Halloween 2K26 - Halloween: The Game Quick First Impressions

Over the weekend, Halloween: The Game launched in early access for an additional $20, offering players a chance to step into Michael Myers' shoes. As a lifelong Halloween fan, I've been following the production of this game, while keeping in mind Illfonic's track record.

I enjoyed Friday the 13th nearly a decade ago, it felt fresh and scrappy in the best way. Since then, Illfonic/Gun and a handful of other studios have churned out asymmetrical multiplayer horror titles featuring franchises like Predator, Ghostbusters, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Evil Dead, and Killer Klowns from Outer Space, all built on the same formula where one player hunts while others escape. For communicative, team-focused players, these games are probably a blast. I don't own a headset and I tend to play solo even in multiplayer sessions, which doesn't mesh well with this design. Still, my nostalgia (and fandom of the franchises) gets the better of me, sp I end up buying these games on sale just to explore single-player campaigns (if there even is one) and bot matches.

This time, I gave in and bought Halloween: The Game early. I probably should have been more patient and saved my extra $20.

The single-player campaign is basically a tutorial. It opens moments before Michael's escape from Smith Grove Sanitarium, letting you play as the Shape as he steals Dr. Loomis' car. The next chapter takes you to The Rabbit in Red Lounge, where you learn stalking and execution techniques. From there it continues to fill in the gaps from the film, while also allowing you to experience first hand some of Michael's iconic moments.

The game nails the atmosphere. The score, the rustling leaves, and the lighting all feels ripped from John Carpenter's 1978 classic. Michael's walk is perfect: deliberate, measured, authentically eerie. It really is a love letter to the original film and I appreciate the extra details that flesh out the original story a bit. In all honesty, those moments have pretty much become canon in my head.

Of course, it's still an Illfonic game so there are graphical glitches, Play-doh faces NPCs, and stuttering gameplay. It's rough around the edges, but honestly, that roughness works in its favor. It channels the low-budget charm of '80s horror, imperfect and cheesy, but undeniable fun.

I haven't explored the multiplayer yet, and to be honest, I probably won't. I'll play some games with bots I'm sure, but I just don't have the time or energy to learn this game inside and out and to be competitive. Instead, I'll continue to replay the single-player as I'm doing right now, trying to complete all the objectives for each level before moving onto the next one.

Halloween is exactly what I expected. It's faithful to the source material, outside of all the stupid Michael Myers skins they have in multiplayer, and it doesn't do any one thing great, but it feels like Halloween, which I appreciate. I wish I'd exercised a bit more self-control, I let the young Brandon who was like, "OMG there is a Halloween video game! I must own this!" get the better of me, when I probably could have picked this up for under $20 within a year and had just as much fun, if not more fun, since they would have patched a slew of glitches.

Sadly, support for these games don't tend to last very long. My favorite game of this genre was Evil Dead, which looked, sounded, and played so much better than the rest including Halloween. Sadly, it was never given the full support it deserved and while the game is functional, no one really plays it anymore. These games are always popular for a week or two since the glitches tend to make for decent content for streamers, but afterwards things settle down and a few people get really good at knowing every in and out of the game, and it makes it difficult for new players to step into these worlds and be successful.

Next month, Hellraiser is being released as a first person, single player game. I'd prefer to see more single player campaigns for these horror games. I'm hoping it does well, because I much more interested in something a bit more engaging.