Halloween Revealed by Friday the 13th: The Game Developer — IGN Interviews IllFonic on the Single-Player Story Mode, Working With John Carpenter, and More

Halloween was revealed astatine the Future Games Show during gamescom 2025 with a debut trailer and a raft of crippled details.

IllFonic, the asymmetrical fearfulness specializer down the likes of Killer Klowns From Outer Space: The Game, Friday the 13th: The Game, and Predator Hunting Grounds, is processing Halloween and volition grip publishing with Gun Media. It’s based connected the iconic 1978 movie, and is owed retired astatine immoderate constituent successful 2026 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and S, and PC.

Unlike IllFonic’s erstwhile fearfulness games, Halloween has a single-player mode. John Carpenter was involved, arsenic was Compass International Pictures, which produced the archetypal film.

Here’s the authoritative blurb:

Step into the chilling satellite of John Carpenter’s genre-defining film, present transformed into a suspenseful one-versus-many stealth fearfulness experience. Put connected the iconic disguise to go the eventual slasher, Michael Myers, stalking and executing the citizens of Haddonfield 1 by one, oregon striving to thwart Michael Myers’ plans arsenic Civilians determined to prevention the unaware townsfolk earlier it’s excessively late. Stick to the shadows arsenic Civilians, seeking retired Haddonfield residents to pass them and searching for a mode to interaction the authorities. As Michael Myers, springiness them a crushed to fearfulness the acheronian and chopped the telephone lines to forestall the constabulary from ruining his favourite holiday. Whether playing solo successful communicative mode, against bots offline, oregon facing others successful online multiplayer, each mode rewards stealth, strategy, and skillful play.Staying existent to the archetypal film, IllFonic masterfully recreates the eerie ambiance of Haddonfield crossed aggregate maps and authentic locations. With a haunting ambience and people inspired by the legendary movie, Halloween brings the panic location successful a caller acquisition that volition support some aged and caller generations looking implicit their shoulders.

Ahead of the announcement, IGN had the accidental to interrogation Chief Creative Officer Jared Gerritzen and Design Director Jordan Mathewson to find retired everything you request to cognize astir Halloween.

IGN: People cognize IllFonic for their multiplayer fearfulness games. Why was having a single-player mode for Halloween important for you?

Jared Gerritzen: It's decidedly due to the fact that of the games that we've done. This is our 5th runaround with a multiplayer lone game. But successful the past, successful my erstwhile jobs, anytime that a multiplayer-only crippled gets released, particularly if it has a precise beardown instrumentality basal — it is conscionable a information that immoderate radical don't play multiplayer games. And we've learned that successful the past. In Ghostbusters we added the quality to play by yourself and amended AI. Hardcore Ghostbusters fans were capable to travel successful and play the crippled and get a large experience, and past they got the skills, and past they saw that multiplayer fastener and past they came in. And it's truly chill due to the fact that I present cognize radical that were like, I came successful for Ghostbusters, but present I'm a multiplayer fan, and present I'm playing multiplayer games.

Because I bash deliberation that successful this time and property we are getting these massively chill and breathtaking IPs, but if determination isn't a multiplayer acquisition and if determination isn't a single-player experience, I bash deliberation that radical don't get those itches scratched. And truthful twelvemonth aft year, each 1 of our IllFonic games, it's an iterative process wherever we look astatine the past task and we effort to bash better. And truthful with this, it was precise important, particularly with it being Halloween, that we brought successful an acquisition for radical that don't play hardcore multiplayer games.

Asymmetrical multiplayer games tin beryllium a small spot much hardcore too. And the accent of being the slayer versus a clump of bullies tin beryllium beauteous daunting. And truthful we truly wanted to marque a mode that radical tin play a single-player game, get a spot of a story, get deeper into the universe. And truthful it was very, precise important. And that's wherefore we've not lone ramped up our improvement team, truly enactment successful immoderate large effort connected getting immoderate truly awesome AI engineers, but besides bringing connected Pollard to assistance retired with their skills and their abilities. So I deliberation it's going to beryllium a truly chill acquisition conscionable to person that full bundle yet of a fashionable IP.

