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Playing as the Family in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre arguably entails a steeper learning curve than playing as the Victims. Many will argue that matches are tipped in favor of the Family, and that they’re given more tools to wreak havoc on the Victims than Victims have to escape. However, it takes time, trial and error, and team synergy to best utilize those tools–otherwise, Victims will literally run circles around you as they escape. As such, here are the best tips that I can impart after my many successes (and failures) while playing as the Family.
Your Top Priority Should Always Be to Protect Objectives and Secure the Property
I know you may be thinking–my top priority should be to kill the Victims! But ultimately, the one thing that will prevent you from getting the Victims is an escape route opening up. The moment that a fuse-box is opened, a gate is unlocked, a generator is turned off, etc. is the moment that the outcome of the match becomes more tipped in favor of all of the Victims. So while it can be tempting to chase down an injured Victim across the map to secure a kill, if you spot a Victim doing something like unlocking an important door or starting to work on the fusebox in the process, you should immediately shift focus to that Victim instead.
Keep in mind that for the Victims, the match is a race against the clock–their health is constantly sapping away, and they can only take so many hits or jump down wells so many times until their health eventually runs out. As long as you’re able to prevent any of the exits from opening, the Victims will eventually die in the process.
Grandpa Should Also Be a High Priority
Feeding and protecting Grandpa Sawyer may seem like an obvious priority, but the amount of matches I’ve had where my fellow Family members have completely ignored him the entire duration of the match compels me to make this tip number two. Leveling Grandpa up not only grants handy perks, but increases the rate that he uses his sonar ability to spot Victims, which is vital to slow down victims as they target objectives. Your team may not be able to patrol every inch of the map, but the frequent use of his sonar ability gives you breathing room to cover more ground and spot hasty Victims who move during it. This leads me to my next point…
Spread Out as Much as Possible
Think of it like this: when you’re playing as a Victim, the moment your screen starts turning yellow as a result of being near a Family member, you’re most likely going to do one of two things: hide until they go away, or run away. Both options are net positives for the Family, because as previously mentioned, it deters Victims from focusing their attention on objectives. The best way to capitalize on this is to maintain a presence throughout as much of the map as you’re able to, and to make sure that your teammates are covering the ground that you’re unable to. Using Family Focus is a great way to keep track of where you should focus your attention and where your teammates are focusing theirs.
Learn How to Balance Out Your Team
The latest update that Gun has implemented has removed the requirement of Leatherface for a match to begin. Team synergy was important before, but this update makes the composition of your team all the more essential to double-check before each match. The current cast of the Family can be divided into three groups–Support, Disruptors, and Executioners.
Support would entail The Cook and Nancy: they’re slower, have low endurance, and can’t navigate crawl spaces, but they have great tools to protect objectives and flag Victims to the rest of the group. They also naturally have high blood harvesting attributes to quickly feed Grandpa.
Disruptors have Sissy and The Hitchhiker: they bridge the gap between Support and Executioners. They’re great for chases and scaring Victims off from objectives since they have high endurance, traps, and mobility options (and the unique ability to navigate crawl spaces), but they don’t pack as much of a punch.
Executioners are Leatherface and Johnny. They’re the strongest and have the highest endurance, perfect for finishing off weakened Victims, but they don’t have as many tools to protect objectives.
In an optimal situation, you’d have one character from each of these groups during each match to compliment each other. However, you’ll start to notice the pitfalls of having teams with no synergy when you have groups like The Cook, Nancy, and Johnny, and the Victims repeatedly use crawl spaces to escape since none of your characters can navigate them. With a group like Johnny, Leatherface, and Sissy, you barely have any tools to secure objectives so Victims will take that as their cue to quickly capitalize on multiple escape routes.
You’d do well to learn how to effectively play as one Family member from at least two of these groups, and switch between depending on who your teammates are/what they need.
Steer Clear of the Basement (Most of the Time)
Victims will inevitably retreat back into the basement multiple times during each match, most often after making an escape by jumping down a well. It may be tempting to try and follow them down to finish them off, but most of the time, you should generally avoid going into the basement at all costs. For starters, it goes against cardinal rule #1, which is to always prioritize objectives. But in general, the basement is the safe haven for Victims in every map. Between crawlspaces, multiple exits to get back upstairs, abundant health items, and plenty of dark corners for them to hide in, it’s a losing battle trying to chase a Victim down in the basement, and you’ll end up wasting a huge chunk of time in the process.
The one exception to this rule is when you start to get a sense of the layout of each map, and you’re able to capitalize on incapacitated Victims that jump into wells that drop them next to basement doors. If you know that a Victim is going to end up incapacitated from jumping down a well, and where they fall happens to be next to a basement door, you can make it down into the basement to execute them before they can get back up if you’re quick enough. It’s a risky maneuver, but the payoff is a guaranteed kill.
Getting a handle on playing as the Family is a process. Each individual Family member could have their own specialized guide on how to best utilize what they offer, but the tips outlined above are typically applicable and beneficial to any character that you choose to play as. Don’t let the learning curve intimidate you–once you get the hang of it, there’s nothing more satisfying than matching up with an amazing team that compliments your playstyle to dominate a match.
