Halloween looks set to bring IllFonic’s horror expertise to solo players

For a certain group of players, IllFonic has been the ultimate double-edged sword.

Over the past decade the Denver-based studio has tended to focus on licensed games based on classic horror movie franchises – Friday the 13th, Predator, Ghostbusters, even the cult favourite Killer Klowns from Outer Space.

For horror devotees – a group in which I include myself – it should be the dream studio. And yet, IllFonic’s love for horror is only matched by its love for asymmetrical multiplayer, a decision that usually leaves those who prefer single-player games – me again! – on the sidelines watching.

Because of this, as I sat down for a one-on-one chat with Illfonic’s creative director Jared Gerritzen at Gamescom ahead of the game’s official reveal, and looked around at the massive Halloween artwork on the wall, I was prepared to once again have my heart broken by seeing another one of my dream horror video games being announced before immediately being confirmed as multiplayer-only.

This time, however, as Gerritzen showed me the trailer which was set to appear online a couple of days later, I saw it at the end: “Halloween – a single-player and multiplayer horror experience coming in 2026.”

My eyes widened. “You’re doing single-player this time?” Gerritzen smiled and nodded, in a way that suggested this was a request he and the rest of the team had heard numerous times in the past.

Make no mistake, Halloween will still feature the asymmetrical multiplayer gameplay IllFonic is best known for, but this time NPCs feature into the mix too.

One player will take control of evil incarnate Michael Myers as he wanders the streets of Haddonfield, slaying its townsfolk. The other players take control of Haddonfield residents as they not only try to escape Michael, but also to inform their NPC neighbours that they need to get out of their homes and run to safety.

The citizens can now also phone the police in an attempt to get more protection. As Gerritzen explained to me, Myers may never be able to truly die – something the 12 movies he’s starred in to date makes abundantly clear – but he can at least be surrounded and have his threat minimised a bit. After all, this is a killer who prefers to hide in the shadows, he doesn’t do well in crowds.

To deal with this potential threat, the player controlling Michael can cut the phone lines outside each home – a meaningless task these days, but a devastating action back in 1978, making it impossible for Haddonsfield residents to contact authorities for help.

Although it’ll require a proper gameplay showcase before it can be clear exactly how the game works, the implication I got from Gerritzen was that this will be a slower paced multiplayer game than IllFonic’s previous titles, especially if you’re playing as the villain.

As he rightly pointed out to me, Jason Voorhees from Friday the 13th may not exactly be the fastest bad guy in the world, but when he spots his target his main priority is to pursue and kill them. Michael Myers, on the other hand, is a more patient slasher villain, instead preferring to hide in the shadows and watch his prey.

For the ‘hero’ players in this game, then, fear won’t come in the shape of a massive brute breaking the door down with an axe, but in the brief glimpses of a white mask in the darkness, keeping them on edge as they know they’re being stalked.

“For the ‘hero’ players in this game, fear won’t come in the shape of a massive brute breaking the door down with an axe, but in the brief glimpses of a white mask in the darkness, keeping them on edge as they know they’re being stalked.”

Naturally, however, it’s the single-player story mode which had me the most intrigued, but while Gerritzen wasn’t able to give away too many details at this point it’s clear the potential is there. The story is based solely on the original 1978 film, and will have players taking control of Michael Myers as he escapes Smith’s Grove Sanitarium and makes his way to Haddonfield.

A few questions remain, which couldn’t be answered yet. It’s not yet clear how long this single-player campaign will be, for example. Friday the 13th: The Game included ten single-player challenges, where you played as Jason and had to kill the counsellors in a variety of scenarios, but players were disappointed to discover these weren’t really story-based.

Gun explained this away at the time by claiming the Friday the 13th movies weren’t exactly known for their plot but that won’t fly for Halloween fans, not for a franchise which was driven as much by the stories of Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) and Dr Loomis (Donald Pleasence) as Myers’ killings.

Gerritzen did tell me the single-player story would have some kind of scoring system which would encourage multiple playthroughs, with players trying to get as close to a ‘perfect’ score as they could. This certainly makes it sound like the Friday the 13th challenges, but time will tell.

It’s also been confirmed that anyone who doesn’t like playing online will still be able to play the multiplayer mode, with bots instead of humans, but it’s still not yet known whether it’s possible to level up while playing with bots (or, indeed, whether there’s a levelling system in place at all).

One thing that isn’t in question, however, is the care and attention to detail that will be present in the final product. The teaser trailer nails the tone of the original film perfectly, and with legendary Halloween creator John Carpenter as executive producer it’s clear that authenticity will be a priority here.

Will this come at a price for the players who loved the series-spanning content featured in Friday the 13th: The Game, however? That offered around 10 different Jason skins to choose from, spanning the course of the film franchise – from the sack-headed Jason from Part 2 all the way up to the zombie Jason from the ninth movie.

As a huge Halloween fan, much as I appreciate that the 1978 original is the main focus, I’d still love to see the addition of content from later films. Like any long-running slasher franchise Halloween has had its rights issues as it’s jumped from Compass International Pictures to Miramax to Blumhouse to Compass again, so it’s perhaps unrealistic to suggest IllFonic has free reign to pull content from all 13 movies.

That said, Gerritzen assured me that the whole team loves the Halloween series deeply, and that if they have the opportunity to add content from later movies at some point, they’ll do what they can to include it. Which means that dream of running around a game in a Silver Shamrock mask from Halloween 3 might still come true.

Halloween is coming to PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC (Steam and Epic Games Store) in 2026. There’s no confirmed release date yet, but I can think of a pretty obvious one.