As you may be aware, I’m a big fan of side-scrolling beat ‘em ups and quite a big admirer of horror movies, too. I’ve done a ton of horror movie reviews over the last few years, but one franchise you’ve yet to see me glaze over is the Terrifier series.
Art the Clown’s gore-fest of a trilogy has a cult following, for sure. They’re low-budget, gruesome slasher films directed by Damien Leone. You could say that they’re an acquired taste, but Art has somehow transitioned into mainstream pop culture, even spawning WWE crossover merch with Rhea Ripley.
Art is chaos personified, and you can never predict what he’s going to do next, but I definitely didn’t expect the announcement of a Terrifier side-scrolling beat ‘em up. Developed by Relevo and published by Selecta Play, Terrifier: The ARTcade Game is a retro-inspired, pixel art side-scroller heavily influenced by the likes of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. But, in this one, you’re not a hero… you’re ART, and you’re going on a killing spree. I know he’s the icon here, but can this genre work with a psychopathic clown at its center?
Damien Leone wants to make a new Terrifier movie, and Art the Clown and his friends take exception to that. It’s up to you, as the psychotic killer, or one of three of his compatriots, to stop the movie from happening, working your way through cameramen, sound guys, and producers before finally taking on the big daddy himself, Leone.
The story is a serviceable excuse to play as Art the Clown and not much more. It was the right decision because, for all I liked Lauren LaVera’s Sienna Shaw, you play Terrifier for the iconic meme murderer himself, right?
There are seven levels (Acts) to play, broken up into checkpointed stages. To begin with, you have 4 credits (or continues) with 3 lives attributed to each, just like on old arcade machines. I thought that might have been difficult to handle, but not to worry. If you quit and continue, the credits return to their original levels. However, if you’re trying to do it in one sitting, it can be fairly challenging for a number of reasons.
The game doesn’t tutorialise the controls at all, so you have to look at the options menu to learn what button does what. There is a light punch combo, a heavy attack, a special attack, and a dodge. I’m not gonna lie, I had no idea the special attack existed for half of the game, but it was a game-changer, giving a lot of invincibility frames and a cool and gory animation. There is also a grab-and-throw, but that got me into no end of trouble because it’s hard to remove yourself from the situation, leaving you open to devastating enemy attacks. You can also do executions, which are fine, but are repetitive in terms of animations.
The fighting system is simple and competent, but far from extraordinary. It doesn’t feel that crunchy or impactful, but it does the job. I enjoyed most of it aside from some of the bs knockdown cycles and, most of all, the get-up mechanic of mashing the jump button. Inevitably, you’d press the jump button one too many times and you’d jump straight up into a crowd, leaving yourself open to attacks.
There are four different playable characters to choose from: Art the Clown, the Little Pale Girl, weird Victoria with the drippy face from the first Terrifier, and Adam Burke, the orderly from Terrifier 3 (played by wrestler and Fozzy frontman, Chris Jericho). You’re crazy if you don’t main Art, the all-rounder, right? That’s who I mained from start to finish, but there is up to four-player multiplayer if you so wish. I did play as Burke after the main story, and he was pretty fun to play with.
Once you finish the story mode, you unlock a few extra modes, including Wave Attack and Boss Rush. Wave Attack was where I really felt I began to learn the game and attack patterns of the different types of enemies (of which there were only a few). It helped me understand which type of enemy is the most dangerous from afar, and which you cannot let swarm you, else you get stuck in those endless knockdown cycles.
It’s a pretty standard affair for the pixel art, but I always love this style. What I really enjoyed, though, was the CRT and VHS filters, which added something intangible to the look of the game. True to the Terrifier name, the ARTcade game doesn’t hold back on the blood and guts, with regular red splashes appearing on the screen after an execution or when you shoot someone in the face.
The music fits the metal style of the beat ‘em up, but it gets kind of grating by the end because of its repetitiveness. I also think that the sounds of the combos and specials left little to be desired. Everything just felt a little light and fluffy, which was disappointing. Even the executions felt a bit meh, often coinciding with a comedy horn instead of the grotesque smashing sound of a man’s head collapsing. No, you’ve got problems.
I played this on a PS5, and unfortunately, I had a couple issues with performance. It wasn’t a crashing issue or even a softlock, but there were a couple of moments where my character was stuck in a falling animation. It was kinda annoying, but not game-breaking and not frequent enough to dissuade anyone from purchasing the game.
Terrifier: The ARTcade Game is kinda perfect for the Terrifier franchise. It’s low-budget, a little janky, and a gore-fest. But it’s also filled to the brim with horror references and nostalgia for the good old days of arcade beat ‘em ups like The Simpsons Arcade Game and the countless TMNT games.
Sure, it’s not the best side-scrolling beat ‘em up on the market, and the combat doesn’t feel amazing, but what it does is mirror the film franchise fantastically. Art the Clown is a campy serial killer with a penchant for schlocky blood and guts. Are there better films than Terrifier? 100%. Are there better games than Terrifier: The ARTcade Game? 100%. But there’s still fun to be had here if you can look past its rough edges.
That’s how I feel about both the films and the game. It’s worth a go, but don’t expect anything truly spectacular. It’s a fun time despite its obvious weaknesses.
Terrifier: The ARTcade Game is out now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox Series S / X and Nintendo Switch right now for around $20
