“I mean, shit, if I could go back in time and tell my 18-year-old self that he was going to one day be working with the John Carpenter, he’d never believe it!”
As IllFonic’s Jarred Gerritzen takes stock of his ‘pinch-me’ circumstances, we can’t help but think about just how many people must envy the developer’s situation. Because, unless they’ve got a pretty major gap in their viewing history, the director of The Thing and The Fog is all but guaranteed to have played a foundational role in any horror fan’s developing love affair with scary movies. Indeed, you’d be hard pressed to find someone — with even the vaguest bit of interest in this genre — who doesn’t have at least one Carpenter flick locked into their top 20.
Alas, for most of us, that’s where our relationship with the master filmmaker ends. No matter how much we might idolize him, we’ve come to terms with the depressing fact that we’ll never be able to rub shoulders with the genius behind They Live, and our incredulous adolescent selves would be quite right to doubt any claims to the contrary.
That’s not the case for Jarred, though, who (in this dubious time travel scenario) would be able to gloat to his 18-year-old self that he does indeed have a direct line to his childhood hero. And not only that, but he is collaborating with him on a brand-new adaptation of one of his most enduring works, in the form of Halloween: The Game.
As Chief Creative Officer for IllFonic, this isn’t the first time a cherished property has been entrusted in Jared’s care. Under his helmsmanship, the studio — known primarily for its asymmetrical multiplayer offerings — has been given the keys to practically all your favourite IPs. In Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed, they gave us the chance to don those iconic exterminator jumpsuits and cross the streams to catch player-controlled spectres. With Friday the 13th: The Game, they had us roleplaying as either Jason Voorhees or one of the amorous camp counsellors at his mercy. With Predator: Hunting Grounds, they afforded us the perfect opportunity to yell “get to the chopper” at our teammates. And with last year’s Killer Klowns from Outer Space, they let us encase our friends in cotton candy cocoons and slowly digest their gelatinised remains. All good fun!
Reflecting on these dream assignments, Gerritzen admits: “It’s been a real privilege to get to work on these franchises that mean so much to us, and my wishlist is honestly getting a little thin at this point. From time to time, we do have to turn down IPs that don’t grab us for whatever reason but, for the most part, we’ve always had people on the team who are deeply enthusiastic about each and every licence that comes out way.”
That being said, he acknowledges that this new project is the real “crown jewel” for IllFonic. After all, Halloween is about as significant a legacy as you can get in the horror space, and if there was ever to be a Mount Rushmore for slasher villains then the remorseless Michael Myers would surely deserve pride of place atop that sculpture. Suffice it to say, they’re very excited about what they’re cooking up here.
In anticipation of the title’s announcement at Gamescom 2025, Gerritzen and his colleague Jordan Mathewson, Lead Designer at IllFonic, sat down with Bloody Disgusting for an exclusive interview about Halloween: The Game. Among other things, we spoke about all the different ways they’re planning to shake up the asymmetrical multiplayer formula here, their decision to finally take a proper stab at a solo campaign (pun not intended) and, of course, that much-touted Carpenter connection. Here’s everything we learned!
Death Has Come to Your Little Town
Before we launched into the discussion, we were given a sneak peek of the reveal trailer that has since made its public debut at Gamescom (watch below). As is typical for this kind of early-stage marketing, it doesn’t illuminate a great deal about the title and instead takes the form of a pre-rendered cinematic that only gives you a flavour of what to expect.
Opening with that famous Halloween synthesiser stinger— before then transitioning into Laurie Strode’s more lyrical piano theme — the short teaser introduces us to a quiet suburban street in the sleepy town of Haddonfield, Illinois. It’s 31st October 1978 and all the residents are getting ready for a night of spooky festivities, when suddenly a distressed woman bursts onto the scene, dashing from house to house, feverishly knocking on doors. and trying to alert anyone who will listen to an impending danger.
Given the poor girl’s emotional distress, these warnings aren’t particularly lucid and fall on deaf ears. Yet we’re able to discern what’s got her so rattled, thanks to some characteristically portentous voiceover supplied by none other than Dr. Samuel Loomis (portrayed here by a pretty reasonable Donald Pleasence impersonator).
Going into his usual, hysterical spiel about “The Boogeyman,” he doesn’t prove to be an especially empathetic or rational mental health professional. Instead, he rants (as he so often does) about his patient’s inhuman traits, his penchant for “senseless death,” and the pure malevolence that is etched into his very soul. All of which seems like it must go against some code of conduct or ethical standards for a shrink but, hey, what do I know? Maybe attitudes were just different in the ‘70s.
