Goodbye Jason Voorhees, hello Michael Myers: Friday the 13th developer and publisher return with a new multiplayer survival horror game based on Halloween

Seven years after IllFonic and Gun Media had to say farewell to their hit multiplayer survival horror game Friday the 13th, they're back—except this time, it's Halloween. Announced at today's Future Game Show, Halloween is a "one-versus-many stealth horror experience" in which players don the creepy mask of Michael Myers to hunt down the citizens of Haddonfield, or work together as his potential victims in a desperate effort to stop him.

"Stick to the shadows as Civilians, seeking out Haddonfield residents to warn them and searching for a way to contact the authorities," the press blast says. "As Michael Myers, give them a reason to fear the dark and cut the phone lines to prevent the police from ruining his favorite holiday. Whether playing solo in story mode, against bots offline, or facing others in online multiplayer, each mode rewards stealth, strategy, and skillful play.

"Staying true to the original film, IllFonic masterfully recreates the eerie atmosphere of Haddonfield across multiple maps and authentic locations. With a haunting ambience and score inspired by the legendary movie, Halloween brings the terror home in a new experience that will keep both old and new generations looking over their shoulders."

I'm not much of a horror fan so I'm really in no position to speak to the distinctions between the Friday the 13^th and Halloween franchises—it's all just freaky masks, huge knives, and screaming teenyboppers to me. But I do find it very interesting, and amusing, that IllFonic and Gun Media are coming back with a game that, superficially at least, looks so much like Friday the 13^th. There will definitely be differences in gameplay: Players will alert NPC townsfolk and police to the looming threat, for instance, leading to "increasingly powerful and thorough neighborhood patrols" that will help even the odds against the killer.

But the bottom line is that a small group of soft, squishy locals are going to have to work together to survive an unkillable maniac who exists only to hack those locals into little bloody bits, and, well... that sure sounds like tomayto, tomahto to me.

I might be reading too much into it, but IllFonic co-founder and CEO Charles Brungardt also seemed to throw a little shade at his former partners while praising his new ones.

"Working with Compass International Pictures and Further Front has been a dream," Brungardt said. "As rights holders of the film and producers on the game, they’ve shared incredible insights to help us stay true to the soul of the 1978 film. Their tremendous passion for Michael Myers has pushed us to craft something that fans of the franchise will truly appreciate."

Friday the 13^th: The Game, you'll recall, was brought low by a dispute over the ownership of the franchise between Victor Miller, the writer of the original film, and Sean Cunningham, the producer and director of the film.

Halloween is set to launch sometime in 2026 and will be available for PC on Steam and the Epic Games Store. For now, you can take a closer look at what's coming at halloweengame.com.