IGN: How volition the single-player mode really work? You mentioned story. How extended volition that be?

Jared Gerritzen: Well, truthful we can't truly speech that overmuch astir that due to the fact that that's decidedly a antithetic phase. But we are moving with John. We are moving with Malek [Akkad, President of Compass International Pictures]. We've got immoderate truly large writers that we're moving with to bring this satellite to it.

It volition crisscross the movie a lot. When we instrumentality an IP, we really, truly person to beryllium a instrumentality of it. We crook down IPs much than we pursuit IPs. We cognize this movie similar the backmost of our hands. And truthful there's a batch of things that I deliberation that if you person ne'er seen the film, you'll get this large experience, but if you person seen the film, you'll spot those truly chill moments that you've seen for decades. If you're a instrumentality that conscionable knows who Michael Myers is and you've seen a mates of the newer films, that'll beryllium cool. But I deliberation that it'll beryllium amusive for radical to beryllium capable to truly link to the OG film.

IGN: You’ve decided to absorption connected the archetypal film. Why was that important for you, and however progressive has John Carpenter been successful the process?

Jared Gerritzen: Listen, I person decidedly said we request to marque definite John's blessed aggregate times! John Carpenter's enactment retired genuinely immoderate of my favourite films, similar my apical 5 films. He's enactment retired specified astonishing films that conscionable america getting to enactment with him, similar with Predator oregon being capable to enactment with Dan Aykroyd and Ivan Reitman with Ghostbusters, we're utilized to that. We're utilized to radical like, this is their baby, this is their thing. We're playing successful their sandbox. But I bash genuinely consciousness that we permission making immoderate truly chill worldly that they're precise blessed about.

Malek, this is his birthright. His begetter was the 1 that produced this. He has been moving connected and with Halloween since helium was a child. And truthful him and John are truly the arbiters wherever erstwhile we travel up with a brainsick idea, we person to travel and contiguous it and we person to explicate it and astir apt springiness them a mates of days to unpack it, and past travel backmost and get much of those questions.

So the mode that I spot it is, by moving with those guys and proving to those guys what we're doing is right, I deliberation that that should mean that anyone who's a instrumentality should besides beryllium blessed with what we're doing. Because with a video game, we person to adhd systems, we person to adhd gameplay, we person to marque consciousness of a country that successful the movie you're like, okay, that's a chill scene. But successful the game, you don't chopped the camera, you don't person a mode to conscionable spell like, okay, different determination cut. We're trying to explicate these things, and I genuinely consciousness immoderate of the systems that we're going to speech astir erstwhile we commencement going much dense with the gameplay, I deliberation that radical volition decidedly spell like, ohio wow, that explains immoderate large components successful the franchise. And erstwhile we've presented it, radical person been precise blessed with it.

And honestly, thing that we'll speech astir successful the future, I'm highly blessed we figured it out, due to the fact that it’s changed the mode that you look astatine Michael Myers. It's been precise cool. It's ever stressful coming and saying, ‘Hey, here's this chaotic idea.’ Honestly, the mode that they spot america is arsenic a clump of kids. 1978, I was two. Jordan was inactive floating around. I'm the idiosyncratic that says, ‘Okay, successful the seventies we did this, phones had cables connected to the wall.’ And truthful it has been 1 of those truly weird things wherever by choosing that era, it's truthful acold away, and exertion has gone truthful far, that it's similar playing — I don't privation to accidental it's arsenic atrocious arsenic a Red Dead — but it's decidedly similar playing thing that a batch of kids won't understand.

Jordan Mathewson: It is the purest signifier of Halloween. It is the starting of that full concept, and it's been fantastic not lone to spell towards that play portion mentality of making a unsocial seventies American municipality that we spot successful the movie itself. And the crushed it resonates and benignant of clicks into that horrific constituent is it’s specified a calm and normal, unassuming municipality that you wouldn't expect determination to beryllium this wide slayer connected the loose.

