At PAX East 2026, we met with Illfonic to preview their upcoming game, Halloween. During this meeting, we had the chance to sit down with Jordan Mathewson (Design Director/Lead Designer) and Jared Gerritzen (The Chief Creative Officer) to discuss the game and the steps that they took to make the game stand out. You can learn more about the development of Halloween in our Halloween Interview.
After speaking with Jordan Mathewson (Design Director/Lead Designer) and Jared Gerritzen, we had the chance to try out the demo with members of the team playing as the survivors and me as Michael Myers. To preface things before discussing the demo, most members of the team do not play games like Halloween, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, or Killer Clowns from Outer Space, so we were a bit out of our element. Below, Jonathan, Brandon, and I will be discussing our thoughts on the upcoming game.
Matt:
For the Halloween demo, I had the chance to play as the killer, Michael Myers, to see how it would feel to play as the hunter. At first, playing as Michael felt a bit annoying; he walks slowly, and his attacks really do not feel like they do much damage. In fact, it felt like the human players had the advantage a majority of the time since even small objects being thrown at Michael could daze him.
In addition to being stunned easily, it felt like Michael could not do enough damage. When I finally was able to find someone, it felt like it took three or four knife strikes to make them limp or become injured. Even finding the right people to hunt and track felt like it was a bit of a challenge.
Yes, Michael could go into the shadow realm to move quicker than he can in the human world, but exiting can be a bit complicated when humans are around; even the NPC humans can stop you from warping back to reality. Even once back in reality, it feels like Michael does not get much of a bonus for surprising an enemy. The developers could implement a damage or movement speed boost when leaving the shadow realm.
The kills I did almost felt like the two developers gave them to me, just so I could feel like I had accomplished something. Locating the human players in the world can be rather difficult unless they are making a ton of noise, and when the police show up, it feels almost impossible to hunt anyone down. The core concept of the game seems like it will be good, but it still has room for improvement.
Brandon:
On the survivor side of things, the game continues Illfonic’s method of escape, with multiple routes dictated in part by RNG. For instance, one player can find bolt cutters and escape through a gate in less than five minutes.
Meanwhile, another survivor may be unable to find the parts to fix a getaway car, no matter how thoroughly they search. But this RNG also serves a purpose in making the game less competitive and more “fun” since there’s no discernible meta to play.
Having to search and interact with NPCs creates organic moments for Michael to appear in a cinematic way. Illfonic went all out trying to capture the feel of the original movie; one moment, you could be convincing an NPC to call the cops, only to then realize Michael is stalking you outside of a window.
When you die or escape, you can also help your teammate out with buffs, and you can also spawn in as a cop if the NPCs call on them; this gives players something to do other than sit on their thumbs until their friends die or escape.
Jonathan:
I also played as a survivor, and I opted to stray away from the others, lurked in the shadows, and crept my way into people’s houses in order to keep from potentially alerting Michael to my presence. While searching the neighborhood, I came across an open garage that had a curious CB radio sitting on a stool. I walked up and was able to alert the police to my location, and that was not a moment too soon, because as soon as I turned around, Michael ambushed me.
Thankfully, I had picked up a pitchfork that was leaning on the wall and managed to staple Michael to the front of the parked car in the driveway before I ran away out of sheer terror. Eventually, I found my way to a locked cellar that provided me with an escape route, and after scouring the nearby house, I was able to find a bolt cutter that I could use to break the lock on the cellar and escape.
As an escaped survivor, you are encouraged to actively spectate by playing a mini rhythm game that allows you to grant the remaining survivors an assortment of random buffs to help them survive. While I didn’t get blessed with it, eventually, if the police are called to the location, escaped spectators have the opportunity to re-join the match as police officers, providing a whole second act to a round.
This made the experience enjoyable for me, since these types of asymmetrical multiplayer games typically don’t interest me at all. I may actually consider picking up Halloween for more shenanigans with Matt and the boys.
Halloween is set to launch across Windows PC (via Steam and the Epic Games Store), Xbox Series X|S, and PS5 on September 8th, 2026.
