Game Review: Christmas Massacre (Xbox Series X)

Inspired by 80’s slasher horror films and utilising the festive season (the Silent Night, Deadly Night vibes are strong), Christmas Massacre is a violent and crusty retro low-poly effort from Puppet Combo. A game, that on first glance, may look extremely off-putting, but holds hidden horrifying depth that makes it quite notable in the end. At least as far as festive horror games go.

Let’s start by talking about the thing that will put most people off this game and that’s how it looks. Puppet Combo set out to make Christmas Massacre not just look and feel retro, but to be downright ugly. Think, if you can, back to the days of perusing the local video store and admiring the garish covers of horror VHS’ that were consigned to the back. That is where you would have found Christmas Massacre, and the developer has worked hard to capture the VHS experience, with even tracking overlays included (that can be switched off).

It’s very cool, and done well, even if the dark environments make navigation tricky (one particular level is a nightmare for this). Especially as Christmas Massacre asks you, the player, to utilise stealth.

Players will step into the shoes of Larry, a knife-wielding manic who likes to go on a murderous rampage at Christmas. Why? Because his Christmas tree told him to. Which should be all the story anyone needs, but in a surprising turn, Christmas Massacre has a bit more depth. Beginning with Larry as a child in a nun-run orphanage, possibly mistreated by the staff, and going on his first murder spree.

Cut to many years later, and Larry is an avenging Santa, following instructions from his tree, and living in squalor having avoided capture. It’s time to don the suit, put on the red hat, pick up the knife, and crash some parties. Where the goal is really simple… kill everyone.

Except, should they see Larry, they’ll scream and run, making a beeline for the exit. If they escape, you lose. However, you’re faster and more deadly, so if you give chase, you can catch and kill them before you do. This isn’t a problem in early levels, but later levels are more complex and require more thought-out solutions to ensure everyone ends up dead. Provided you can handle the floaty controls and awkward mechanics.

The cinema level in particular is quite challenging as there are multiple exits and many people moving around constantly. It also doesn’t help that stealth aspect of the game isn’t much fun, so players will inevitably find themselves rushing around and failing constantly because of this. Not quite so frustrating that it makes you want to quit, but it’s a fine line and the awkwardness of the chase might be too much for some. Something made worse by the unforgiving gameplay mechanic that sees a victim reaching the door to escape, and that being game over immediately.

It’s a game that starts off badly, gets really good around the middle, then ends badly. The final few levels, where you go from room to room in an orphanage (the one Larry had stayed in) with a flamethrower should be so much gory fun, but they just end up being the most frustrating levels of all.

These annoyances, coupled with the ugly visuals, and sound that you’ll want to mute as your victims screech over and over again, does mean Christmas Massacre can be a bit of an excruciating experience. Yet, it is filled with festive charm and horror delights. Short enough to not overstay its welcome, but long enough to make it feel like effort was put in. That it even has collectibles, has costumes to unlock, and gives you a level score, is all the more impressive. You don’t expect replay value in a game like this, but it’s here, even if you don’t particularly want to play it again.

What really helps make it stand out though, is its rarity. Christmas games are a rare breed. Good Christmas games are even rarer. Christmas horror games are nearly non-existent, and good Christmas horror games? Well, Christmas Massacre might stand alone there.