'80s cult classic Killer Klowns from Outer Space is becoming a multiplayer horror game

1980s horror films have had something of a resurgence in videogames over the past few years. From Michael Myers and Freddy Krueger in Dead by Daylight to Jason Voorhees in Friday the 13th: The Game to Ash Williams in Evil Dead: The Game, we can't seem to get enough of combining the multiplayer horror formula with memorable 1980s slasher flicks.

Now another nightmare from the '80s is throwing its multicolored fright wig into the ring. Cult horror comedy classic Killer Klowns from Outer Space is becoming a 3v7 asymmetrical horror game from Randy Greenback, executive director of Friday the 13th: The Game, and developer Teravision Games. In KKFOS:TG, a team of three Klown players will hunt seven human citizens as they gather weapons and gear to try to repel the goofy invasion.

If you're not familiar with the film, the Klowns were aliens (looking an awful lot like disturbing rubber clown puppets) who came to Earth in a circus-tent shaped spaceship and invaded the small town of Crescent Cove, killing dumb teens and skeptical adults and drinking their blood with silly straws. It was a notoriously low-budget film created by the Chiodo Brothers, three special-effects artists, and while it never spawned a sequel it remains a beloved C-list classic and even got a restored special edition Blu-Ray release in 2018.

I'm really interested to see the Klowns' various powers translated in the game. In the film, they could do all sorts of weird stuff, like cocooning people inside giant wads of cotton candy with their ray guns, casting dinosaur-shaped shadow puppets onto walls that then came to life and ate people, using the dead body of the sheriff like a puppet, burying a cop in a barrage of acidic cream pies, and occasionally just going old-school and punching a biker so hard his head flew off and landed in a garbage can. Their only weakness seemed to be their round red noses, which was the spot you had to shoot them to kill them.

Here are the official features of Killer Klowns from Outer Space: The Game.

  • SEND IN THE KLOWNS: Take on a role of the iconic Killer Klowns – cooperate in a team of three players, utilize outlandish abilities, hunt humans with zany weapons, and plan your own alien invasion to harvest the citizens of Crescent Cove.
  • PROTECT HUMANITY: Fight back as a team of seven brave citizens of Crescent Cove – pick your class, explore the city for valuable loot and weapons, avoid getting captured by Klowns, and try to survive – or sabotage – the alien invasion.
  • WELCOME TO THE TOWN: Crescent Cove is a sprawling arena for unique 3v7 fights between Klowns and humans – boasting various locations, randomly generated map layout and a multitude of tactical opportunities for both teams.
  • EVOLVING THE HORROR: Unique approach to hide-and-seek gameplay, customization & respawn systems, PvPvE, dynamic objectives leading to multiple match results – Killer Klowns evolves the online horror formula in new ways.

Killer Klowns from Outer Space: The Game is planned for PC on Steam in early 2023. And if you missed it the first time around, please enjoy the trailer for the film itself below.

Catch up with our full list of Gamescom announcements from Opening Night Live and check our Gamescom schedule to find out when to watch everything else.

Christopher Livingston
Senior Editor

Chris started playing PC games in the 1980s, started writing about them in the early 2000s, and (finally) started getting paid to write about them in the late 2000s. Following a few years as a regular freelancer, PC Gamer hired him in 2014, probably so he'd stop emailing them asking for more work. Chris has a love-hate relationship with survival games and an unhealthy fascination with the inner lives of NPCs. He's also a fan of offbeat simulation games, mods, and ignoring storylines in RPGs so he can make up his own.