‘Billy Wants to Play’ lets you live your own killer clown horror story

Pennywise from IT, Zeebo from Are You Afraid of the Dark, and Plucky from Supernatural. All of them have one thing in common: They’re some of the scariest killer clowns the world has ever seen. Now, these fictional films and TV shows, coupled with the very real 2016 clown sightings across the United States, Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom, have made killer clowns a subject of everything from extreme intrigue and fascination, fear, to outright hatred.

Love them or hate them, there’s no ignoring them. And speaking of being unable to ignore them, I stumbled upon a rather interesting game the other day. It’s called Billy Wants to Play.  

Billy Wants to Play: What you need to know about the game

The premise for Billy Wants to Play is simple: Escape Billy the killer clown, who has kidnapped and trapped you in an abandoned mental asylum that he inhabits, deep in the forest. The game works like any other escape room-themed game: Explore the space and look for clues and objects to help you in your quest. Use each of them as they are meant to be, and make your escape.  

ALSO READ: Flame of Valhalla is a gateway to Norse mythology on your smartphone

You get three attempts to make your escape from the asylum. Each of them is represented by one balloon. Throughout the game, Billy roams around the map as well – looking for you in what is a rather chilling cat-and-mouse game. Should he catch you, your character dies. Should you fall for any one of the many traps he’s set around the asylum, your character dies. And should you run out of three attempts as well – yes, that’s right, your character dies.  

With that out of the way, let’s get into what I thought about the app.  

Billy Wants to Play: What I liked about the game

Billy Wants to Play is quite a welcome change after having stuck to traditional racing and first-person shooters for years. The game’s premise is extremely intriguing, and the general (very well-recreated) atmosphere of the game’s world, with smooth graphics and animations conveys fear very well, as it should. What’s really cool is that, unlike most other escape room-themed games, it also properly sets up the context for you, walking you through how exactly it is that you ended up at the asylum in the first place.  

You play it from a first-person perspective, which further adds to the experience. Add to it the creepy circus music playing in the background throughout, the crystal-clear sound of footsteps, and not to mention, Billy’s intermittent dialogues, and Billy Wants to Play has all the makings of a great horror game.  

Next up, there’s the map. While exploring Billy’s shelter, you will find everything from keys to closed doors to lock picks for opening lockers, parts of a ladder, crowbars and sledgehammers to break down a wall, and even shotguns. Each of these serves a purpose, and you are required to figure out the same. Billy also uses cameras and motion sensors to spot you, as well as jaw traps, and small robots that can electrocute you. This makes the game very mentally stimulating, and not one that’s set up for you to win easily.  

Billy Wants to Play: What I disliked about the game

Billy Wants to Play has been quite interesting, to say the least, for someone who is very new to the horror genre. That said, however, the game like many others, isn’t without fault.  

First of all – and this is a biggie – is the sheer number of advertisements in the game. There are several playable advertisements which pop up throughout the game. Right after the initial cutscene, right before beginning a new game, after Billy catches and bludgeons you… and more.

ALSO READ: Bullet Echo India: Gun Game may just be the best beginner PvP shooting game

What’s more, there’s also a ‘Ghost’ mode in the game. Within this, Billy can’t see you as you move around, which prevents him from killing you. While this does ease things up, the advertisements which pop up mid-gameplay in this mode, don’t. 

Second, is the lack of clues in the game that tell you as to exactly what a player needs to do with any given object. You pretty much endlessly wander around a labyrinth, searching for the right door for any given key, or wondering what to do with that broken mask or crowbar that you found, tucked away in a locker.

For hints, as you’ve probably already guessed, you need to watch adverts. On a related note, you can’t carry more than two objects at once, which means you may have to keep taking a step back, to progress through the map. 

Lastly is the fact that the Normal and Hard modes are really rather difficult to distinguish. The game claims Billy moves slower and in the Easy and Normal modes, and he doesn’t see you so well, whereas he does, in Hard mode.  

However to me, it seemed like he found me with equal ease in all three modes. You can’t do much to stop him unless you have a crowbar or a shotgun, or something of the sort, to temporarily incapacitate him. While, yes, this does make the game more difficult to win and adds to the thrill, it does make playing a frustrating experience at times too. 

That said, Billy Wants to Play remains one of the most unique games I’ve played this year. 

Billy Wants to Play: How to get the app

Billy Wants to Play is available to download and install on both – Android smartphones and iPhones via Google Play Store and Apple’s app store respectively. The game works on a freemium model, wherein you can purchase hints and tools to progress in the game.  

Horror has over the past few years, emerged as one of the most loved genres in the gaming space. And while Billy Wants to Play may not match up to bigwigs such as Silent Hill and Five Nights at Freddy’s series (yet), it certainly is a step in the right direction as far as smartphone gaming is concerned.