In classic asymmetrical survival horror style, the new The Texas Chainsaw Massacre game features more nuance than just “shoot the zombie in the head”. In fact, there are no zombies or guns to shoot at your enemies here. The game features two different teams. There’s the Slaughter “Family” team, featuring Leatherface and some other cannibalistic nutjobs, and the “Victims” team, which features the poor youngsters desperately trying to not become the first team’s meal.
Something about the name “victim” team might give away the notion that things won’t be easy, but, just like in the one movie from this series that I saw, there’s a way to survive. To improve your chances, you must know that all of the victims are different. They each possess different attributes and feature one unique special ability. It’s important to know that even though you can fortify their attributes, some characters will always have the edge due to their latent special ability. Let’s see who’s more likely to survive this film.
04. Ana (Tie)
Stats:
Toughness: 35
Endurance: 25
Strength: 30
Proficiency: 20
Stealth: 20
If we want players to survive, we must be ruthlessly honest with them. Most of the victims aren’t good and only ever do a good job of making it feel like the deck really is stacked against their team.
Ana isn’t good because she combines bad attributes with a bad special ability. Both her attributes and her special ability, “Pain is Nothing”, make her good at withstanding damage. A successful run in this game usually involves avoiding damage altogether. We need characters who are stealthy and capable of opening stuff. It doesn’t matter how tough you are when you’re up against a chainsaw, so Ana’s little more than just a good pin cushion.
04. Leland (Tie)
Stats:
Toughness: 20
Endurance: 30
Strength: 40
Proficiency: 25
Stealth: 10
Leland feels like the male counterpart of Ana. He’s clearly the jock who wouldn’t get past act one in a horror movie — perhaps not even past the opening scene. When you look at his stats, you might not notice he features the weakest stealth stats in the game because his high strength will immediately snatch your whole attention. Unfortunately to him and to anyone who picks him, however, this isn’t Tekken.
Regardless of his strength numbers, Leland still can’t permanently get rid of the enemy team members. His special ability, “Life Saver” can stun an enemy, but that’s only provided that a), your timing is right and b), that he’s not Leatherface, so it’s just not very good.
03. Sonny
Stats:
Toughness: 15
Endurance: 35
Strength: 35
Proficiency: 25
Stealth: 15
With Sonny, we begin entering the “decent” tier, but we’re still nowhere near the “horror hero” tier. Sonny’s main attribute is his endurance, which is also not the best possible thing to have in this game. Luckily for him, however, he has a pretty good ability called “Heightened Sense”. Sonny’s ability allows him to constantly listen to the enemies through the walls, which might allow him to remain one step ahead of the family and guide his team to safety.
02. Connie
Stats:
Toughness: 20
Endurance: 25
Strength: 15
Proficiency: 35
Stealth: 30
Connie is by far the best character to have on your team. She’s probably that best friend who sacrifices herself to save the main character near the end. She has good stealth stats, and easily the best team-oriented special ability in the game. Her special ability is “Focused”, which she can use to immediately open a lock. This is great as opening locks by regular means will take time and make noise — the two leading causes of death in this game. Connie can bypass that, making her the biggest-possible enemy of the Slaughter family.
01. Julie
Stats:
Toughness: 25
Endurance: 30
Strength: 15
Proficiency: 20
Stealth: 35
Julie is not here to help her team escape. She’s here to survive. Her high endurance and stealth attributes alone would make Julie a contender for best character in the game, but she also features the best survival-oriented ability in the game. She can make use of “Ultimate Escape”, which will boost her speed without lowering her stealth levels. Julie is the quintessential “final girl” and the character you must pick if you just want to see the ending of the original film playing out with you in the possibly traumatizing starring role.
You can now try to survive Texas Chain Saw Massacre on PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S (also on Game Pass), PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5.
