Party Hard Preview

Everyone has a nuisance neighbour, who shouts all the time, slams their doors, has loud sex and parties throughout the night on a work night...

Well, the protagonist in Party Hard has had enough, and vows to kill the party atmosphere by killing the partiers!

Unlike Hatred, the focus on gameplay isn't "kill until killed", it actually requires forethought and planning, like a slasher movie killer who is actually competent. The first protagonist even has a hockey mask. You have to clear each level of party goers, using your handy knife, item (grenade, etc) or an environmental hazard. If you're spotted killing, carrying a body or too close to a murder scene, the police will be called on you, unless you can stop the one who fingered you.

It can be kind of thrilling to catch someone as they walk into the kitchen, stab them in the back and dump them in the freezer just before someone walks in and spots you. And I mean that in a totally non-psychotic way. Though if a body is seen, and the police or an ambulance will be called for, they won't know who did the act if nobody is suspicious of you.

If the fire continues to spread in the finished game, I'll be so happy

The build I played only had the tutorial level and the first level which gets more difficult when replayed, and hopefully repeated replays will increase it further. But that definitely made me eager to play more. Having to clear a house of 25 people is very different from a house full of 45 people.

The game is pixel-based and viewed from a part-top down, part-isometric angle. This means it's not overly graphic in its representation of violent murder, and the casual observer can be fooled by using the dedicated Dance button to make the hockey mask wearing protagonist boogie. Unless you've already set a fire or cut a tree down so it smashed through a window. Just make sure to hide all of the bodies!

The environmental kills are very interesting to do. There's no guarantee they will work, and some of them serve to alert people. Poisoning the keg or setting fires will bring emergency services running, so must be used for greatest effect. Wasting a tree or runaway go-kart on a single party goer isn't very helpful, but do you wait until more people walk by? There are angles to consider, and I really hope they only grow as the game gains levels.

Guy with the handcuffs above his head in the bottom right? That's you

There are placeholders for nine or so levels and six protagonists. One would assume they can each do something that the other cannot. My hope -- walk faster. Quite a lot of the game is tense because you can only move marginally faster than the victims, unless they spot a crime and run for the phone. If you don’t catch them running past you, or better yet, before they begin to run, then emergency services will be there shortly and the police are not slow. Though if played right, you can evade them...

My only gripe at this early stage, is the fact that there are graphical anomalies over some of the sprites. The game is fun, the annoying music is catchy (and purposefully both), the controls with either keyboard or controller are easy to use and it is quite addictive to play. Can you kill them all through environmental hazards? Can you escape the cops, should someone finger you? Can you hide literally every single body in the dumpster out back?

As the level is populated randomly, the same party will play out differently most of the time. The victims go outside, fall asleep, smoke, pair off, sneak away to chat… Some houses might have a hunting rifle, a motorbike, a meth lab…! There are items to buy from shady guys and different environmental hazards, so you really can’t tell what will happen from one time to the next, showing that this has replay value even at this early stage.

I can’t wait to play more of this. One of these parties just has to simulate Barry next door to me...