The 1980s were a wild time, especially when it came to cinema. Filmmakers got to play around with some truly bizarre concepts, like time-traveling killer cyborgs (The Terminator), vampires posing as punk rock teenagers (The Lost Boys), and a world where humans and cartoons coexist (Who Framed Roger Rabbit?) Not to mention the hilarious notion that Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito could be twins separated at birth (Twins). Unbridled creativity lead to some of the best gems ever to grace the big screens, as well as some of the biggest cult classics of our time.

Such is the case with Killer Klowns from Outer Space, a movie that delivers exactly what its title promises: homicidal aliens that take the form of grotesque clowns and terrorize a small town. It’s one of those films that’s so bad it’s good, so I had high hopes when I heard about the release of Killer Klowns from Outer Space: The Game.

In the same vein as Dead by Daylight, Predator Hunting Grounds, and Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed, Killer Klowns from Outer Space: The Game is a PvP survival horror game. It’s a 3v7 multiplayer experience that pits three Killer Klowns against seven humans. It’s a race against the clock as the Klowns try to murder or harvest the humans of Crescent Cove, while the humans attempt to find a means of escape. If the humans are unable to successfully escape before time runs out, then it’s curtains for them as the Klownpocalpse is unleashed!

Players start off with only one type of human and Klown to choose from. There are other varieties, but these are locked until you level up enough. This brings me to my first issue with the game: progression rate. Yes, I know these games always involve making the more unique characters and weapons as unlockables, but it takes hours of gameplay to finally start getting to any of the really fun stuff. The problem is that you might not want to invest that much time, for reasons I’ll get to shortly.

Much like in Dead by Daylight, in which the advantage clearly favors the villains, the same is true for Killer Klowns from Outer Space: The Game. The Klowns have a much bigger advantage than the humans. For example, one of the disadvantages for the Klowns is being able to run at a slower pace than the humans, and they typically have significantly less stamina. However, there is one Klown that you can eventually unlock (the short one referred to as the Brawler), who can move even faster than the humans. If you or anyone on your team has this Klown equipped, it’s almost unfair to the human team attempting to evade you.

Now even though this Klown in particular is fairly weak against human attacks, the rest of the Klown crew are all much more durable. The Ranger, Tracker, and Trapper are all quite hearty, requiring numerous blows to take them down. Then there’s the Tank, which as its class implies, is the most heavy-duty of them all. Granted, they are much slower than the humans, but if a Klown happens to find you while you’re trying to activate an escape route, then there’s little hope for you making out of that encounter alive.

The Klowns can also incapacitate humans by ensnaring them in cotton candy cocoons. These cocoons can be hooked onto any of the four generators found throughout each map. Fully powering up a generator by connecting four cotton candy cocoons will activate it and it will begin to produce Klown minions. These minions are much weaker and slower than the Klowns, but they will sound alarms when they detect a human, can jump on a human’s back to briefly stun them and allow a Klown to attack, or they can even be directed to bring cocoons to other generators. If the Klowns can fully power up each generator before the time is up, it’ll trigger an early Klownpocalpse and it’s game over for the humans.

Now that’s not to say there’s no fun to be had as one of the humans in Killer Klowns from Outer Space: The Game. Humans can frequently loot for various items, like Energy Drinks for stamina boosts and knives to cut themselves out of cocoons. This can give the Human team a greatly needed edge, especially in the later stages of each round. They can also hide in dumpsters and lockers, which makes them undetectable to Klowns, unless the Klowns were able to see them entering their hiding spots.

Technically, there are different classes for the humans to rival their Klown counterparts, such as Athletic, Rebellious, Heroic, Resourceful, and Tough. That said, unlike the Klowns, the difference between the class types in the humans is much less noticeable. Humans can feel far inferior to the Klowns in just about every way other than speed (aside from the Brawler), making the first few matches feel somewhat unfair until you learn the layout of the maps.

Now, even if you’re killed during the round, that doesn’t necessarily mean you’re out. If you’re eliminated, you have the option to play some Klown-themed minigames that will grant random items upon completion. You won’t be able to use these items yourself, but you can gift them to other teammates who are still alive. This can be a total game changer, especially if you grant a knife to someone still trapped in a cocoon, as they can use it to cut themselves free and return to the match. Admittedly, the minigames do start to feel tedious and repetitive after a while since there are only a few of them, but it’s still nice to be able to contribute in some way even after you’re out. There are also Resurrection Machines that can revive all your fallen teammates, but these take a while to power up.

