John Carpenter famously directed some of the best horror and adventure films of the 1970s and 1980s: The Thing, Halloween, They Live, Escape from New York, Big Trouble in Little China, and so on. He’s also famously an avid gamer, recently telling Insider that all he wanted was to “play video games and watch basketball” because “that’s all [he cared] about doing.”
In other interviews, he’s revealed a passion for Sonic the Hedgehog, Jak and Daxter, Fallout 76, Borderlands, Horizon Forbidden West, Crash Bandicoot, Ratchet and Clank, and Assassin’s Creed (particularly Valhalla).
That’s part of the reason why Carpenter collaborating on a new Halloween video game is such good news, on all fronts. As first reported by IGN, two new games based on John Carpenter’s 1978 film are currently in the works at Boss Team Games, the publisher behind Evil Dead: The Game. Both are reportedly being worked on by producers of the Halloween franchise, but one is specifically being developed with “input” from John Carpenter himself.
“As a huge gamer myself, I’m thrilled to help bring Michael Myers to life again in this game, and my hope is to scare you silly,” Carpenter said of the project.
Per a press release, these games will invite players to “relive moments from the film” by taking on classic character roles.
Update 14/8: One of upcoming Halloween games has been revealed as a retro-inspired arcade platformer. A trailer is embedded below, courtesy of IGN.
Given Boss Team has experience with asymmetric survival horror, we could assume the other game will be developed with this genre in mind, but it’s also worth noting that development on Evil Dead: The Game ceased less than two years after release, suggesting a lack of ongoing player support.
Halloween may corral more player interest, and the involvement of John Carpenter should certainly turn some more heads, so Boss Team might be encouraged to have another go. At the very least, it’s nice to see Carpenter getting the chance to work on video games. He’s spoken for years about his passions, and now is his chance to explore them more thoroughly.
“Everyone at Boss Team is thrilled and honoured to be working with Malek Akkad [Halloween producer] and John Carpenter to deliver a one-of-a-kind experience that fans of the movie and video games will love,” Boss Team said.
