Kane Hodder, who portrayed Jason in Part VII, Part VIII, Jason Goes to Hell, and Jason X reprised him via motion capture and coordinated the stunts. Jason may also be defeated with an '‘epic’ win condition' that requires teamwork and is difficult to perform. The objective of the counselors is to escape from the camp or survive until time runs out on the session, while Jason's objective is to kill all the remaining players. According to gameplay demos, Jason has heightened hearing and vision, with him being able to teleport anywhere the player wants. A player may also control Tommy Jarvis, who becomes playable when certain conditions are met.

One player controls Jason Voorhees, while the remaining players control camp counselors at Crystal Lake. The game is an asymmetrical multiplayer video game, with up to eight people able to play in one game. The time period in which the game is set is the mid-1980s in order to better capture the feel. Friday the 13th: The Game is a semi-open world third-person survival horror game set in the fictional camp of Crystal Lake in the Friday the 13th franchise.