great, the 80s slasher horror feeling is awesome. - The puzzles are really well made. Starts from easy to challenging, so    Im all for horror themed games, and games where you can be the killer always has plus points for me, so naturally I love Slayaway Camp. Now that we got my personal preferences out of the way, these are the other reasons why you should play it:

    - The atmosphere is great, the 80s slasher horror feeling is awesome.
    - The puzzles are really well made. Starts from easy to challenging, so you can get your mind around it. And there is plenty, I have 14 hours in the game and still haven't finished all puzzle.
    - The game has plenty of humor. It's the parody of slasher films, the animation (and the gore) is also fun, and full of small hidden jokes.
    - I think that the developers dedicated enough to keep the game updated. New killer every month, new maps and puzzles are on the way, so I think there will be enough content in the future too.
    - The mini game part is fun (for me), and you can grind it if you like it.

    Don't buy this if:
    - You want an action game, this is not one.
    - Want to be scared. It's not a horror game, it's a horror themed game, big difference
    - Don't like puzzles
    - Don't like pixels, retro graphics and animations

    TL DR: Love puzzles, slasher films nad pixel gore? Get it! Want a horror/action game? Don't. For me it's a 10/10    … Expand
  3. Batprince
    Feb 1, 2017
    10
    An absolutely brilliant homage to old slasher/horror films disguising a solid slider puzzle. Dark humour is always more appreciated than forced jump scares to me. If you're a fan of genre films you'll absolutely love this! Definitely give it a try!
  4. Underpants158
    Nov 15, 2016
    7
    -Atmosphere: 80s slasher pics in blocky animatations
    -Gameplay: a sliding puzzle game where you must avoid obstacles and kill teenagers.
    -Result: a fun a little game that should be on your phone but also works on PC while listening to podcasts or playing when your roommate is watching boring television.
  5. TitaniumDragon
    Feb 22, 2018
    8
    Slayaway Camp is a B-movie ’80s horror movie themed puzzle game. You play as a serial killer, and your goal in each puzzle is to kill all of the civilians and then escape the level.

    There aren’t many puzzle games that make really effective use of theme and setting in their mechanics. Slayaway camp is a major exception to this rule; the game mechanics rely entirely on the theme and    Slayaway Camp is a B-movie ’80s horror movie themed puzzle game. You play as a serial killer, and your goal in each puzzle is to kill all of the civilians and then escape the level.

    There aren’t many puzzle games that make really effective use of theme and setting in their mechanics. Slayaway camp is a major exception to this rule; the game mechanics rely entirely on the theme and setting, and as such, work really well and in an intuitive fashion.

    The mechanics are very simple. Everyone – both you and the civilians – always move in straight lines on a square grid until they run into an obstacle of some sort. When you run into a living creature, you kill them. Your goal is to kill every civilian on the map, then escape through a pentagram, requiring you to maneuver your way around using the mechanics, and avoid getting stuck in a way that you can’t get to the rest of the civilians or can’t reach the exit. The ability to rewind a turn at any time (complete with VHS tape rewind special effects) is a welcome addition, meaning that even if you screw up, you can just go back – indeed, you can rewind back as far as you want, allowing you to undo any number of moves if you think better of what you’ve been doing. After playing this game, I feel like every similar turn-based puzzle game which doesn't have this feature is missing something critical.

    But the game makes good use of its horror tropes. If a civilian is standing next to someone who is killed, they will flee in terror in a straight line away from the killed person. If you stand next to a civilian, they will run away in a straight line away from you. You can sneak up behind a cop and kill them, but if you move directly in front of a cop, they’ll kill you. SWAT team officers have longer range, with laser sights on their weapons, and attacking them from any direction will result in your death.

    Mastering these leads to encountering further horror movie-themed obstacles. If one of your potential victims runs out of one of the stage exits, you lose as they go off to warn everyone else. If a cat dies (either directly by your hand or due to you scaring it into environmental hazards), it is game over – after all, the ASPCA has to certify no animals were harmed in the making of the movie! If you turn the power off, the civilians can’t see you and won’t react to you being near them or killing people around them, and you can sneak up behind the SWAT team officers and kill them. Electric fences can pose a danger to your movements when the power is on, but can also kill a hapless civilian who is scared into them. Holes in the ground, deep water, or fires can send you hurtling to your doom or burning to death, but you can scare civilians into them to kill them without laying a finger on them – but you have to make sure that those cats don’t get scared into those same hazards.

