Boss Team Games and Wayforward are working together on not one, but two new retro-inspired action-platforms. One is based on the original Halloween movie and the other is based on the series Ash Vs. Evil Dead. It’s the start of a larger horror game franchise called RetroRealms.
It feels like just yesterday that I was writing about a new Halloween video game project. That’s because it was yesterday. On Monday, Boss Team Games announced two video game projects based on John Carpenter’s seminal ‘70s horror film, Halloween. One of these is an Unreal Engine 5-powered game that we don’t know much about, beyond the fact that Carpenter will be involved in its production. The other one we knew even less about, until today, when Boss Team revealed a new retro-inspired platformer based on the classic slasher.
On August 13, Boss Team Games announced RetroRealms, which appears to be a horror-themed video game digital arcade that will slowly fill up with new retro-like games based on popular horror franchises. To kick off this new series, Boss Team revealed the previously mentioned Halloween game and a similar title based on Ash Vs. Evil Dead, a TV show that ran on Starz a few years ago. Both games arrive on October 13 for PlayStation, Xbox, Switch, and PC. Folks will be able to buy either separately.
The games are being developed by Wayforward, a studio renowned for their 2D pixel art adventures. And these new spooky platformers look just as good as the studio’s past work.
What is RetroRealms and how does this all work?
According to a press release announcing the games, players will be able to control Michael Myers and other characters from the original Halloween in this side-scrolling action-horror game. Similarly, in the Evil Dead game, players will control hero Ash Williams as well as other characters, too.
Boss Team says that as you explore the RetroRealms digital arcade—a creepy-looking 3D arcade that acts as a unified launcher for the games—you’ll be able to mix and match characters from one world into another if you own both titles. So Michael Myers can kill Deadites in Evil Dead. Boss Team claims you’ll be able to do this with all future characters and games in RetroRealms.
Personally, I’m really into this idea of building out a digital arcade with new, retro-inspired games based on popular slashers and classic horror films. And letting you take a character like Michael and plop him into other worlds sounds awesome. The key, though, will be if these games are good. If they are fun and packed full of classic arcade action, I’m down to buy 100 RetroRealms adventures. If they aren’t much fun though, well, this experiment will be dead on arrival.
“Everyone at Boss Team Games are huge fans of horror and getting to work with these legendary properties is a dream come true,” said Boss Team Games CEO Steve Harris in a press release. “It has been an amazing experience collaborating with WayForward, and our licensors to create not one, but two, fast-paced 90’s arcade-style games while remaining true to the original Halloween film and Ash vs Evil Dead series.”
The Halloween and Ash Vs Evil Dead games launch on October 13 for PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, and PC.
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