Camp Keepalive is what happens when turn-based strategy meets an 80s slasher movie

Friday the 13th gave us so many things: a much better sequel, the first of many on-screen deaths for Kevin 'I just wanna dance/turn invisible/sell mobile phones' Bacon, and an abiding fear of going anywhere near teenagers, lest Jason Voorhees turns up to get creative with his machete. However, it's also indirectly responsible - along with the tremendous Sleepaway Camp - for the upcoming turn-based splattery game (see what I did there?) Camp Keepalive , so I guess it's not all bad. (I replaced the word 'strategy' with 'splattery', is what I'm saying.) Your job is to "save the helpless and dull-witted campers from an onslaught of monsters with a team of counsellors, each with a special power." I have been waiting for this game my whole life.

The following video doesn't quite live up to the initial pitch, but I feel this is a game you need to play to really appreciate. Thankfully you can, as there's a demo available just here . As the trailer makes clear, it's not just immortal serial killers that are on the campers' trails; it's werewolves, dudes with chainsaws, and things that look a bit like Swamp Thing. The full version of Camp Keepalive will feature "more monster types and counselors, as well as a Camp Mode, a multi-map gameplay mode where your every decision could come back to haunt you..."

Many thanks to RPS .

Tom Sykes

Tom loves exploring in games, whether it’s going the wrong way in a platformer or burgling an apartment in Deus Ex. His favourite game worlds—Stalker, Dark Souls, Thief—have an atmosphere you could wallop with a blackjack. He enjoys horror, adventure, puzzle games and RPGs, and played the Japanese version of Final Fantasy VIII with a translated script he printed off from the internet. Tom has been writing about free games for PC Gamer since 2012. If he were packing for a desert island, he’d take his giant Columbo boxset and a laptop stuffed with PuzzleScript games.

Latest in Strategy
Civilization 7 Great Britain - Modern Civ art (via YouTube)
As Civilization 7 struggles to keep up with Civ 5 player counts, a new patch is coming tomorrow with still more UI changes and gameplay tweaks
Battle Brothers
Nearly 2 years after its last update, the excellent Battle Brothers gets 'a bucket load of fixes' and free new content
King wielding his axe against would-be assassins in Norland.
Medieval colony sim Norland is getting a 'damn big update' that completely overhauls the game's mechanics: 'We're rolling out some radical changes to the core gameplay'
Age of Empires 2
Former Age of Empires 2 dev claims Microsoft demanded its first expansion should have a Korean faction, because 'StarCraft sold 3 million copies in Korea'
Endless Legend 2 Kin faction reveal
It's turtle time: Endless Legend 2's first faction is the fortification-loving Kin of Sheredyn
A massive beachhead assault in indie RTS Beyond All Reason
Over 110 players and 10,000 units clash as this free RTS celebrates its growing multiplayer scene with some of the biggest multiplayer battles ever fought
Latest in News
The snazzy red and black HyperX Cloud Alpha wireless headphones float in a teal void. The microphone is attached to the headset.
The best wireless gaming headset is now even better in the Amazon Big Spring Sale, boasting a more than $50 discount
A chip being held up in an Intel fab
Intel is reportedly 'working to finalize commitments from Nvidia' as a foundry partner, suggesting gaming potential for the 18A node
Amazon box
Don't panic! The 'Do Not Send Voice Recordings' option Amazon just removed was only used by 0.03% of customers and they can still have it
Digital generated image of people surrounded by interactive transparent and glowing panels with data. Visualising smart technology, blockchain and artificial intelligence
Now I shall demand the cookies! Proposed new browsing agreement turns the tables and lets users dictate terms to websites
Intel CEO, Pat Gelsinger, with a 18A SRAM test wafer
Former Intel CEO, Pat Gelsinger becomes executive chairman of a 'Technology Platform Connecting the Faith Ecosystem' to work on Christian AI using DeepSeek
Assassin's Creed Shadows immersive mode - Naoe holding a tanto in her hand as two guards fall to the ground behind her.
Assassin's Creed Shadows' first hotfix addresses stability issues and a photo mode crash