    All of these things combine naturally in a lot of interesting ways, and as you go through the game you learn how to deal with all of the challenges and turn them to your advantage like the depraved serial killer you are.

    There are over a hundred levels in the game, broken up into nine “movies”, with each new movie adding in a new mechanic appropriate to the theme, be it bubble gum on the ground in New York that stop you (or your victims) without requiring you to collide with a wall, or teleportation pads on a space station that move you between them while maintaining your direction of travel. Things keep evolving and keeping interesting, and by the time the game is done, it has introduced quite a number of mechanics and used them in a variety of interesting ways. If it had gone on much longer than it did, it would have likely become tiresome, but with the mechanics it had, it ultimately felt like it was just about the right length.

    This isn’t a mind-blowingly amazing game – this is not something like Portal or the Talos Principle. There’s no great narrative (though the cheesy faux-’80s movie trailers at the start of each “movie” are amusing), and the game, despite being silly, is never really laugh out loud funny. But it is a game which is a very decent sliding blocks puzzle type game with an interesting horror-movie themed mechanical twist that made it much more memorable and distinctive than the countless puzzle games littering Steam. This isn’t something you should play unless you like puzzle games, but if you are into puzzle games, this might be up your alley – at least, assuming that cheesy “slasher scenes” of extreme violence happening to blocky low-rez characters doesn’t bother you.    … Expand
  6. JohnOswald
    Feb 10, 2017
    10
    A very cool game that can make your brain work, If you enjoyed old slasher films and wanna feel how it's like to kill teenagers, you should give this game a try. If you like solving puzzles and the rush you get when you kill someone in a video game, this game might be for good for you. Slayaway Camp is a nice gore, pixelated game that takes you back to the 1980s, when you watched saidA very cool game that can make your brain work, If you enjoyed old slasher films and wanna feel how it's like to kill teenagers, you should give this game a try. If you like solving puzzles and the rush you get when you kill someone in a video game, this game might be for good for you. Slayaway Camp is a nice gore, pixelated game that takes you back to the 1980s, when you watched said slasher films on VHS tapes. Same goes to Slayaway Camp, you pick up a VHS tape, start the movie, and play as the killer in an old, standard slasher film, doesn't that sound fun? I recommend getting the game and start solving those puzzles, because this game is full of them. Warning: This game does contain blood, bones, screams, death (lots of death), puzzle solving and a small yet hefty amount of grinding/ If you're not into any of the above this game might not be for you, but in my opinion, Slayaway Camp is an extremely enjoyable game… Expand
  7. aditya1101
    Oct 5, 2017
    4
    The atmosphere is great, but at it's core it's an incredibly simple puzzle game with a lot of gimmicks and not much depth. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
83

Generally favorable reviews - based on 6 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6 out of 6
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 6
  3. Negative: 0 out of 6
  1. GameGrin
    Jun 26, 2017
    75
    Although the game could use a bit of polish around its UI framework, a ton of thought was put into countless popular culture references and cubed graphics. If you’re looking for a gorefest though, this isn’t the place to find one.
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  2. GameCritics
    May 2, 2017
    90
    With its cheerful gore and wholehearted embrace of adorable violence, Slayaway Camp toes a line that has tripped up many developers before them. (Anyone remember the tonal disaster that was Naughty Bear?) This is both an ingeniously-built puzzle game and a horror extravaganza rolled into one, and it’s a combination that must be seen to be believed. Horror fans will enjoy great comedy writing about a subject they love, puzzle fans will have their brains expertly teased, and fans of both will find the game of their dreams.
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  3. DarkStation
    Feb 1, 2017
    80
    Overall, Slayaway Camp hits the mark when it comes to being an homage to classic slasher films. It is cheesy, filled with murder and crazy kills, and doesn’t take itself too seriously. While the puzzles can be challenging early on and easy towards the end, they are still fulfilling to complete and that sense of accomplishment doesn’t go away at any point. While it would’ve been nice to see some additional kills and hear some additional lines of dialogue from the narrator, it still works for what it is. Slayaway Camp is one of the best homages to classic slasher films and should be an easy buy for any horror buff looking to pass the time.
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