Halloween: The Game - REVIEW

Evil came home early

By Collin Junkin

I am a big fan of asymmetrical horror games. I have about 600 hours on Dead By Daylight, about 350 on The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and almost 1000 hours on my absolute favorite asymmetrical experience, Friday The 13th: The Game. With that, I was interested in Illfonic’s next experience with one of the most iconic slashers; Michael Myers in Halloween: The Game. I played as both killer and civilian, played through the single player story, and reached account level 70. After 30 hours of playtime on PS5 Pro during the early access period ahead of the September 8 launch, I can safely say this is the closest iteration that scratches that addictive albeit janky loop of the late F13 The Game. Looting houses, locking doors, searching for different parts to open an exit is all there except this time saving the residents of Haddonfield (NPCs) first is the main twist that separates itself from past Asyms. This loop of finding a resident sitting on the couch oblivious to the evil next door and convincing them to call the police and arm themselves to help me fight the shape is one that I love but may not be for everyone. 

This review hits September 8 so I have not played the day one patch which is supposed to iron out a lot of the core bugs and issues while also making big changes to the main gripes of the game. This review and score is based on the Early Access release build, not the Day One patch build for launch day. 

Being Haddonfield’s Savior is the Priority, Not Escaping.

Illfonic took a more cinematic and authentic approach to the core of the gameplay loop. They ditched the “Get out as fast as possible” design that is prevalent in every single one of these experiences and opted for a “save the people of Haddonfield then save yourself” which I adore. The fantasy of talking to the residents (some of which are classic characters from the original film) deciding on if I should command them to call for help, hide, or fight with me is a refreshing innovation and is excellent when it works as intended. Civilians also feel strong, sometimes too strong and can fairly easily “Bully” Myers. The game is a 1v4 but can easily turn into a 1v8 and even a 1v12 if everyone manages to arm the civilians and chase after the evil. Balance is the most important aspect of these games. Striking an offset between a survivor that feels capable and a ruthless stalker that feels strong but not too oppressive is difficult but doesn’t feel out of the question here. Fighting Michael 1 on 1 typically does not end well but is very effective in a group and I think that shouldn’t be the case. As of now, grouping up and fighting Michael is just as effective as it was against Jason. Michael does have a few tools that can help with that such as downed executions and Reality Tear but it just isn’t enough for now. Evil can die tonight (Halloween Kills reference) if you stick onto each other.

Single-player, Michael, and Content is excellent.

The story mode is absolutely fantastic. There are 6 distinct chapters that follow the original film but show you it from a different lens. It answers the questions of “what was Michael doing during this” and it does it well while respecting the original. There’s a full cast of characters with cinematic cutscenes and even shots that are 1:1 to the original film. If you played the single player challenges from F13 it plays just like that but with a bigger budget and an actual story. Michael steals the show and gives you a good rundown of controlling evil. Stalking is at the forefront and is required to make Michael feel like The Shape. There are 3 tiers of stalk level you can apply to a civilian. The higher the stalk level the stronger he becomes and unlocks more contextual kills (Environmental Kills) and Bloodthirsty executions which are more unique weapon kills that grant more XP. Michael has a plethora of starting weapons he can unlock such as two handed axes, or a small hatchet he can throw. Abilities make up his kit with 3 starting tools and 3 more which can be unlocked. These allow for player expression depending on your  playstyle. Evil Presence and Reality Tear felt exceptionally powerful when going against a “Bully Squad” One of the biggest gripes of Asym games are its unlockable content at launch and I'm happy to report Halloween does not suffer that fate. There is an abundant amount of unlocks and progression here. There is account level with 10 prestige's to grind, each civilian has levels and prestige's, Michael has his own prestige's, weapon levels, and specific grindy challenges for each different Michael outfit. Completing each challenge and reaching Prestige 10 will take easily hundreds of hours to grind. Customization is also crucial for these games and Illfonic did not disappoint. There are costumes, color tints, hair, makeup, and glasses for civilians to ensure every civilian looks like a player's unique creation.

Bugs and a congested loop when spectating.

My absolute biggest gripe that I hope is addressed is the forced minigame activities when you either die or escape. While spectating another player, every few moments you are forced to do a mobile game-esque drop down QTEs and minigames that feel tacked on. Completing enough of these allows you to give a perk card to whoever you're spectating which is a nice idea to help the “Final Girl” but it never feels rewarding. This feels even worse when all the real players are either dead or have escaped and Michael is looking for the last NPC resident that was told to hide. This can drag on for minutes at a time. There is also a chance you can pull the Cop Reinforcement card where you can come back as a cop and try to guide the remaining residents out. However, if Michael kills you as a cop, then you have to go back to doing the QTEs and hope to get another Cop Reinforcement card. The absolute worst part of this is if you leave while spectating you do not retain your XP earned which is a no go. This is something I'm hoping Illfonic will address in the day one patch. This is one of those things where the best way to go is to allow players to leave once killed or escape, and keep their XP. Bugs are also present but none of which were gamebreaking for me. Most of the Jank is from the NPCs which can feel like a burden to babysit. If you have a resident following you and you run into them, they will get scared and start to run away from you! This is absolutely frustrating and can even get them killed which hurts the civilians final score. I found once you command a resident to follow you, to just leave them alone and they will follow you fine.

Performance

I played on PS5 Pro with little to no performance issues. It held a locked 60fps even in demanding scenes. The game does not have native PS5 Pro support which is a bummer and would benefit greatly from PSSR 2. I also played with HDR on which felt impactful but suffered from minor black level raise in certain scenes which may have been the creators intent. I had no crashes either and played exclusively in performance mode.

FINAL VERDICT

Illfonic’s Halloween: The Game was made for die hard fans, those who are bored of Dead By Daylight or refugees of Friday The 13th: The Game looking for that campy fun with friends. I can safely say I'm really loving it and not looking to stop playing anytime soon. With a promising day one patch which can hopefully iron out most issues and improve balance, I’m eager to see where this project goes and even more excited to delve in this coming Halloween night. 

Buy if you love F13 or Halloween, Wait for sale if you want a polished live service. Almost an 8 and could change depending on future patches and changes.

Halloween: The Game - 7.5/10 - Good