The asymmetrical horror genre has had its struggles over the years. Usually a game comes out, sees some form of success for a while, but then falls to the wayside before ultimately shutting down. The king of the genre, Dead by Daylight, is the only one that sees constant and long lasting success. However, that’s not stopping Blooper Team from throwing their hat in the ring. At Summer Game Fest, they announced Saw Genesis, and we got to see how the game works while we were there.

Saw Genesis is a 3v1 asymmetrical horror game set in London 100 years before the events of the films. The developers decided to go back in time for the gritty feel of the era and show what would be Jigsaw’s inspirations to do what he does. The game sees three players as the Accused trapped in an area and must survive a Jigsaw trap while the last player controls the Judge who is controlling the game and making the Accused repent their actions in life.

What’s really interesting about the game is how the map works. Maps are named areas, but are procedurally generated. Then, despite players all being on the same map, the Judge has access to different parts of it along with shortcuts and pathways to get around quicker. The goal of the Accused is to work together to explore, coordinate, and escape the map. The Judge, on the other hand, observes, isolates , and then strikes at the Accused. However, it is very easy for the Accused to overtake the Judge, so both parties must be aware of their surroundings at all times.

The Judge starts off by knowing the Accused’s starting locations and can even see through walls if they’re making lots of noise. His goal is to trap players in one of the iconic Jigsaw traps and they must either sacrifice a body part to escape or die if not. The Judge has equipment such as hallucination grenades to help him take out the Accused.

Overall, Saw Genesis looks like a decent attempt to enter the space. There will be a few Alpha playtests this summer and then the game will launch in Early Access in Q4 of this year.