New Halloween Game Is My Favorite Asymmetrical Horror Game, But You’ll Have To Put Up With Some Jank

I’ve played a lot of asymmetrical horror games, including Predator: Hunting Grounds, Friday the 13th, Killer Klowns From Outer Space (remember that one?), and Dead by Daylight. For the most part, I’ve not really enjoyed them. So I wasn’t sure what to expect with the latest one of “those” games, Halloween: The Game. To my surprise, this is an asymmetrical horror game that I’m really digging, even if I’m also having to put up with some jank.

If you’re even slightly familiar with these kinds of games and horror movies, you probably don’t even need to see a single frame of gameplay to guess the basic setup for Halloween. One person is the masked killer Michael Myers, and up to four other people take on the role of survivors trying to, well, survive Michael’s killing spree. As in many other similar online horror games, Michael has access to abilities and powers that let him get around the map quickly. He is also immortal. You can damage him and even stop him temporarily, but your main goal is to escape alive.

The big difference with Halloween: The Game is that each match is filled with multiple NPCs, some based on characters from the original films and others that are more generic townspeople. These NPC characters really make playing Halloween a treat, even if you only have one other person to play with.

As Michael, you always have many targets to stalk and kill however you see fit, beyond just a few of your buddies trying to escape.  And if you’re playing as survivors, you have a choice: Help as many townsfolk as you can to escape, or leave them to die. Helping them gets you more XP, which is helpful for unlocking better starting gear and other benefits. But every moment you stick around on the map helping people hide or call the police is giving the Michael player more time to find you and stab a kitchen knife into your skull.

Having NPCs chilling around town, cleaning or watching TV or smoking a cigarette on the porch, adds so much to each match. The various maps, each a different size, feel more alive, and exploring them feels more exciting.

As Michael, you have more targets to stalk, hunt, and kill. And as the survivors, you have some breathing room between you and Michael. But each time he kills one of them, the game lets you know. And sometimes, if he’s close, you can hear the kill, which is genuinely scary if you’re alone in a house looking for some supplies to help you make your escape.

Murdering and scaring your friends

I have so many memorable little stories to tell from playing this game with others. At one point, someone I was playing with entered a house, locked the door behind them, and then entered a bedroom to talk to an NPC townsperson to convince them to follow them to a possible escape.

I watched all of this because I was using Michael’s shadowy ghost ability, which lets the killer invisibly fly around the map and even move through doors that aren’t lit up. The one catch is you can’t materialize in direct view of someone or in light. Thankfully, the room they were in had a closet. I ghosted my way to that closet, materialized inside, and then popped out. I was in a voice party with the person and heard them scream, then jump out a window through the glass to escape, leaving the poor NPC to her fate. I laughed a lot as I stabbed her. (Nobody take that last bit out of context.)

Michael is genuinely a force to be reckoned with in the game and is scary as heck. Once you’ve figured out his abilities and limitations, being him is a blast as you feel incredibly powerful. Just walking around a corner to surprise a friend and make them yelp in fear and turn around is so much fun. And the game rewards Michael players for stalking victims before killing them, giving you bonus XP for taking them out when they’re scared. So screwing with your friends by turning off the power or breaking a window near them and then vanishing isn’t just fun, it’s encouraged!

©IllFonic

Playing against him is also exciting and terrifying. The game gives you enough tools to keep him from just walking over you all in minutes. Flashlights, guns, bikes, and even some weird magical items that feel a bit out of place help the survivors have a chance of holding Michael back while they collect parts to escape via a car, basement, or some other exit. Wait around long enough, and as the bodies pile up and the police arrive, you might be able to escape via a police wagon. And if you can get a few townies out of danger, all the better, as you get more XP and deny the Michael player the thrill of the kill and their own chance at extra XP.

But good luck sticking to your plan the moment Michael appears out of nowhere behind a door and you have to quickly escape or else get your head slammed into a television set.

Bugs and meh solo mode

Unfortunately, in my time with Halloween, I encountered numerous bugs and jank that at times killed matches. Some of these were funny, like NPC townspeople sometimes getting stuck on top of roofs that are normally inaccessible.

Other times they were frustrating, like being unable to attack or kill people as Michael because I’d picked up an object or weapon too close to a wall or in the middle of an animation. Executions, which are often violent and graphic in a classic slasher-movie style, can also look janky from time to time. And I wish the game made it easier for friends to get back into the match after death. In our matches, it only happened once, with a dead player returning as a cop. I’m not sure if we’re just bad at the game or something isn’t working as intended.

The developer says that some of the janky issues and bugs I experienced will be fixed with a day-one patch, and the studio also plans to support the game with post-launch updates. But not all of the issues I encountered, like performance problems and crashes, were included in the list of things to be fixed. Hopefully these issues are worked out by launch or soon after, because when Halloween: The Game was working, I was having a blast. And with October coming, I’m excited to get a group of pals together and take turns killing each other.

©IllFonic

One last thing: Halloween: The Game does include a single-player story mode in which you play as Michael Myers and recreate many of the events seen in the original film. The attention to detail in these missions is great, but there aren’t many of them; they aren’t particularly fun to play, and function more as a neat tutorial.

If you were planning to buy this game because of the advertised solo mode and don’t have any friends interested in playing this with you (or you just don’t enjoy playing online PvP games), I wouldn’t pick up Halloween. While you can play as Michael against bots outside of the campaign, it isn’t as fun as playing with others mixed in.

A so-so single-player mode and some jankiness weren’t enough to keep me away from Halloween: The Game. I’ve already sunk nearly a dozen hours into it, leveling up both my survivors and Michael and unlocking new cosmetics and abilities. The vibes of Halloween are so strong, complete with the film’s iconic music. And when it all comes together and works, it is truly a blast with some pals.

Halloween just needs a few updates and fixes, which hopefully will come soon after it launches on PS5, Xbox, and PC on September 4 via paid early access. Halloween: The Game launches for everyone else on September 8.