Halloween: The Game Review So Far

Is Halloween: The Game ready for prime time, or does it need serious polish before slashing onto consoles? Read our detailed Halloween: The Game review hands-on preview covering gameplay mechanics, game-breaking bugs, Michael Myers abilities, and whether IllFonic's newest asymmetrical horror title is worth your time.

Halloween: The Game Review: First Impressions of IllFonic's Latest Title

There are plenty of terrifying things about a tall man in a boiler suit creeping up quietly behind you in the dark. However, it is remarkably difficult to feel genuinely terrified of Michael Myers in Halloween: The Game when he strolls around suburban neighborhoods with all the urgency of a relaxed retiree on a golf course. His slow, deliberate pace might match the iconic films, but in practice, it creates a very unusual dynamic during high-stakes multiplayer matches.

It is important to state upfront that our early experience with this asymmetrical survival horror game came prior to the release of the mandatory day-one patch. Everything observed during this play period comes with that large and flashing caveat. However, after spending several hours exploring Haddonfield, the immediate conclusion is that this title simply is not ready for prime time. In fact, it would barely feel ready if it were explicitly labeled as an early access release, which it is not.

Clumsy controls, persistent technical bugs, and frequent gameplay frustration make the current state of Halloween: The Game feel unpolished. While developer IllFonic has built a strong reputation within the asymmetrical horror genre over the last several years, their latest effort requires extensive bug squishing and refinement before it can truly compete with the top dogs of the genre.

How Does Halloween: The Game Fit into the Asymmetrical Horror Genre?

Developer IllFonic has become almost synonymous with the asymmetrical horror genre over the past decade. While they have struggled to completely break the massive market stranglehold held by Behaviour Interactive's titan Dead by Daylight, IllFonic has continually carved out a dedicated niche by adapting classic movie franchises into multiplayer horror experiences.

In keeping with the established traditions of the survival horror game structure, players are divided into two distinct teams during every match. You can choose to play either by yourself as the central slasher or alongside team members in a cooperative setup:

• Play as Michael Myers: Command the legendary slasher on a solo rampage through the residential streets and houses of Haddonfield, hunting down every survivor on the map.
• Play as Civilian Survivors: Work as part of a team containing up to three other human players alongside a handful of computer-controlled AI companions.
• Loot, Assist, and Escape: Search residential properties for helpful items, coordinate with non-player characters (NPCs), and stay alive long enough to unlock escape routes off the streets on Halloween night in 1978.

Given IllFonic's vast catalog of previous asymmetrical projects, expectations for this release were naturally high. Learning that original Halloween creator John Carpenter was actively involved in the development process sent those expectations soaring even higher. One would reasonably assume that after almost ten years of trial, error, and game development refinement, this release would be the most polished product IllFonic has ever produced. Unfortunately, during pre-launch testing, that has simply not been the case.

Technical Glitches and Performance Issues: What Is Currently Broken?

The technical problems currently present in Halloween: The Game go far beyond minor visual hitches. Character animations are frequently broken or missing altogether, leading to awkward visual moments where models float or fail to render standard physical movements properly.

Hard system crashes are a recurring problem during gameplay sessions. During extended hands-on testing on PlayStation 5, crashes to the home dashboard occurred at an alarming average of at least once every hour. These abrupt crashes completely disrupt the flow of matches and ruin any momentum built up during intense escape attempts.

Combat mechanics represent another area heavily impacted by severe jankiness. On multiple occasions, slasher attacks failed to connect due to collision detection failures. For instance, swinging or stabbing directly at a survivor often results in the weapon phasing harmlessly straight through their character model without dealing any damage whatsoever.

Audio design—a element absolutely vital to any effective stealth horror game—is similarly broken. Spatial audio cues regularly flip direction without warning or reason. Opening a door located directly to your character's left frequently plays a loud visual audio queue into your right ear. In a genre where sound cues dictate survival, this inversed audio layout is tremendously confusing.

Quick Time Events (QTEs) also suffer from severe code instability. On two separate occasions during testing, a standard prompt bugged out entirely, locking the survivor character inside a broken, looped animation sequence. This left the character completely immobile, giving Michael Myers all the time in the world to leisurely walk up and score an effortless execution.

Laughable NPC AI and Spectator Mode Frustrations

The non-player character (NPC) artificial intelligence present in the game is shockingly unrefined. While NPCs are intended to act as secondary civilians that survivors must save, their pathfinding and situational awareness leave much to be desired during match encounters.

In one particularly memorable match while playing as Michael Myers, the slasher loudly kicked through the front door of a suburban residence. Inside the living room, three separate NPC civilians were lined up, staring directly out of a side window. Myers proceeded to execute two of the NPCs back-to-back before the third remaining NPC finally realized a killer was in the room and decided to flee.

Beyond the unintelligent computer-controlled characters, the spectator system actively hurts the overall player experience once human players are eliminated from a match. When your human character dies, you are forced to sit and spectate the remaining AI companions as Myers systematically hunts them down one by one.

