Illfonic and Gun Interactive are finally back together again after splitting off and making their own asymmetrical horror games. Now, they’ve come together to attempt another rise to fame after the hit Friday the 13th game, this time taking on another heavy hitting horror franchise with Halloween: The Video Game. I love every franchise they’ve touched. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is one of my favorite horror movies, Killer Klowns from Outer Space is an amazing B movie that all I’ll never say no to watching, Friday the 13th introduced me to horror when I was a kid, and Halloween is just simply a classic. So, I was more than happy to get my hands on this game.
Gameplay & Story
The gameplay isn’t unlike things we’ve seen before, except with a new twist. It’s an asymmetrical horror game at its core, but making one with a character like Michael Myers may prove difficult as he’s more of a stalker than an active killer. They make up for this by giving him a Killer Instinct that he unlocks through stalking his victims, which will unlock more brutal kills for Michael.
He also has the reputation for kind of just being there when he’s not supposed to be. They’ve translated that into an ability called Shift, which lets MIchael warp around the map quickly. As long as he’s not in direct eyeline or standing in the light, he can phase pretty much anywhere very quickly and even go through some doors. So if you thought you were safe inside, think again. Admittedly, the phase is a little clunky. Having it be unavailable in the light is way more cumbersome than it sounds because apparently Haddonfield has every light on they possibly can. And by the time you’ve explored the map and shut the power off, civilians are probably dead already so you have no real need to shift around anymore.
The kills are also brutal as can be, and that’s where this developer team shines because they’ve done great with executions in all of their games.
The multiplayer game mode is complex, but I enjoy it. It’s not quite what Friday the 13th used to be. Instead, it’s more of a team 1 vs team 2 rather than Killer vs Survivor. Michael’s sole goal in multiplayer is not just to kill all survivors. When the match starts he’s assigned Special Targets which he must kill to win. All the other civilians are killable but optional.
The Survivors’ goal is to alert the authorities and help the civilians escape, prioritizing the Special Targets so Michael doesn't win. Every match I felt different about balancing. Sometimes I thought it was impossible to win as Michael, and sometimes I felt it was actually impossible to win as a survivor. But the more I played, the more I realized it was not so much about winning, more about doing the most damage or preventing the most damage possible.
Then there’s the single player mode that helps with learning Michael’s mechanics, but it’s also a fun way to experience the events of Halloween from Michael’s perspective. A friend and I jokingly talked about the story mode playing as a sort of Hitman-like game. I enjoyed the single player mode, even with all of its bugs. It’s short and sweet and serves a very good intro to the controls without feeling like a drawn out tutorial.
Graphics & Design
The game looks great on highest graphics settings. Unfortunately, I haven’t had much luck playing at that level (with a 5070). So I stick too high and it runs fine. But the character design is great. It makes Michael feel perfectly empty and emotionless, while all the characters feel recognizable and alive. I also love every minute of having Dr Loomis on screen.
They’ve got a great cast of voice actors too, especially the survivor I play as, Richard, voiced by the one and only Spencer Charnas (which I clocked right away).
Feedback
Look, I’ll be blunt. This game has bugs. Like a brutal amount of bugs.
BUT it’s also early access, and still has charm. So it definitely shouldn’t be this way at launch. Looking past that, it is a really fun game. At times, I feel that the online game mode is doing a little too much for my liking, but once you figure out what is going on it becomes a lot simpler. Halloween is a fun game to play with friends, but I don’t see myself hopping into lobbies with random people trying to grind out levels.
Final Verdict
Illfonic and Gun Interactive made probably one of the best asymmetrical horror games of all time with Friday the 13th, and I think everybody has been chasing that high ever since. So, seeing them back together again makes me happy.
Halloween: The Game is a SOLID attempt at reaching that level again. It’s a step above Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Killer Klowns from Outer Space, and I think it’s right on the cusp of reaching that F13 greatness. I’m excited to see where updates can get this game, but for now, it’s a fun Friday night drinks game. One last note: streamers and content creators beware, nudity, music, and violence take shape in this game.
Halloween: The Game with be available in early access on September 4th with a preorder of the Digital Deluxe Edition and the full release on September 8th on PC via Steam, Xbox Series X|S, and PlayStation 5.