The key to success (and fun) when playing on the Human team is having good communication with your squadmates. I know this seems blatantly obvious, but you really do need all the Humans actively working together to have the best chance of escaping. If you can play Killer Klowns from Outer Space: The Game with a group of friends, then you’re sure to have a fun time. Although, like any online multiplayer game, you never know who you’re going to get paired up with. I had a few good matches with teammates who actually talked and coordinated, while I had many others where it was just basically every player out for themselves. Naturally, this lead to almost all of us eventually dying, with maybe only one or two Humans escaping.

This also leads me to my biggest issues with Killer Klowns from Outer Space: The Game – the servers and matchmaking issues. It can take a very long time to get into a quick match, despite it saying that it should only take a couple of minutes. I’ve even had a few instances where I was finally placed into a match after waiting about fifteen minutes, only to have it be completely filled with bots. This is another worrying thing I’ve noticed; that this game seems to be dead already. It appears that there are so few people playing iKiller Klowns from Outer Space: The Game right now that each match will be largely filled by bots.

I also had one instance where the only real player was assigned to the Klown team, but they left the match right as it was starting, so none of the Klowns spawned, not even the bots. It was just a completely empty round aside from myself and my friend on the Human team. Of course, this made escaping a piece of cake, but that’s not why we’re here.

There’s another problem as well; players can leave mid-match and if they do, they take everything they’ve collected with them. Not just food items and weapons, but key items needed for successfully escaping. For example, in one round a player had the keycard needed to escape through the gate, but when they left, the keycard went with them. This made it impossible to escape through that door for the rest of the match. This is a huge issue that I hope gets patched soon.

Gripes aside, there is plenty that Killer Klowns from Outer Space: The Game does well. It absolutely nails the aesthetic of the movie. The Klown designs are taken straight from the source material, which will undoubtedly delight any fans of the film. Not only are the Klown models great, but they also have Mortal Kombat-like Fatalities called Klowntalities, which use hilarious animations based on the hijinx they did in the movie. Admittedly, the humans don’t look anywhere near as impressive as the Klowns, but they did the Klowns justice, which is what matters most. The environments are also well-detailed, with maps based on locations in the film. The framerate can struggle quite a bit, but this is pretty common in these types of games.

The sound design is also pretty solid. The epic theme song from the movie is back, along with lots of other circus-themed soundtracks laced with metal. All the wacky sound effects from the film are here, from popping corn used to power up the Popcorn Bazooka to the boing of the Klown Mallet. There’s also the nice touch of the squeaking from the Klown’s oversized shoes, which allows the humans to hear them coming, although this can get a little old after a while.

Killer Klowns from Outer Space: The Game has some creative ideas that wonderfully pay homage to the cult classic film. The Klowns look fantastic and the Klowntalities are fun to watch, but there are still just too many issues that keep it from being something truly special. Playing as the Humans feels like a huge disadvantage unless you can get a good crew together that communicates well. It’s a shame that this game feels like it’s so empty right off the bat because there are some fun times to be had if you can get matched up with other real players and not all bots. I still have hope that like the movie, Killer Klowns from Outer Space: The Game will gain its own cult following in time, as it’s great for when you feel like Klowning around with your friends.

Graphics: 7.0 The Klowns look fantastic, taken straight from the designs of the film and rendered in great detail throughout all the Klowntality animations and menus. The humans are vastly inferior by comparison.	Gameplay: 6.5 A 3v7 multiplayer experience that greatly favors the Klowns. There are some fun gimmicks like the Klowns being able to teleport, creating minions from powering up generators by harvesting humans, and using cotton candy as a deterrent. Basically all the Klown stuff.
Sound: 7.5 The soundtrack is wonderfully reminiscent of the film’s score. The sound effects are well done, but while the squeaking of the Klown shoes chasing you is a cute nod at first, it wears out its welcome before too long.	Fun Factor: 5.0 The Killer Klowns from Outer Space gimmicks do help set it apart from other survival horror games like Dead by Daylight, but it’s unbalanced by greatly favoring the Klowns, is rife with bugs, and the servers are already drastically low.
Final Verdict: 6.0

Killer Klowns from Outer Space: The Game is available now on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.

Reviewed on Xbox Series X.

A copy of Killer Klowns from Outer Space: The Game was provided by the publisher.