To keep dead players engaged, the developers implemented spectator quick-time events. However, these prompts feel intrusive, dull, and completely unnecessary. Combined with input delays and the sheer size of the game's chunky suburban maps, watching a slow killer track down oblivious computer units creates a tedious experience for anyone waiting for the next match to begin.

What Halloween: The Game Gets Right: Atmosphere and Michael Myers Gameplay

Despite the technical shortcomings and pre-patch instability, there are several impressive ideas buried underneath the rough exterior. The overall game design actually fixes major balance problems that plagued previous entries in the asymmetrical horror genre.

When reviewing similar titles, such as The Texas Chain Saw Massacre back in 2023, it quickly became apparent that players preferred playing as survivors rather than the titular killer. Playing as Leatherface often felt far less rewarding, leading to unbalanced lobby queues as players opted for the much higher XP gains and flexible gameplay of the victim class.

In this title, however, IllFonic has done an exceptional job balancing the power dynamic between killer and civilians. Stepping into the boots for some Michael Myers gameplay feels remarkably satisfying and faithful to the source material. Even though Myers is locked to a strict walking pace and cannot sprint under any circumstances, his specialized kit helps compensate for his lack of mobility:

• Blackout Ability: Instantly snuff out all artificial light sources in the immediate area to blind survivors and create pitch-black ambushes.
• Shadow Stalking: Seamlessly leap from shadow to shadow across the environment to close distance rapidly without being spotted.
• Survivor Detection: Sense the pulse and location of nearby civilian targets hiding inside rooms or behind environmental cover.

If you master the timing of these supernatural abilities, Myers feels like a terrifying force of nature rather than a slow victim of fast-moving survivors. Furthermore, the game features a seamless execution mechanic when approaching vulnerable targets. The environmental death animations are delightfully brutal—especially when catching a survivor right beside a window frame or near a hot electric stove top.

Authentic 1978 Haddonfield World Design

The environment design is easily one of the most impressive aspects of the entire package. The maps present a wonderfully detailed recreation of 1978 Haddonfield, Illinois, capturing the retro aesthetic down to the finest environmental details.

Everything from the classic vintage automobiles parked on suburban streets to the interior home decor, shag carpets, period-accurate clothing options, and rotary phones oozes late-70s nostalgia. For longtime fans of John Carpenter's cinematic universe, exploring these residential neighborhoods provides a genuine thrill.

The core gameplay loop for survivors also introduces interesting fresh ideas. Rather than simply managing four human players against one slasher, matches involve clearing or saving an entire neighborhood. Civilians must move stealthily across residential properties, finding NPCs and giving them direct commands to hide, follow, or make a break for safety routes.

Item Progression, Defense Mechanics, and the Card Perk System

As civilian survivors creep through residential structures, they can discover and hoard a vast collection of useful equipment. Items fall generally into three core categories: offensive tools, defensive equipment, and support items designed to boost escape odds.

Just like in the original film franchise, Michael Myers cannot be permanently killed by human survivors during a match. He is an unstoppable force that refuses to die. However, well-timed counterattacks using specific defensive tools can temporarily stun or immobilize him, giving survivors crucial seconds to clear out of a house or break line-of-sight.

There are also additional gameplay layers that require further testing on live populated servers. The game incorporates a flexible card perk system alongside character-specific passive abilities for each civilian survivor:

• Card Perks: Customizable loadout modifications that grant tactical buffs, faster interaction speeds, or enhanced stealth attributes.
• Passive Abilities: Unique innate traits belonging to specific playable civilians that aid in team survival or item discovery.
• Single-Player vs Multiplayer: Offline single-player options exist, though early testing proved underwhelming due to the current state of computer-controlled allies.

Is Halloween: The Game Worth Playing in Its Current State?

General performance instability severely hurts what could otherwise be a stellar entry in the horror genre. Beyond the broken AI logic and frustrating spectator sequences, players currently have to deal with regular framerate dips, rubberbanding movement, characters walking three feet above the ground, and broken interaction prompts.

Interacting with environment objects remains hit-or-miss. Simple actions like using bolt cutters on chained doors fail to register roughly half the time. Even worse, opening a door, walking inside a house, and locking it behind you can occasionally glitch your character model back outside the front porch, permanently locking you out of the shelter you just sought to secure.

While a massive day-one update could potentially resolve some performance hiccups, launch patches rarely act as absolute miracle fixes for underlying architectural issues. Until the developers release comprehensive stabilization patches to fix collision detection, spatial audio, and NPC intelligence, caution is recommended.

At present, this Halloween: The Game review period reveals a project with fantastic original ideas, outstanding 1970s atmosphere, and satisfying killer abilities, but one that is severely weighted down by technical flaws. Unless you are a diehard horror fanatic with a dedicated shrine to Michael Myers in your living room, it is best to hold off until the core bugs are squashed.

from IGN India
-via DynaSage