\u201cThe Shape\u201d (Michael Myers) is already a playable Killer in Dead by Daylight<\/em>, so when I saw that developer Illfonic was showcasing Halloween: The Game<\/em> at PAX East 2026, I couldn\u2019t help but wonder\u2014why? They\u2019re both asymmetrical horror games, where one player assumes the role of the slasher-movie villain while the other four struggle to survive against the overpowered threat. Do we really need another participatory gorefest with the same hook?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Watching people play it, however, made me realize that I couldn\u2019t have been more wrong. I was never all that interested in Dead by Daylight <\/em>\u2014 its graphics and animation didn\u2019t look all that impressive, even a decade ago. Halloween: The Game<\/em>, however, elevates the experience in meaningful ways. It isn\u2019t just another asymmetrical horror game \u2014 it\u2019s one that actually understands what makes Michael Myers terrifying, and builds its entire design around that idea.<\/p>\n On Halloween night in 1978, the Boogeyman returns to Haddonfield Heights, a quiet suburban neighborhood in the midwest. Despite all the darkness and horror, the environments are eerily bright and colorful in a way that feels very \u201870s. Character models also have smoothed edges to them that feel just a touch cartoonish \u2014 in a good way. Halloween: The Game<\/em> is also far more complex than a simple 1v4. Those four players each assume the role of a unique \u201cHero of Haddonfield,\u201d but the town is full of NPC residents who need to be escorted to random escape points. So it\u2019s less \u201cescape the killer\u201d and more of a \u201cmanage a town under siege\u201d situation. That alone gives Myers more victims to target \u2014 and turns every match into controlled chaos.<\/p>\n Myers can focus on his targets with Murderous Intent to build levels of Stalk, which makes him better able to track targets and unlock more executions. He also has access to Shape Jump that lets him travel through shadows at great speed, even passing through some solid surfaces. That allows him to suddenly appear in front of a victim while they\u2019re running away. This ability is restricted by sources of light, however, so any Myers player ought to spend most of their time early-match knocking out lights.<\/p>\n Watching Myers in action is deeply unnerving (and it made me stay very far away from the record-breaking Michael Myers cosplay meetup held at PAX East). In-game, he moves with the same kind of demonic grace that made the original Halloween<\/em> movie such a sensation. He\u2019s slow, deliberate, and supernaturally controlled. Myers is also just a regular-looking guy in a white mask, but the way he moves \u2014 and randomly shows up in weird places to stare at victims \u2014 instills fear. It\u2019s never a question of whether Myers can catch you or not. It\u2019s just a matter of when he looks in your direction.<\/p>\n At one point while wandering the show floor at PAX East, I lurked behind two people playing Halloween<\/em>. As Myers, one player walked boldly down the middle of a dark street in Haddonfield with a knife. His pace was urgent but unrushed, with sudden bursts of intensity in the way he flings open a door or pivots around a corner.<\/p>\n At the next station over, a woman was playing as a Hero of Haddonfield, cowering in some bushes with a rifle in her hands. We both watched the Boogeyman leave an empty house to stalk back out into the streets. He walked right past her. She exhaled. Then he stopped\u2026and turned his entire body to face her. We both yelped \u2014 and she shrieked again when she heard me. Sorry, ma\u2019am.<\/p>\n While Dead by Daylight <\/em>also <\/em>used some motion capture for the game\u2019s animations, the overall quality pales in comparison to what Halloween: The Game<\/em> has to offer. I later learned that the new game features mocap from the original Halloween<\/em> actor Nick Castle and stuntman TJ Storm.<\/p>\n I was instantly reminded of a hilarious viral video I saw on TikTok once. A child dressed as Mike Myers stalks through what looks like some kind of maze made of hay bundles, while other kids scream and run around him. He trips over one, falls, then quickly shifts to lay flat on the ground. After a dramatic pause, he sits bolt upright in that idiosyncratic way only Mike Myers can do.<\/p>\n That clip stuck with me because it captures what the best Halloween<\/em> adaptations understand: Michael Myers isn\u2019t scary because he\u2019s fast \u2014 he\u2019s scary because he never breaks character.<\/p>\n Halloween: The Game<\/em> will be released on September 8, 2026 for Xbox, Windows PC, and PlayStation.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n![\"heroes](\"https:\/\/static0.polygonimages.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/heroes-of-haddonfield.jpg?q=49&fit=crop&w=825&dpr=2\")
\n <\/picture>