Friday the 13th: The Game may still get a single-player mode

Gun Media's new video game adaptation of Friday the 13th blazed through Kickstarter last year, pulling in an impressive $823,704 in funding. While that's a lot of money, it's almost $1 million short of the $1,625,000 stretch goal that would have seen a "single player survival challenge mode" added to the game.

However, according to Gun Media founder and Friday the 13th: The Game co-creator Wes Keltner, there may still be hope for said single-player mode.

"No questions whatsoever that we want to revisit single-player if the game does well," Keltner told Polygon. "We're taking pre-orders right now. Every single dime we get is going right back into the game to put that kind of stuff in there."

In the initial Kickstarter pitch, Gun Media described Friday the 13th's possible single-player mode as "bring[ing] Jason to life in ways that everyone has wanted to experience (but no one has been able to create to date)." As in the game's multiplayer modes, the single-player would allow players to step into the role of either the murderous Jason Voorhees on a killing spree, or as a counselor on the run.

Speaking to us, Keltner described his vision for this single-player mode in more detail.

"It's the whole background of Hitman," he said, referring to Square Enix's popular stealth series. "You sit there long enough, and you can figure out where everyone's going and what to do. That's still fun. No question, it's still fun. That's where we want to go with single-player in our game."

Speaking to why the company decided to focus on multiplayer first and foremost, Keltner admitted that it simply cost less. However, he said there were other design reasons to make multiplayer the central offering for Friday the 13th: The Game.

"It's a love letter to Friday the 13th and to slasher movies as a whole," Keltner said. "We didn't want a linear experience. I didn't want to make it so you're just a counselor trying to live or just the killer. To me, it's more interesting to think about the human element. You can't predict how a real person is going to act."

Friday the 13th: The Game is on track for release later this year. Whether or not a single-player mode happens will depend on the success of the game, though Gun Media has aggressive plans for a continuous stream of new content after release.

For more on Friday the 13th: The Game check out our feature article from last year.