// KOTAKU — GAMING
New Halloween Game Is My Favorite Asymmetrical Horror Game, But You’ll Have To Put Up With Some Jank
I’ve played a lot of asymmetrical horror games, including Predator: Hunting Grounds, Friday the 13th, Killer Klowns From Outer Space (remember that one?), and Dead by Daylight. For the most part, I’ve not really enjoyed them. So I wasn’t sure what to expect with the latest one of “those” games, Halloween: The Game. To my surprise, this is an asymmetrical horror game that I’m really digging, even if I’m also having to put up with some jank.
If you’re even slightly familiar with these kinds of games and horror movies, you probably don’t even need to see a single frame of gameplay to guess the basic setup for Halloween. One person is the masked killer Michael Myers, and up to four other people take on the role of survivors trying to, well, survive Michael’s killing spree. As in many other similar online horror games, Michael has access to abilities and powers that let him get around the map quickly. He is also immortal. You can damage him and even stop him temporarily, but your main goal is to escape alive.
The big difference with Halloween: The Game is that each match is filled with multiple NPCs, some based on characters from the original films and others that are more generic townspeople. These NPC characters really make playing Halloween a treat, even if you only have one other person to play with.
As Michael, you always have many targets to stalk and kill however you see fit, beyond just a few of your buddies trying to escape. And if you’re playing as survivors, you have a choice: Help as many townsfolk as you can to escape, or leave them to die. Helping them gets you more XP, which is helpful for unlocking better starting gear and other benefits. But every moment you stick around on the map helping people hide or call the police is giving the Michael player more time to find you and stab a kitchen knife into your skull.
Having NPCs chilling around town, cleaning or watching TV or smoking a cigarette on the porch, adds so much to each match. The various maps, each a different size, feel more alive, and exploring them feels more exciting.
As Michael, you have more targets to stalk, hunt, and kill. And as the survivors, you have some breathing room between you and Michael. But each time he kills one of them, the game lets you know. And sometimes, if he’s close, you can hear the kill, which is genuinely scary if you’re alone in a house looking for some supplies to help you make your escape.
I have so many memorable little stories to tell from playing this game with others. At one point, someone I was playing with entered a house, locked the door behind them, and then entered a bedroom to talk to an NPC townsperson to convince them to follow them to a possible escape.
I watched all of this because I was using Michael’s shadowy ghost ability, which lets the killer invisibly fly around the map and even move through doors that aren’t lit up. The one catch is you can’t materialize in direct view of someone or in light. Thankfully, the room they were in had a closet. I ghosted my way to that closet, materialized inside, and then popped out. I was in a voice party with the person and heard them scream, then jump out a window through the glass to escape, leaving the poor NPC to her fate. I laughed a lot as I stabbed her. (Nobody take that last bit out of context.)
Michael is genuinely a force to be reckoned with in the game and is scary as heck. Once you’ve figured out his abilities and limitations, being him is a blast as you feel incredibly powerful. Just walking around a corner to surprise a friend and make them yelp in fear and turn around is so much fun. And the game rewards Michael players for stalking victims before killing them, giving you bonus XP for taking them out when they’re scared. So screwing with your friends by turning off the power or breaking a window near them and then vanishing isn’t just fun, it’s encouraged!
Playing against him is also exciting and terrifying. The game gives you enough tools to keep hi