Since the release of Stranger Things, there has been no shortage of 80s-themed games and TV, and while I generally love anything 80s or 90s-themed, not many games are able to pull it off.
Killer Frequency offers an oddly unique fusion of horror-comedy, mixed with puzzle-based gameplay which offers a refreshing new take on 80s slasher games.
A Blast From the Past
Playing as Forrest Nash, an ex-big city radio host whose career has crumbled, forcing him to take a job at a small town radio station, where the local residents are being stalked by a serial killer who was thought to have died 30 years ago sounds a little similar?
As someone who grew up in the 90s watching slasher movies, Killer Frequency manages to capture that same cheesy magic and wrap it in a cheeky whodunnit murder mystery, but with puzzles and humor.
As a radio DJ, players are given the chance to pick music to play on air, introduce the song, and of course, answer some distressed callers who are more often than not trying to escape a psychopathic murderer.
Saving Lives and Completing Puzzles
Although Forrest is a radio DJ, during his shift he receives a call from the local sheriff’s office, where he is told that all calls are being routed to the radio station, as a killer is on the loose and he is now the only person qualified to take these calls.
While it’s a tad far-fetched, it still makes for a unique, fun, and extremely unique gaming experience. It’s a little bit like being on the other side of an escape room, where you’re the person giving the hints to help others escape.
Many of the station’s callers will be trying to escape the killer, all bar a couple of prank calls, which adds some humor to the game. During these calls, the choices you make can be the difference between life and death, but in this game, it’s not your life on the line, but instead the lives of your callers.
Much like The Quarry or The Devil in Me, the choices you make in Killer Frequency have consequences. There are often resources you can use to help you offer guidance, but one wrong piece of advice could end up making you listen to the caller being brutally murdered.
As much as I do love a brutal slasher game, being on the other end, not actually seeing any of the murders is a uniquely thrilling experience. I had expected to find Killer Frequency much less exhilarating because of the murders being off-screen, yet somehow it was just as exciting knowing that I could have stopped it from happening in the first place.
Killer Frequency Review Summary
Killer Frequency is a surprisingly fun game that had I not been asked to review, I could have easily overlooked. The premise sounds a little odd, but in honesty, it offers a refreshing take on 80s horror that had me hooked right from the start.
The game also has a fair amount of replayability too, which is something else I hadn’t expected. While I didn’t find all the puzzles overly challenging, I still managed to get a couple of callers killed, which has made me want to go back for round two, in the hopes that I can save them all next time.
From the design to the audio, everything in Killer Frequency feels authentic to the 80s, so if you’re a fan of Scream, Friday The 13th, or basically any retro slasher movie, Killer Frequency is going to make you feel right at home.
