Missing - Maria Flores
How exactly did our cast of Victims end up in the clutches of the Slaughter Family? The answer lies in the disappearance of Maria Flores, and a chance encounter at a small gas station on the edge of town.
An old AM/FM radio crackles in the distance… “The search continues in Muerto County for a missing University of Texas student. The Sheriff’s department says that Maria Flores, a native of Uvalde, was last seen near the town of Newt more than two months ago. Her vehicle was recently discovered abandoned along Country Road 172, with officials reporting no signs of foul play. Authorities are hopeful that the expanded search into the nearby communities of Harlow and Chinatown will unearth new leads. Family and friends are urging anyone with information regarding her disappearance to please come forward.”
You might remember this broadcast from the reveal trailer, narrated by Texan Content Creator Sheriff Eli. And if you’re paying close attention to the clues on our channels, you probably are having that “OH I GET IT” moment right now, the Maria missing poster seen tacked to a tree outside that iconic gas station. But what’s the story here? Just who is Maria and what does she have to do with our Victims in the game?
“While writing Maria's backstory, some of which you know from the radio broadcast script, we wanted to make sure we gave her character a full treatment. Maria is missing, yes, and therefore is not a playable character in our game, but still deserved to have her own personality and background. So what we have here is a road tripping college student with a passion for photography. While exploring Texas during wildflower season, Maria hoped to photograph the Bluebonnets, Indian Paintbrush, and numerous other flowers that spring to life in and around Central Texas this time of year. It's this search that leads to Maria's disappearance, and serves as the catalyst for our story. All her friends and family, and the local sheriff for that matter, know is that Maria has seemingly gone missing overnight."
–Ronnie Hobbs, Creative Director, Gun Interactive
Increasingly frustrated with local law enforcement and the lack of actionable leads, Maria’s younger sister Ana, accompanied by some of Maria's friends from college, set out to follow the last known tracks Maria laid down in the hopes of finding something that may help move the investigation forward. Their amateur efforts do accomplish exactly that, following in the same tracks Maria did. But what they find along that road makes them all a bigger part of this mystery than they ever intended.
What they don’t know is that Maria has crossed paths with the Slaughter Family, and is not actually missing at all, she’s dead. Ana and her friends end up asking the right questions to the wrong person when they encounter The Cook at the Gas station. But the old man is a bit too slick for that. Essentially they get nothing out of him, and they let on that they intend to stick around the area for a couple days, as this is where the trail to Maria goes cold. This is the turning point in the travelers experience as The Cook informs them it will be nightfall soon, and this area can be a bit unpredictable at night. "Best they set up camp down in the back beyond the mesquite thicket and carry on with their search at sunrise." The Cook suggests. They willingly step foot right into the spider’s web, and soon will be thrust into a nightmare of their own.
“We really liked the idea of the group of kids being responsible for the camp site seen in the 1974 original film. Being that these events take place months prior, being able to tie them to that scene really helped to solidify their place in the canon, all these years later. We all know how this family reacts to people getting a little too close for comfort in terms of their property, and the interaction between Ana's group and The Cook at the station was the catalyst for the events that unfold each match in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.”
–Ronnie Hobbs, Creative Director, Gun Interactive
There are a lot more lore elements in the spaces in between, but we hope you’ve enjoyed this glimpse into the story, and we look forward to sharing more with you all in the months to come. In the meantime: "Don’t go messin’ around no old house. Those things is dangerous, you’re liable to get hurt. You don’t wanna go fooling around other folks property. Some folks don’t like it and they don’t mind showing ya."