One thing needs to be established right away: As of this writing, Friday the 13th is only an online multiplayer game. To be able to play it, you need an online gaming subscription such as Playstation Plus if you have a PS4. So, yes, you’ll have to deal with all the ugliness of playing in that arena. That is a major drawback that will hopefully be addressed in the near future. But for now, we’re talking about the game itself.

For those who might not remember, Friday the 13th has already been a game once before, long ago on the original Nintendo console. While that version is often cited as one of the worst video games of all time, this new attempt proves to be better, albeit, with some of its own problems.

The tone and feel of F13 is great. Taking place at the Camp Crystal Lake campgrounds, it picks up at the best part of any Jason film — when all hell breaks loose and people are running for their lives. Most of the time, you’ll be randomly selected to be one of the desperate counselors as you try to survive, but sometimes, you’ll get to play as Jason and hunt down the rest of the players. It’s a survival horror game, and because of that, it falls into the same traps as other titles in the genre, such as having to endure tedious searches in drawers and cupboards for things to help you make it through the night. As one of the stereotypical ’80s teens, you can win by either surviving the duration of the timed round by hiding (boring), fixing up a car and driving it to the exit, calling the police, or, if you’re really feeling like a badass, killing Jason. Teamwork most always prevails in these scenarios.

Of course, it’s way more fun playing as Pamela Voorhees’ little boy. As Jason, your goal is — you guessed it — to finish off all those pesky kids. How Jason does so is often comical, with kills that are so over the top even Freddy Krueger would blush. There are also some advantages given to Jason to help him on his tyrannical mission that aren’t true to the movies and might upset some die-hard fans. His ability to “morph” and “shift” from one location on the map to another in an instant is a dramatic help to whoever is playing as Jason (and actually makes sense, since he’s extremely slow and would never catch up to anyone otherwise). But, at times, these abilities can be almost unfair if the player is skilled and knows exactly how to work it, quickly pegging off everyone in a flurry.

Friday the 13th is a game of cat and mouse. It can get really intense with some major jump scares, making for an authentic horror experience. Does it meet the expectations and dreams (or nightmares) of those who have been waiting for it? Not exactly. But it’s close and better than nothing. Now, if we could get Freddy to have his own game, that would be killer.

For more information, visit f13game.com.

Story by Jason Savio