Anyway, the good doctor carries on raving about reckonings and unstoppable monsters (are we sure he’s not the one in need of psychiatric care?), while our female lead continues in vain to try and sound the alarm about Michael. Unfortunately, her pleas go ignored and the blissfully ignorant locals all stay indoors. A fatal error.
That’s when we hear a bloodcurdling scream from just off camera, followed by the unmistakable sounds of savage butchery. This commotion is soon displaced by Michael Myer’s telltale muffled breathing and then, right on cue, The Shape himself walks into frame. Evil has arrived. Just as was foretold.
Terror Evolves
It’s an appetite-whetting trailer for sure. Yet, as we said, it doesn’t really give you a whole lot to go on. All you can glean is that the game is set in 1978, that it’s got Michael Myers in it and that John Carpenter is attached in some capacity. Perhaps that ought to be enough for now, but we were greedy and so pressed Gerritzen and Mathewson for more details.
In response, the developers reasoned that the title is best understood as existing in two distinct halves, with the first component taking the form of that signature asymmetrical multiplayer that we’ve come to expect from IllFonic. Talking about this, Mathewson said: “If you refer back to what we’ve done in the past, there’s definitely a lot of the same DNA here in Halloween: The Game.”
Agreeing with his colleague, Gerritzen added: “IllFonic has been around for many, many decades. The majority of the team has been with us since Friday the 13th, and they all stuck around for Predator, Ghostbusters and Killer Klowns. So, we’ve [cultivated] a real knowledge base and expertise when it comes to making these types of games. Not to mention we’re familiar with the technology.”
While on the one hand, that track record should instill confidence that IllFonic are the right team for the job, it does also flag a potential cause for concern. That being the fact that a frankly staggering amount of these asymmetrical titles have been released since Friday the 13th debuted in 2017, and the premise could therefore be at risk of growing a little stale. Indeed, the genre has become rather crowded of late, with competitors like The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Home Sweet Home: Online and Evil Dead: The Game all throwing their proverbial hats into the ring.
To his credit, the threat of market saturation is a problem that Gerritzen is keenly aware of. “Horror multiplayer has definitely gone through a lot of permutations in recent years,” he concedes. “If we take everyone else out of the equation for a moment and just talk about ourselves, then you’ve got F13, Predator, Ghostbusters and Killer Klowns to take into account. That makes Halloween the fifth iteration of this idea from us alone. So, we appreciate that there is a need to innovate.
“We don’t want to just make the same thing over and over again, retaining the same mechanics and only switching out locations or killers to tie into whatever IP we’re adapting. We want to meaningfully evolve. “My [vision] is that, if someone owns all of IllFonic’s games, then they’ll bounce between them based on their present mood. Because each of them should have a unique feel. One day you might be in the mood for the chaos of Killer Klowns, the next you might fancy something slower and more methodical, like Halloween.”
The (Game) Night He Came Home
Which led us nicely into discussing exactly what the fresh spin will be for Halloween: The Game.
Mathewson took over for this breakdown, elaborating: “We’ve tried to emphasize stealth on both sides of the killer/survivor dynamic. For Michael, it’s about stalking. His mechanics revolve around quietly observing in the shadows and biding your time to get the best possible kills. You see, there will be NPCs [inhabiting] the map, living their lives and going about their various October 31st traditions. Your job is to pick them off!
“Meanwhile, the other players will be sneaking around and trying to alert those civilians to your presence, just like in the teaser trailer we showed. Plus, we’ve got the cops and Dr. Loomis adding an extra wrinkle [to proceedings]. So, if the Michael player isn’t performing well, he’ll have to deal with extra resistance and there are a lot of interesting situations that can arise from that.”
Expanding upon this point, Gerritzen said: “Most other asymmetrical horror games are about escaping, but that’s not the ultimate objective for the survivor players here. Instead, you’re trying to stop Michael’s rampage and save the town. You can eventually end the match and spectate, but the goal is always more complicated than merely ‘run around, loot and escape.’ We think that makes it feel new and interesting.”
Beyond just these rule changes, Halloween: The Game also evolves upon IllFonic’s previous outings by introducing a big technical upgrade behind the scenes.
“Moving to Unreal Engine 5 has given us a huge visual boost,” Gerritzen enthuses. “You can see that most obviously with Michael’s mask, which was a huge priority for us. It’s such an important part of the franchise iconography and we had to get it perfect. There’s been so many iterations of that one prop over the years — across multiple different movies — but they’ve all degraded and so there was nothing available for us to laser scan.
