

Michael Myers is my favorite American horror/slasher villain. If you’re a fan of the genre, he’s gotta be in your top 5, and even though this game was not directed by John Carpenter, it should pique your interest to find out just how good this 32-bit-esque survival horror freeware may be.



Fan game Halloween is free for Windows and Mac, brought to us by Pig Farmer Games. As a dev who aims to make low budget slasher movie games dedicated to 80s movies, VHS tapes and synth scores, they have my preliminary vote.

You play as someone who accepts a babysitting job on the outskirts of town, which sounds cliche, but such is the genre. The devs deliver on several low-budget horror tropes along with low-budget controls and graphics. That could be good or bad, depending on what you want out of this.

The camera shifts a bit in “movie” mode (3rd and 1st person are a little better), and controlling the character isn’t the smoothest experience. It took me a while to realize there was an upstairs while playing Halloween in movie mode, and it was necessary to go up there to gather items to push along the story.

I had to figure this out on my own, if I recall, but along with pressing “space” to search everything, “ESC” opens a menu where you can use, combine, and examine items. You’ll need to do those with items you find to advance the story, as well.

I made it through several little fetch puzzles which seem to help you learn the blueprints of the house, until the lights went out. It’s almost midnight as I write this, and the fear already got the best of me. I saved my game with old tape on the recorder and may revisit this when it is dawn. I unfortunately didn’t get to try the shooting out, yet. However, I think the Halloween succeeded, if I am too scared to play more now.

Those who are braver can give Halloween for Windows and Mac a try, and let me know how your encounter with Michael Myers goes.

