Halloween: The Game's demo at PAX East 2026 literally made me scream

Our impressions based on the playable demo at PAX East 2026 “The Shape” (Michael Myers) is already a playable Killer in Dead by Daylight, so when I saw that developer Illfonic was showcasing Halloween: The Game at PAX East 2026, I couldn’t help but wonder—why? They’re 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? Watching people play it, however, made me realize that I couldn’t have been more wrong. I was never all that interested in Dead by Daylight — its graphics and animation didn’t look all that impressive, even a decade ago. Halloween: The Game, however, elevates the experience in meaningful ways. It isn’t just another asymmetrical horror game — it’s one that actually understands what makes Michael Myers terrifying, and builds its entire design around that idea. 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 ‘