Killer Klowns from Outer Space: The Game Developers Share Gameplay Overview and Tips

Estimated reading time: 8 minutes

Whether you’re playing Killer Klowns from Outer Space: The Game at PAX East this weekend or looking forward to playing it when it’s released for PlayStation, Xbox, and PC on June 4, the developers at IllFonic were kind enough to send along a gameplay overview along with some tips to help you emerge victorious, whether you’re playing as the Killer Klowns or battling against them. Without further adieu, we’ll let the IllFonic team take it from here…

The HumansEscape! – Humans need to escape the invasion before the Klowns detonate the Klownpocalypse. You need to find one of the many escape routes and use required items to open them for escape. Do all of this while evading and defending yourself against the pack of 3 Killer Klowns hunting you down! All escapes are randomized constantly to shift the possibilities of encounters and match outcomes.Boat – A broken down boat in the water, needs a spark plug and its gas tank filled in order to use it as an escape. Holds 3 humans so make sure you know who you want to bring along!Gated Exit – Condemned escape paths that are blocked off and gated. Players must bash down the wooden barrier and find a key to unlock the gate. These escapes can collapse if too many humans attempt to cross.Portal Machine – A machine built out of klown and human tech to create an escape portal. Spark Plugs need to be installed in order to open the portal for escape. This portal can be held open for as long as possible, but once you let go of the controls, it will begin to close. The portal can only allow 3 humans through it.Bunker – A locked bunker that is built for escaping such an event. Players must fill the generator to power on the keypad, which then needs a special keycard to activate. Once the bunker is open, it’s not open for long and will shut if 3 humans manage to escape.Cotton Candy Blockages – Klowns have the ability to coat escape objectives in cotton candy. This cotton candy prevents interacting with the objective and must be cleared by the human before continuing. Beware, one wrong move while clearing could lead to alerting the klowns of your location.The Terenzi Brothers – If all else has failed, in the last 30 seconds before Klownpocolypse is detonated, the terenzi bros crash through a random spot on the exterior of the map. This opens up a final escape, but youre gonna want to get there quick before you get caught in the blast! Best to keep an energy drink around for this moment.Noise Generation – As a human, you make noise, this is represented by the waveform on screen. Be careful of the noise levels you generate, as they could lead a klown right to you! When a klown is near, its a really good idea to crouch down and stay out of sight.Scavenging – Look around everywhere you can to find containers that can be searched, as well as items that are already out in the open. You want to be careful though, because your inventory will only allow you to carry so many items. Do you choose quest items? Maybe a burger for health later? Choose wisely so you’re always ready for the next encounter!Optional Meeting Point – When you first spawn in, a meeting point will be marked, which has a slew of different helpful items and further marks escape points once you reach it. It is well worth the trip, but tends to require a cautious approach, because you never know who could be there too.Combat – Sometimes you have to face a klown head on, but you’re gonna want some sort of weapon to do so. Once a klown has been knocked to the ground, finish them off with a sharp object or bullet to the nose!Melee Weapons – Split between blunt and piercing types, melee weapons are used to attack klowns directly. Different weapons have different damage, stun, durability, and reach that dictate their effectiveness during various encounters.Firearms – Pistols and Shotguns can be found and used to great effect at range. Use these guns to make a stand, but watch out, you might run out of ammo. Always aim for the nose!Throwables – Things like bricks, baseballs, and other items can be thrown at klowns to try and stun them. The heavier the object, the longer the stun, it’s just best you get them right in the nose, but the head works too! Humans can also throw objects to generate noise pings that can distract and fool klowns.Health and Stamina – Players will need to keep an eye on their resources to make sure they have enough health and stamina to survive the invasion. Players can find burgers, popsicles, and energy drinks to consume that heal and buff your human.Resurrection Machine – If other humans are dead, an alive human can use the Resurrection machine, bringing back all dead humans into the match, giving them another chance to escape! This machine only has 1 use, so choose when to use it wisely.Dealing with Lackeys – As the match progresses and the klowns begin filling the map with Lackeys, humans will need to keep an eye out and avoid these noisy pests. While killing them with a weapon or thrown item is the quickest way to dispatch them, sometimes avoiding them can prevent giving away your position.The KlownsHunt Down and Harvest – The Klown’s main goal is to hunt down and kill the 7 leftover humans, but they can also harvest cotton candy cocoons. Bringing cocoons to the lackey generators around the map lowers initial trick cooldown time, spawns helpful Klown lackeys, and gets you one step closer to an early Klownpocalypse, which otherwise triggers when the timer hits 0.Sound Pings – Klowns have excellent hearing, so be on the lookout for sound pings that are generated in the world. This will help you keep track of and hunt down noisy humans.Harvesting Cocoons – A good place to start an invasion as a klown is gathering scattered cotton candy cocoons. Bringing these to and hooking them up to generators begins spawning lackeys that can patrol and help track down humans. Fill up all 4 lackey generators with cocoons to trigger the Klownpocalypse early!Jump Ability – The trusty ability to Jump is the klowns best trick to move around the map quickly. However, you can only jump to locations where one of the klowns has been, so make sure to explore the map which will clear the Jump’s fog of war cover.Respawning – Klowns are vulnerable to attacks, but If killed, will respawn. This is why it’s best to stick together with other Klowns so you don’t have to incur the costly timing of respawning back into the match.Klown Weapons – Klowns have access to quite the arsenal, with a few taking the mainstage for our pax demo.Cotton Candy Raygun – The main weapon of the Klowns, which fires a steady ray of cotton candy energy. Used for turning humans into tasty cotton candy cocoons by keeping your aim trained on a nearby human. Can also coat escape objectives and the resurrection machine to block human progression.Mallet – a classic melee weapon with a hard hitting melee combo. Klowns can change the mallet for a lunging secondary attack that stuns anyone in the area of effect.Boxing Gloves – Shorties favorite gloves, these dish out quick attacks and feature a block knocking secondary charge up attack.Popcorn Bazooka – A ranged weapon that fires a burst of popcorn. Humans hit are damaged and tracked for a short period of time. Use this to effectively “spot” humans for your fellow klowns to zero in on.Tricks – Killer Klowns have some very special tricks up their sleeves to help hunt down and harvest humans. These tricks are not unlocked initially, but unlock for the klowns over time. Klowns can focus on hooking up cocoons to lackey generators to reduce these initial cooldowns faster.LOL – Laughter is really the best medicine for Klowns, and with the Laugh Out Loud Trick, the Klown is able to heal, and get a substantial buff for a short period of time. All klowns have this ability standard, much like the Jump trick.Finger Lure – Jumbo perfected the ultimate use of the Finger lure trick to catch humans in a hypnotic trance that pulls them towards a beckoning klown. Humans can break the pull, but it requires completion of a minigame.Pizza Box – Great for camouflaging and sneaking up on humans for surprise attacks. Transform into the pizza box and show the humans that heartburn and indigestion are the least of their worries seeing this little box with legs. Balloon Dog – A trusty balloon dog that Spikey can whip up in no time at all! This cute little companion sniffs out humans and helps the klowns track them down. Listen for barks and follow the dogs pointing directions.

Don’t miss Killer Klowns, playable at PAX East this weekend. IGN will have more coverage as its June 4 release date gets closer.

Ryan McCaffrey is IGN’s executive editor of previews and host of both IGN’s weekly Xbox show, Podcast Unlocked, as well as our monthly(-ish) interview show, IGN Unfiltered. He’s a North Jersey guy, so it’s “Taylor ham,” not “pork roll.” Debate it with him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan.