The Texas Chain Saw Devs Went To Extreme Lengths To Recreate Leatherface's Chainsaw

Sound design is sometimes overlooked during the development of a video game, but for The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, developer Gun Interactive is focusing on making Leatherface's favorite human gardening tool sound as authentic as possible.

The studio managed to locate three of the same make and model chainsaws used by Leatherface in the 1974 film, and according to game director Wes Keltner, spent around six months sourcing parts and rebuilding the tools into a screen-accurate murder machine. The next step to capturing the sound involved firing up the chainsaw in the right environment, as the team spent time in the "blistering heat" capturing audio and perfecting their movements while using the tool.

"Yes we could have gotten a modern chainsaw, but that's not the correct chainsaw," Keltner said in the video below. "It doesn't have the same sound profile. To us, we think that matters."

To capture a full suite of different sounds, SFC recording artist Watson Wu placed multiple microphones in the field and on the team's Leatherface stand-in Jason / Lord Kayoss. Just revving the chainsaw wasn't enough, as Kayoss had to consider his movements, exaggerate them, and translate them for the sound capture process. With all of that work done, the team had managed to capture a dynamic number of sounds that ranged from subtle revving in the distance to the sheer terror of hearing Leatherface rip through beds and doors in pursuit of his next victim.

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre releases this year on PS5, PS4, PC, Xbox Series X|S, and Xbox One. This includes a day one release on Xbox Game Pass. For more details on the game, you can check out GameSpot's The Texas Chain Saw Massacre preview.

Unlike other games in its genre, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is putting an interesting spin on the asymmetrical multiplayer formula by shifting to a 4v3 setup for matches. Survivors won't just have to worry about Leatherface in this game, but the rest of his bloodthirsty family as well.