It’s been almost ten years since Dead by Daylight released, revolutionizing multiplayer horror games and inspiring a steady flow of ill-fated imitators to follow in its wake, with yet another close on the horizon. The latest horror franchise to take the reins and create their very own asymmetrical game is Halloween, developed by IllFonic and set to release this September.
With a recent gameplay trailer, Halloween has generated some hype around its release, raising hopes that it could be the rare exception to the asymmetrical horror game curse, but the question still remains: will it survive where other, similar games failed?
A string of horrifying failures (and some Klowns)
Dead by Daylight has been a phenomenon in the horror genre for about a decade now. With its straightforward gameplay loop that allows both groups (killer and survivor) to pursue simple objects (kill and survive), DBD has cultivated a dedicated fanbase. With that solid gameplay and years of accumulated IPs as DLC—series like Child’s Play, Saw, Hellraiser, Stranger Things, Dungeons and Dragons, Scream, and Resident Evil have all joined—it’s no surprise that other franchises wanted their own slice of the pie.
The foremost examples of failed copies of Dead by Daylight are 2023’s Evil Dead: The Game, 2017’s Friday the 13th: The Game, and 2023’s The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (which seemingly missed out on the “The Game” memo). All three of these titles took a stab (machete or chainsaw, your choice) at the asymmetrical style of gameplay, and all of them failed pretty miserably. Both Evil Dead and Friday the 13th are no longer available to purchase or play, and Texas Chain Saw currently has a dwindling playerbase of roughly 200 people. So, the question remains, why should Halloween be any different?
Strangely enough, that answer lies with Killer Klowns from Outer Space: The Game (at least the Klowns got the subtitle memo). Released in 2024, Killer Klowns was IllFonic’s second attempt at an asymmetrical horror-franchise video game (not counting Ghostbusters), and despite the odds, reception from fans and critics alike was positive. Players loved filling the oversized shoes of the titular Klowns, and while the human characters weren’t quite as entertaining, they had a lot more to do than just run around and scream, something Halloween will continue to excel with.
The Halloween gameplay trailer
Based on the highly interesting gameplay trailer, Halloween will be following in the squeaky footsteps of Killer Klowns. Both Michael Myers, the Shape himself, and the survivors will have far more objectives than simply kill or avoid being killed, a place where other asymmetrical horror games failed.
While all of Michael’s goals are a little more straightforwardly stabby, the trailer showed how many interesting ways he can go about cornering his victims, almost all of which are homages to kills throughout the film series’ long history.
As for the survivors, a small cast of distinct characters will lead the charge through Haddonfield to save their neighbors from the Shape, call the police for backup, or fight back if necessary—though the game did stress that Michael Myers can never truly be killed. This brings an extra dimension to a normal asymmetrical horror game, as generally the sole objective is to find some route of escape.
With a highly detailed 1970s style and rich environments combined with the multilayered gameplay, Halloween has a launchpad for success. Hopefully it cultivates a stronger fanbase than any of its similar horror franchise brethren, though it is disappointing to see Halloween pull back from Dead by Daylight, considering Michael Myers was the very first licensed DLC for the game.
Halloween debuts on September 8, 2026 on Steam, Xbox, and PlayStation platforms.
