Colorado-based developer IllFonic has been making asymmetrical multiplayer games based on iconic movie IPs for most of its existence. Arguably its biggest hit remains its first stab at the genre, with 2017’s Friday the 13th: The Game (a great game now infamous for its shutdown), but since then, the team has released Predator: Hunting Grounds, Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed, and most recently, Killer Klowns from Outer Space: The Game.
Finally, though, IllFonic is making the biggest horror-movie-turned-asymmetrical-multiplayer layup game of all time with Halloween: The Game. If you preorder the more expensive fancy-smancy version, you can hop into the game early on September 4; otherwise, the game goes wide on September 8. I need more time to work through and digest IllFonic’s multiplayer offering in Halloween, but I have completed the single-player campaign (the studio’s first in one of these games) and wanted to bring you some initial thoughts.
A Few Notches Above Glorified Tutorial
If you aren’t a multiplayer person and were curious about picking up Halloween for its single-player offering… I wouldn’t. It lasts just a couple of hours – though you can extend it by replaying chapters to knock out optional objectives and unlock cosmetic rewards – and is just a few notches above a glorified tutorial for playing as Michael Myers. Each chapter introduces new mechanics in his kit that you will then hone and master in the multiplayer side of Halloween. There is a heaping dose of love from IllFonic, however, to the movies, primarily the 1978 Halloween from director/synth player/gamer John Carpenter that started it all, that elevates it just so.
As you might expect, a single-player campaign where you play as Michael Myers based on the first Halloween film is, well, a video game version of that movie. If you’ve never played an IllFonice game before, this campaign will give you the rundown on how its games feel, including the at-this-point-must-be-a-feature-and-not-a-bug baked-in instability. I encountered nothing game-ruining, but like its predecessors, Halloween has a distinguishable jank to it that you will either come to love because it adds to the unpredictable nature of these multiplayer experiences or you will hate because… it’s still jank. It runs fine, performance-wise, but I did encounter some noticeable bugs, like falling through floors or being unable to hide bodies in designated hiding areas; I would not categorize this as the acceptable jank I expect in an IllFonic game, and I hope the team is working on patching issues like that up.
Nonetheless, escaping Smith’s Grove, killing a mechanic and donning Michael’s trademark navy blue jumpsuit, and killing the clerk at a department store so you can steal and put on the William Shatner mask to complete the set is good fun. A filmic look overlaid on the game’s true-to-movie visual style sells the aesthetics. Though if you aren’t a fan of film grain, you won’t like what you see.
Performances in the campaign are fine, with Dr. Loomis being the only real standout/named character in the otherwise boilerplate cast who are there to be victims. Running around Haddonfield’s suburbs as Michael is good, terrifying fun. In quiet moments, his pained breaths add a sinister air to every step, while screams from nearby houses or hushed breathing in closets sell the idea that you embody evil and everyone is afraid of you. So, too, does the wide array of kills at your disposal.
You can stalk victims from afar, completing minigames to raise what is essentially their fear level, and then strike using your knife, your hands, other weapons you find out and about like pitchforks and fire pokers, or even the environment for special contextual kills (like piercing bodies onto telephone poles or throwing someone off a second-floor porch). It remains a good time throughout the short campaign, which ends with Michael escaping Haddonfield to presumably go kill a bunch of random players in online matchmaking lobbies, but it does little more than teach you the ropes within the context of some of Michael’s most notorious kills.
I’m satisfied as this campaign is about what I expected, but I would have liked something bigger to dig my knife into for IllFonic’s first go at a single-player experience like this. Admittedly, however, that’s not what you’re here for (or at least, not what you should be here for). IllFonic’s games of this ilk live and die by the multiplayer, and though I can see how playing as Michael will be interesting, I still have no idea what it’s like to play alongside real players or as a resident running from him. With the campaign behind me, I’ll be starting my multiplayer Halloween journey properly.
Look forward to my review for Game Informer at a later date.
In the meantime, read Game Informer‘s reviews for Friday the 13th: The Game, Predator: Hunting Grounds, and Killer Klowns from Outer Space: The Game. After that, read our interview with IllFonic about what to expect in Halloween.