As an asymmetrical multiplayer game, there's a lot to think about when diving into Halloween The Game, not least which side to play on. Playing as Michael pits you against a team of four players all on your own, while playing as a civilian leaves you vulnerable to a deadly killer - and the relative skill of your teammates.
With that in mind, I've collated the main tips I wish I'd known when I first started playing Halloween The Game to help you get a head start no matter which team you play for.
Tips for playing Halloween the Game as a civilian
As survivor, your basic goal is to escape with your life, and if you can take some other Haddonfield residents with you, all the better. However, you can also try to take Michael down, and it's even possible to detain him, so ending you're after, here are my top tips for playing as a civilian.
1. Utilize Residents to do things for you
Alongside the four-man civilian team, there are a few NPC residents dotted around Haddonfield - and even more when the police start to arrive. Don't underestimate these NPCs as they are incredibly useful to you. By triggering and completing a conversation with them, you can ask them to call the police, follow you, or head to an exit if there's one available.
The latter will only increase your points at the end of the game. However, getting NPCs to call the police gets them to arrive much faster, and also helps if you're playing a civilian with a low personality trait, including those who rank highest on my Halloween the Game civilian tier list. You can also hand them weapons, and they'll fight back against Michael if it comes to it.
The best option, though, is to get them to follow you, as they will do all of this off their own back. They're rummage through storage, pick up weapons, and call the police. Just beware that the more people you have with you, the more detectable you'll be to Michael.
2. Call for backup from police and Loomis
As I've mentioned above, calling the police is useful, and you, your teammates, and NPCs call all do so from the many phones found around Haddonfield. You need to pass skill checks while you're own the phone, and the better you do, the more convincing your call will be, but the more calls placed means more police presence - and, eventually, a new exit option.
However, help also comes in the form of Sam Loomis, a character as iconic as Michael and Laurie. Like Tommy from Friday the 13th, if you ever played it, Loomis is a player character, enabling one killed player to return to the game. To call Loomis, keep an eye on the top of the screen for the 'Reinforcements in...' countdown to appear. Once it reaches zero, it will say 'Reinforcements Available', and the message 'CB Radio Activated' also briefly appears on-screen. Now you must find a CB radio somewhere on the map - it'll be highlighted once you're near - from which you can call Loomis. The first player to have died will return immediately unless no one has died at this point. In this case, the first player to die from then will respawn as Loomis. Players who escaped successfully do not respawn.
One more thing, be sure to pay attention to your map as a civilian. If you do respawn as Loomis, your map markers will reset, but you do spawn in with a gun and 12 bullets, so that's something.
Explore the whole map to reveal locations
Rather than staying where you spawned and meticulously searching every nook and cranny for items, it's best to try and quickly explore as much of the map as possible, as finding important locations, including all of the Halloween the Game escape methods like the car and hatches, will then cause them to show on your map. This way, when you do find the items you need to open the various exits, you'll know where to go. This is much better than getting your hopes up when you find a gas can, only to never find the car. Of course you should still have a bit of a look around as you go, but don't waste too much time opening every drawer.
But do look for a weapon early
While I've said don't take too much time to look around at first, you should keep your eye out for a weapon as soon as possible. If (and when) Michael does find you, you can try and wiggle free once you know how to complete the skill check, but you're guaranteed an extra chance at life if you're carrying a small weapon like a pocket or butterfly knife. You can use it when grabbed by Michael to briefly stun him. They also only take up on small inventory slot.
Meanwhile, larger weapons like guns and axes take up their own slot, and can be used to fight back before Michael even grabs you. You can even down him with enough hits - but he won't stay down for long. Down him enough times with enough manpower to support you, and you can detain him for good. Well, until the next time he breaks out.
Tips for playing Halloween the Game as Michael
As Michael, your main goal of course is to kill everyone, which includes three 'special targets', five NPC residents, and the four player civilians. There are the policemen that are called to the scene, as well as Sam Loomis, if he's called in, but you don't have to kill them. Interestingly, though, and fairly faithful to Halloween lore, once you've killed the 12 main victims, Michael can escape. So, if you're picking up the mantle of the infamous fictional killer, here are my top tips.
1. Play single-player
One of the greatest advantages you have as a Michael player is the single-player mode where you can home your skills against NPCs while completing various chapters based on the franchise's iconic movies.
Here, you'll learn how to kill, how to use your skills, how Michael moves, and most other factors about the character that you can take into the multiplayer mode.
2. Use your skills well
Naturally, Michael's powerful skills each have a cooldown, so you should get used to using them at the right time. For example, you might want to save his something ability for when you find a resident or are near police, as knocking out nearby lights will prevent you from being seen. Similarly, the something ability, which allows you to briefly reveal the location of civilians, wears off fast, so pair this with the something skill to get sneak up on players and NPCs quickly and efficiently. Remember, they'll be warned when they've been detected, so they'll move out of the area hastily.
3. Don't waste time on one civilian
Speaking of civilians moving hastily, don't ever waste your time chasing one who's running away from you well. You can dedicate a bit of time to chasing them, but if it's clear they're giving you the run around, it's worth moving on. All the time you're chasing them, someone else is likely already opening another exit, so trigger that something skill and move out of the area, keeping the pressure up on the entire map instead of one localized zone.
4. Concentrate on kill skill checks and don't look for special kills
When you have a victim in your grasp, you can find special environmental kills around you that trigger a unique kill animation. However, to do so, you'll have to be able to carry the writhing character to the marked destination.
Trust me, I know it's tempting to try and find as many cool kills as you can, and you're more free to do so when killing an NPC, but if you've a player character at your mercy, concentrate on killing them as soon as possible with regular skill checks or a held weapon. Carried civilians are given skill checks when you have a hold of them, and they can wiggle free quickly if you give them the chance - so don't.
With all of this in mind, you should have a slightly easier time getting to grips with Halloween the Game, allowing you to just enjoy the carnage and the recognizable locations a bit more.
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