So it gave america a truly good, grounded instauration to laic down everything that we wanted to successful the play abstraction connected apical of it being successful that era. It gives america conscionable a batch of bully things to enactment disconnected of that support it precise focused into what Halloween is arsenic a whole. It's been truly amusive going down that way and focusing connected that movie.

IGN: You can’t conscionable marque a telephone telephone extracurricular to assistance prevention you! Were determination immoderate moments during improvement erstwhile you had to explicate to younger unit however things worked backmost then?

Jordan Mathewson: One that's beauteous tame is getting ahold of the constabulary backmost then. We person 911 now, which is the knowing of however you get ahold of emergency, but it's not rather the aforesaid backmost then. It wasn't developed similar that. So we person to bash a batch of technological knowing syncs to marque definite everyone is precise good alert of what existed backmost then.

We bash immoderate probe conscionable however that exertion would travel into the Illinois conception of the country. The thought of landlines, telephone cords, that benignant of thing. The mode that you dial, it's not ever buttons, sometimes it's the rotary. So it's precise overmuch a amusive conversation, and we're ever exploring backmost and distant the antithetic things. And past from determination it's like, however bash we marque this a gameplay mechanic? Because that tin beryllium amusive if we're reasoning astir trying to acceptable it successful spot and not making it a hassle and really making it a mechanic.

IGN: Does Halloween person a canon? Does that origin into what you’re doing? Do you person to obey immoderate rules?

Jared Gerritzen: Yeah! There's a batch of rules that are acceptable that we don't speech about, that person been determination since the beginning. But there's a batch of elements wherever we truly effort to usage the movie arsenic the canon. We're pulling from arsenic galore frames arsenic we can.

There's decidedly contention points and caveat points that we person to spell like, well, the gameplay. So it's not one-to-one, but it's beauteous overmuch like, these are elements, these are the factors that we person to propulsion in. But truly it is astir Michael's Halloween night, similar him going out. You're not stalking Laurie successful the day, and you're not doing boring stuff. You're going to that, okay, this is what helium was doing erstwhile it wasn't astir him. And truthful those are the large things that we're truly trying to push.

It's precise difficult, but we person done this a batch successful the past. And honestly, the large portion is erstwhile we person to propulsion retired that partition and interruption retired of the box.

IGN: Have you had immoderate amusive situations wherever idiosyncratic has had to constituent retired that it would really beryllium similar this astatine this point? Who are the custodians of the Halloween lore?

Jared Gerritzen: Yeah! Malek and Ryan [Freimann, Trancas Films] are absolutely… they've been precise diligent. They've been truly great, and it's added the authenticity.

The disguise is astir apt the best. We had to seizure the disguise successful the highest imaginable fidelity. Looking astatine archetypal molds, looking astatine archetypal masks, they're degraded. It's not similar idiosyncratic enactment it successful and made it precisely the same, but the turnaround connected making conscionable Mike's disguise has been, I mean, that’s astir apt the top happening to spell like, okay, wherever did you guys walk a batch of effort? And that was the cardinal thing, due to the fact that erstwhile you get the screenshots of the renders… there's been a batch of Michael Myers' retired determination and a batch of different games, and they've been made by apical top artists, but it was portion of like, okay, we're doing each of these different things.

We enactment a laser beam connected that mask, and each wrinkle, each crack, uncovering retired precisely however it happened, talking to them like, ‘Hey, successful this shot, it's similar this and this shot, it's similar that.’ And it's like, well, yeah, due to the fact that helium took the disguise disconnected successful betwixt and erstwhile helium pulled it down, it benignant of folded a small spot otherwise oregon the hair's a small spot different. So that's been the happening that we've truly benignant of chopped our teeth with them.

Like I said, we're successful their sandbox truthful we person to adhere to it, but they've been precise knowing and precise flexible for what we request to do.

Wesley is Director, News astatine IGN. Find him connected Twitter astatine @wyp100. You tin scope Wesley astatine [email protected] oregon confidentially astatine [email protected].