A new Halloween game is coming — and I think it may be one of the best horror games of our time.
Hey everybody, Stephen from The Boo Bros here. I know my title is very opinionated, but I’m hoping this quick blog post may get you as excited about the upcoming Halloween video game as I am!
Everyone knows the Halloween film franchise. The iconic Michael Myers mask. The story of his relentless rampage through Haddonfield across decades of films. But despite being one of the most recognizable slasher villains of all time, Michael Myers has had surprisingly little representation in video games.
Outside of a few cameos and his memorable run in Dead by Daylight, Michael Myers has been pretty sparse in gaming. For folks like me who played Dead by Daylight for years, we remember just how absolutely broken he could be with the right item builds. I may have hated playing against those builds, but I always loved Michael as a character in that game — especially alongside so many other legendary slashers.
When the license for Michael Myers came up for renewal, Dead by Daylight didn’t keep it. Instead, we found out the character was getting his own standalone video game. And now, as we get closer to release, we’re seeing more footage and hearing more directly from the developers about gameplay, core design mechanics, and the decisions shaping the experience.
Lately, I’ve been watching a lot of videos focused on the multiplayer side of the game. The one I’ve linked here is the most recent full playthrough I’ve seen, captured in-person. It shows a solid amount of detail: how the game plays as Michael, how it plays as survivors and citizens, and how the Haddonfield map itself functions as an environment that seems to live on its own outside of your interactions in the game. I love the objective of saving the citizens, coming back as police if you die, and all of the things that make this game feel less like cat and mouse, and more like a cohesive story being told with a backdrop of pure terror.
I’m not going to deeply analyze the footage itself — you can and should watch it on your own. Instead, I wanted to offer some perspective as someone who has played just about every asymmetric horror game that’s come out. Most importantly, I want to talk about how Halloween will compare to the games it’s got the most in common with currently: Dead by Daylight and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre game.
Dead by Daylight is its own thing
In my opinion, Dead by Daylight exists in a category of its own. It has a devoted player base that will try other asymmetrical games, but inevitably keeps coming back. Its perk system, escape mechanics, and sheer amount of nuance make it feel fundamentally different from anything else on the market.
Even when games share the same design philosophy, they don’t really compete with Dead by Daylight on its own terms. Most people who play it long-term will tell you the same thing — it’s kind of its own deal.
Texas Chain Saw Massacre: a strong idea that fell apart
The first major departure from Dead by Daylight’s formula was The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. That game leaned into a 2v6 or even 3‑killer design, with multiple killers active on the same map. Honestly? I loved a lot of the design choices.
Survivors could actually fight back — one of the biggest complaints people have about Dead by Daylight. The maps were large, deeply themed and rooted in the source material, and full of environmental interactions. Whether you were setting traps, outsmarting killers, or using the environment creatively, there were some genuinely cool systems at play.
Unfortunately, most people would probably classify Texas Chainsaw Massacre game as a failure.
Early on, there were major connection issues, balance problems, and a general sense that the player base was almost determined to see the game fail. On top of that, later in the game’s lifecycle, there were — from what I understand — some pretty greedy marketing and profit‑driven design decisions. All of that combined led to a sharp drop-off in players, and today the game appears to be in maintenance mode at best.
So… why do I think Halloween will be different?
The reason I’m optimistic about Halloween is simple: who is making it. Gun Interactive.
The very studio behind the beloved “Friday the 13th: The Game” — the only true contender to Dead by Daylight we’ve seen in recent memory. That game is infamous for its legal issues and restrictive license holder, which eventually led to its shutdown despite a passionate player base.
Friday the 13th didn’t fail because the gameplay was bad. It failed because of external legal battles that went nowhere. And for whatever reason, the owners of that license never seemed particularly interested in keeping the IP alive in gaming spaces.
Now, that same studio has been handed the Halloween license — and it actually looks like they’re being given the time, freedom, and resources to do it right. Based on what we’re seeing so far, it feels like they’re applying everything they learned from Friday the 13th and building something more sustainable, more flexible, and more faithful to the source material.
If they stick the landing, Halloween might not replace Dead by Daylight — but it doesn’t need to. What it can do is carve out its own space and finally deliver the Michael Myers experience horror fans have been waiting for. Check out the videos linked below if you haven't already, I'm sure me and the boys will be playing the heck out of this when it comes out!
P.S. - Michael in his “Shape Jump” mechanic to move around the map like the boogeyman seems to in the movies, looks terrifying and I LOVE IT!
Check out these videos below to see some hands on gameplay, and get more info!
