Every once in a while, you have a game release date announcement that just boggles the mind a little bit. The polar opposite of a shadow drop, where a studio pins the tail on the calendar-shaped donkey and ends up with a very specific date that’s also a very, very long way away. All of which is to say that the Halloween game is set to launch on 8th September 2026.
This latest riff on the asymmetrical multiplayer horror genre is about as classic as it can be. Gun Interactive and developer IllFonic has collaborated with Malek Akkad and Ryan Freimann to recreate the setting of Haddonfield and the version of Michael Myers found within the original 1978 Halloween film.
Playing as Michael, you need to find, stalk and kill the residents of Haddonfield before the night ends, using some powerful abilities to quickly get around, and use his Shape Jump ability – this turns him invisible, as a way to explain how he gets around so sneakily.
There’s a mixture of innocent NPCs for Meyers to kill in various ways, but they’re not the only ones, as player character heroes will be trying to thwart Meyers’ rampage by alerting NPCs, trying to alert the police by using phones, and even fighting back a bit – he can’t be killed, but he could be contained.
Halloween is in development by IllFonic, who have a long track record with the asymmetrical multiplayer form. in many ways this studio helped to kickstart its popularity with Friday The 13th: The Game. While that game sunk under the weight of licensing issues, allowing Dead by Daylight’s more general platform to gain popularity, IllFonic has gone on to license a whole host of other 70s and 80s properties for inspiration, including Predator, Ghostbusters, and even Killer Klowns from Outer Space.
