IGN's early review of Halloween: The Game finds the asymmetrical survival horror title, developed by Illfonic and tied to the John Carpenter franchise, in a rough and seemingly unfinished state ahead of release. Despite high expectations given Illfonic's track record with similar titles and Carpenter's involvement, the reviewer found the game riddled with technical problems that undermine its horror atmosphere, including a Michael Myers who moves too slowly to feel threatening. This matters because it suggests a highly anticipated licensed horror game may launch well short of the polish players would expect from an experienced asymmetrical horror studio.

The review, conducted without the game's day-one patch, catalogued broken or missing animations, hard crashes averaging roughly once per hour on PS5, weapons phasing through opponents in combat, misfiring positional audio, and quick-time events that bugged out entirely. NPC companion AI was also described as extremely poor, with allies clustering together and failing to react sensibly to danger. On the positive side, the reviewer praised the balance between playing as killer Michael Myers and as a survivor, noting Illfonic appears to have avoided the lopsided appeal seen in rivals like The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, with Myers' shadow-based abilities and brutal execution animations offering a genuinely enjoyable killer experience beneath the bugs.