What Krampus is Home is about
Krampus is Home follows Sebastian, a teenager waiting for his parents to come home on a cold Christmas night, who soon realizes something evil is lurking around. The game draws on Central European folklore, where Krampus is an ancient creature that punishes children who misbehaved during the Christmas season. It plays in first person and leans on survival horror: you can sneak, run away, or defend yourself against some enemies, and the enemies use advanced artificial intelligence that makes them unpredictable. Each enemy type has its own mechanics, so what works on one may not work on another. Expect jump scares, cinematic visuals, and a story-driven journey through many locations in a surreal world. There is also a story mode and a survival mode that unlocks once the story mode is completed.
Playing it with your group
Krampus is Home supports cooperative and competitive team matches, PvP and PvE, of up to 7 players in the same match. You can play as various characters, including monsters, so a group can split between survivors and threats rather than everyone doing the same thing. Lobby text chat is available to sort out roles and plans before a round starts. The Steam features list Online Co-op and Online PvP, so sessions run online with your friends.
Before you start
The story mode comes first and the survival mode only opens up after you finish it, so a group starting fresh will be working through the story before the survival options appear. The game contains jump scares and is tagged as psychological horror, dark, and atmospheric, which is worth keeping in mind if anyone in the group is sensitive to that. It also carries Steam achievements. The tags list both Singleplayer and Multiplayer, so parts of the experience can be played alone as well as together.