Halloween: The Game review – A fresh take on asymmetrical horror

Michael Myers, one of the most iconic slasher antagonists of all time, isn’t exactly new to the world of video games. He’s made appearances in games such as Call of Duty and Fortnite, for example, and he’s also the star of 2D platformer RetroRealms: Halloween. As entertaining as they’ve all been, though, none have captured the essence of him quite like Illfonic’s Halloween: The Game.

The latest in a long line of asymmetrical horror multiplayer experiences, Halloween: The Game lets one player take control of Michael Myers, also known as The Shape, while a team of up to four survivors attempt to escape Haddonfield with their lives. There’s one key gameplay element here that sets it apart from others that have come before it, however: the survivors aren’t Michael’s key targets.

In each of Halloween: The Game’s four maps, you’ll find three key residents just going about their normal lives, as well as a number of less important residents. Rather than survivors simply having to escape Michael and escape Haddonfield with their lives, they need to locate the various residents of the town, convince them that they’re in danger and ultimately try and get them to leave with them. The trouble is that takes time, and Michael is on the hunt.

It makes for an interesting premise, and puts a fresh spin of the asymmetrical horror multiplayer experience. Playing as a survivor, you’ve got your work truly cut out for you, as you need to track down residents and try to keep them safe, all the while searching for items that will allow you to open up an escape route. But considering that Michael can shift into the shadows and move at high speed before busting out of them again, you’re at a serious disadvantage.

It’s perhaps no surprise, then, that playing as Michael is the highlight in Halloween: The Game. A force of pure evil, you have a range of abilities available to you that enable you to track down and quickly reach the residents and survivors of Haddonfield. And when you do, you’re rewarded for playing with your victims.

Stalk a target before moving in for the kill and you’ll not only earn bonus points, but you’ll find it easier to grab them, allowing you to perform a range of executions. Additionally, by building up your bloodthirst meter, achieved by staring at the bodies of those you’ve killed among other actions, you can grow more powerful, putting you at an advantage for the rest of the match.

If anything, though, Michael Myers might be a bit too powerful. Playing as a survivor, it can be quite tricky to locate the items required to make an escape and get residents to safety before Michael has already butchered at least some of them. And if they’re key residents, then a victory for Michael is pretty much secured. That’s partly because the A.I. of the residents is pretty dumb for the most part. It also doesn’t help that while there’s essentially a tutorial for playing as Michael here, there’s not one for playing as a survivor.

That tutorial for Michael is the game’s single-player story mode, which recreates and expands upon the events of the original film. Across a prologue and five chapters, you’ll escape your incarceration from a mental institution before making your way to Haddonfield, where you’ll then stalk and slash your way through babysitters and more.

It’s somewhat more than just a just a tutorial, though, as while you have specific targets in each chapter you’re often also given the freedom to explore and seek out more residents to kill. With a range of objectives to complete, you’re given a reason to return to each chapter, too, attempting to kill certain residents using specific executions and suchlike. So, while it’s not exactly expansive, this single-player endeavour is certainly worth a playthrough.

Along with doing a poor job of onboarding you playing as a survivor, Halloween: The Game also feels quite rough around the edges, with some animations and mechanics needing some polish. It’s also full of minigames which might annoy some – nearly every action here has you completing a quick time event of some sort. Even when you die, you’ll have to complete minigames as you spectate, hoping that by completing them you’ll get to come back as a police officer or even Dr. Loomis, getting another chance to rescue any survivors that are still alive.

There’s still some work to be done to allow Halloween: The Game to truly capitalise on its potential, then, but it is there. Whether you’re playing as a survivor or Michael, you really do feel like you’re in a Halloween film, which is probably the best praise you can give to an adaptation like this. It’s going to be interesting to see how Illfonic shapes the game from here regarding mechanics and balancing, but if you’re a Halloween fan, you’ll probably just enjoy being in Haddonfield whether you win or lose.