Puppet Master Lives Again
No strings can hold the Puppet Master franchise from clawing its way back! The latest entry leaps into multiplayer gaming. Rather than as DLC for Dead By Daylight, Full Moon has partnered with October Games to produce a full game. Puppet Master: The Game is a free-to-play, indie multiplayer horror game starring the murderous puppets. Fan-favorite characters and locations from across the franchise as being added. It’s scheduled to launch later this year.
This is the second official collaboration between indie studio October Games and Full Moon. Following their Subspecies DLC for Horror Legends, the studios are capturing low-budget 80’s horror magic in a new medium. Originally conceived as merely a proof of concept in 2014, October Games’ fan game aspirations have grown into a full-fledged tie-in game with a lot of promise. Plus, you really can’t beat a price tag of “FREE” for a licensed multiplayer horror game, now can you?
A Deathmatch Made in Hell
Subverting typical horror multiplayer design, Puppet Master has two different modes of play. Thief mode pits three puppets against one human seeking Toulon’s secrets of reanimating the dead. It captures the terrifying air of the original films. Meanwhile, Puppet Wars delivers on the latter sequels’ premise of an all-out war between Toulon’s antihero Puppets vs. the Demon Lord Zutek’s Totems. However you slice it, it’s a monster mash with impressive attention to detail for such a small-scale production.
It’s Playtime
While a few years behind the current build, the original fan game multiplayer prototype is available for download to play with friends. October Games is actively encouraging fans to reach out to them over Discord to discuss the films and the game’s progress.
They’ve already implemented several classic puppets, including Blade, Jester, Pinhead, Scorch, Leechwoman, and Sixshooter. There’s a lot of passion on display and unique mechanics for each iconic puppet. Human players have the added twist of playing entirely in first-person, while puppets dart in third. Maps will have plenty of crawl spaces and hiding spots for you to ambush your prey.
It’s so rare for a fan game to see a proper release. It’s all the more amazing to see it taken on by the IP holder as an official production. Full Moon has a veritable mountain of horror games begging for indie experiments like this. With October Games eagerly producing Puppet Master with Full Moon, we can’t wait to see what scares they have lurking just around the corner.
