Illfonic says calling Halloween another Dead by Daylight misses the point
Stop comparing Halloween to Dead by Daylight. That is the message from Illfonic.
Chief creative officer Jared Gerritzen told GameSpot in an interview published 21 September 2026 that the comparison is easy to make but inherently flawed. He likened it to mistaking cricket for baseball. The rules differ.
He said Illfonic builds a bespoke game for each franchise, rather than a mixtape-style game that folds many characters into one system. In plain terms, the studio starts from the films and designs around them, instead of slotting a new killer into an existing template. The characters do not move house. The house is rebuilt.
The studio has form in licensed horror. Before Halloween, Illfonic made Friday the 13th, Predator: Hunting Grounds, Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed and Killer Klowns from Outer Space. Gerritzen pointed to that run as the reason the team takes a tailored approach each time. Each licence, he argued, needs its own pace, fear and chase.
Halloween: The Game was released 8 September 2026 for Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5 and PC. The platforms were set out in an Illfonic developer update published 26 September 2025, with the release date listed in a GamesRadar guide published 8 September 2026. It is a multiplayer horror game built around John Carpenter's film series, with one side stalking and the other trying to survive the night.
IllFonic describes itself as an independent video game developer founded in 2007, with studios in Lakewood, Colorado and Tacoma, Washington. Its past titles and collaborations include work as varied as Nexuiz, Evolve, Star Citizen and Arcadegeddon, according to the company site. Lead designer on Halloween is Jordan Mathewson, named in an interview published 20 August 2025.
Gerritzen said IllFonic will share more of its Halloween roadmap in the near future, in an interview published 13 September 2026 with PCGamesN. No date or detail was given. A roadmap, in games terms, is the studio's public plan for new maps, modes and fixes after launch.
For players, this means a reset of expectations. Do not load up Halloween looking for a reskinned crossover. Illfonic wants it judged on its own terms, warts and all, and the next updates will test whether that bespoke bet holds.
