For players looking forward to the upcoming Friday the 13th: The Game, there is good news and bad news.
The good news is that a single player mode will be coming to the previously multiplayer-only horror game. The announcement was made by publisher Gun Media, whose founder Wes Keltner said a few months ago that a single player campaign could still come to Friday the 13th.
The highly anticipated Friday the 13th started off as a Kickstarter campaign that had a goal to raise $700,000. The crowdfunding campaign was able to accumulate $823,704, which is more than enough to begin the development of the game, but fell well short of stretch goals to add single player campaigns.
With Gun Media's announcement of a single player mode coming to Friday the 13th comes the bad news, which is that the game will be delayed from its initial fall of 2016 release and will instead be launched in spring of 2017.
According to the publisher, the delay will be because of the expanded development required for the single player campaign, including the creation of the AI bots, along with the addition of Tommy Jarvis as a playable character in the game and the introduction of the Packanack Lodge as a playable map.
"The first thing people are going to read here is delay," said Keltner, who assured gamers that the positives of deciding to delay the game far outweigh the negatives. Keltner added that in browsing through social media feeds, the demand for a single player mode and the addition of Tommy Jarvis was so significant that it was impossible to ignore it.
For players who have already preordered either the physical or the digital copy of the game, they will not have to shell out more money to enjoy the single player mode once it is released.
Only the multiplayer aspect of Friday the 13th will be available by spring next year, though, with the single player campaign to be released in the summer. No specific dates or months were given for the launch dates.
The closed beta of the title will launch late this year for players who supported the Kickstarter campaign or preordered the game, with the beta codes that will be sent to them to be shared with four other friends.
Interested gamers can still preorder Friday the 13th, with prices of $40 for the digital version and $60 for the physical version. It will be available on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Windows PC.