“That meant we had to design it from scratch, and we ended up obsessing over every last microscopic detail. If we were making this four or five years ago, we would have had fewer polygons and less dynamic lighting at our disposal, but Unreal 5 was a real asset for us and the end product looks super impressive. I’m very proud of how the mask, and the rest of the game, is shaping up.”
Solo Gamers Are Entitled to A Good Scare As Well
Asymmetrical multiplayer is obviously IllFonic’s bread and butter, but the second half of the Halloween package is arguably even more intriguing, as it promises to be the studio’s most substantial solo offering to date.
In all fairness, the team has already dipped their toes into these waters — with Friday the 13th’s “virtual cabin,” and its Hitman-style challenges that were added post-launch — but they’ve never done anything quite this intensive before.
Not only will there be an offline substitute for multiplayer matches, giving you the opportunity to practice with AI bots, but there will also be a bona fide story campaign. Developed in collaboration with PollardStudio (who brought us Karma: The Dark World earlier this year), this mode will thrust you into the coveralls of The Shape and have you facing off against the townspeople of Haddonfield, the police and, of course, that pesky busybody Dr. Loomis.
IllFonic were cagey about revealing too much more at this juncture, but Mathewson is confident that the campaign will be a treat for fans of the film series. “It’s such a fun mode,” he exclaimed. “You’ll get to have a very controlled Halloween experience that will hopefully drive even more people towards the multiplayer. We can’t wait to show it off in the near future.”
Returning to the Source
Finally, we had to ask about that enticing Hollywood namedrop in the trailer. IllFonic tends to consult the original creators of any material they’re adapting. In the past, they’ve secured the input of the Chiodo brothers for Killer Klowns and enlisted Tom Savini to help devise the grisly kill animations for Friday the 13th. Still, this is John-freakin’-Carpenter we’re talking about: a legendary master of his craft and a gaming enthusiast to boot. Surely it must have been a little intimidating trying to earn his blessing?
“Actually, the cool thing was, we didn’t have to explain a bunch of concepts to him,” Gerritzen replied. “Because he is a gamer, he knows this stuff already and has specifically mentioned what he wants to see from us in terms of ideas. So far, that working relationship has been amazing. The same goes for our interactions with Malek Akkad [son of original Halloween producer Moustapha Akkad, associate producer of many of the franchise’s later instalments, and current IP rights holder].”
Echoing these sentiments, Mathewson added: “This is one of those opportunities that comes along once in a lifetime. The stars truly aligned to give us this level of access to the franchise’s lineage, and it’s helped us assemble an experience that is very true to that iconic 1978 film.”
On that note, you might notice that the publicity for Halloween: The Game refers to Carpenter’s movie in isolation, without ever broaching the subject of its sequels, requels, reboots or remakes. That’s because this tie-in is based exclusively on the first film alone, effectively disregarding the rest of the series’ tangled continuity. So don’t go expecting Corey Cunningham loadouts, Silver Shamrock cosmetics or Rob Zombie easter eggs popping up here. It’s original recipe Halloween all the way.
Explaining the rationale behind this, Gerritzen clarified: “It’s about making the cleanest possible version of the universe. We think of it like that first film is a central train station, from which the story goes off in all these crazy directions. I mean, name a movie franchise with 13 films where the continuity is coherent [laughs].
“But keeping it focused on the original film made the most sense to us. The lore is more straightforward. Michael is still young and spry. It just works. However, we’re leaving it open to connect to the other train stations later on down the line if we want to. We’ll see what happens!”
Of course, having the narrative situated in the year 1978 might return Michael to his prime, but he’s never been one for intense cardio anyway. Even in his youth! Compared to Leatherface, Freddy or even Jason, his walking pace is decidedly glacial.
Curious as to how that characteristic will translate into gameplay (without being incredibly frustrating for the person controlling the boogeyman), we asked the devs outright if they have a mitigation in place to stop survivors easily outpacing their would-be killer.
Gerritzen played it coy, only going so far as to indicate that the team does have something up their sleeve: “There’s a very IllFonic way of making that make sense, let’s just say that! We’ve come up with some unique mechanics that Malek and crew are very happy about. You’ll have to watch this space to find the specifics.”
We’re naturally keen to learn more about that system but, based on what we’ve heard so far, it’s not like we needed any more reasons to keep a close eye on this one. For fans of horror games and horror cinema alike, it’s looking very promising indeed. And, hey, if it’s good enough for Carpenter, then it’s good enough for us.
