However, you might want to take a little break and grab the latest patch as it brings a lot of balancing changes and gameplay fixes that can make your time either hunting your prey or evading your pursuers a lot easier. Civilian Escapes can be detected from farther away, for starters, which will be handy when Myers pursues you with his relentless determination to secure a kill.

Other changes improve NPC pathing to ensure you don’t see policemen getting stuck on environmental objects and continuing to walk in place, which made us question whether they were qualified to be hunting someone as deadly as Myers in the first place when we reviewed the game. A lot of other issues that could be quite annoying to you are being addressed, and it’s a long list.

We’re especially happy about those cross-play fixes that should keep you going from game to game with your friends more seamlessly than before. Check out some of the notes below. Also, as a thank you to fans, IllFonic is providing 5000 free Perk Points for those who played before 9 AM PST on September 8th as part of early access.

Patch 1.0.1

Crossplay

With 1.0.1, our team is excited to address the cross-play matchmaking issue players were experiencing during Early Access. Cross-play party members now follow their leader into a matchmade lobby instead of being kicked to the main menu or dropped from the party.

NPC Behavior

We are continuing to make improvements to overall NPC behavior and pathing. Below you will find the AI tuning introduced with 1.0.1.

• Improved NPC pathing to prevent instances where Police NPCs would get stuck in certain locations
• Improved NPC pathing to prevent instances where Residents would not be able to path into Escapes.

Challenges/Achievements

Patch 1.0.1 provides additional fixes to challenges and achievements that weren’t tracking properly. We understand how important it is for players to obtain the rewards they’ve earned and we will continue identifying outliers and implementing fixes with future updates.

Stamina Changes

We’ve been closely monitoring the balance between Michael and Civilians when it comes to Athleticism, Stamina, and the chase. We’ve implemented a handful of key adjustments to ensure Michael can consistently apply pressure to Civilians in the open while also addressing some notable disparity between lower and higher levels of Athleticism for Civilians.

• Increased Civilian Base Stamina Regen Delay Time
• Increased the Stamina Consumption caused by Evil Presence on affected targets
• Stalked targets are now affected by reduced Stamina Regen Rate and increased Stamina Regen Delay Time (amount dependent on the Stalk level)
Athleticism Levels 1-4:
• Exhausted Duration has been decreased, allowing Civilians with lower Athleticism to recover from the Exhausted state faster
• The delay before stamina begins regenerating has been decreased, ensuring quicker recovery between actions for Civilians with lower Athleticism
• Stamina Regen Rate has been increased so Civilians with lower Athleticism recover stamina faster
Athleticism Levels 6-10:
• Slightly reduced Max Stamina to maintain chase tension with Civilians with higher Athleticism
• Reduced Stamina Regen Rate of Civilians with higher Athleticism to balance player mobility

For a title that has a single-player campaign that’s faithfully modelled after one of the most iconic slasher films in entertainment history, offline bot matches, online matches against other players, and a gameplay loop that’s quite compelling when it clicks, my biggest surprise was how much its own innovations hold it back from being a truly entertaining experience.

"There are clever mechanics in place aimed at balancing out the power fantasy that stepping into the shoes of popular culture’s Stalker Supreme can bring."

Michael himself is the best starting point in this context, with the game recommending that you play its story mode to familiarize yourself with how things work. I was grateful for the suggestion, as this isn’t a game you want to head into blindly. Halloween’s take on Myers is quite interesting and an intriguing twist on his persona, with the game giving him abilities that make him larger than life (or death, in his case).

As such, you’re never in doubt about the terrifying threat he poses, and the evil that permeates his soul is presented in interesting ways. You’ve got his Shape Jump and the abilities associated with it, all of which serve to help him navigate the world with a speed his victims often find superhuman. Is it a logical explanation of what he can do? Of course not. Is it fun, though? That’s a resounding yes!

It lets Michael enter a sort of shadow world where the colors are distorted and light and sound operate differently. He moves completely unseen while in this state, his victims unaware of his presence even if he’s standing under a street lamp right in front of them. That’s useful in building up your Stalk, a meter that nets you better rankings once you fill it out while also coming with gameplay advantages that make hunting victims easier.

Shape Dash and Killer Sense are other abilities that join Shape Jump to ensure that Michael’s getting to where his kills are faster, and being able to get past any obstacles in the way with relative ease.

There are clever mechanics in place aimed at balancing out the power fantasy that stepping into the shoes of popular culture’s Stalker Supreme can bring. Light restricts his supernatural abilities, and it not only interferes with his ability to toggle his Shape Jump, but also with his Bloodlust meter, which you accumulate with each passing kill to tack on buffs to make subsequent ones easier.

"The line of sight mechanic that’s in place can be wildly inconsistent, and gauging when an NPC is going to spot you can be tricky. Also, Michael’s human form generates noise that his victims pick up on, but it’s often so late that the mechanic might as well not exist."

Disabling light sources is a great way to ensure you get to execute your victims without too much hassle. You could cut the phone lines around the buildings they’re in to ensure they don’t call for help but with the game encouraging indiscriminate killing as much as it does, you’re better off waiting for the cops to arrive as it gives you more victims to hunt.

Yes, there are Special Targets every time you step into the hunt, but getting to them and taking them out is so darn easy you’re going to be looking for new folks to terrorize more often than not. All of this is in service of letting Michael approach potential victims unseen which works for the most part, but the fact that you need to exit the Shape Jump state for the final kill throws up some issues. First off, the line of sight mechanic that’s in place can be wildly inconsistent, and gauging when an NPC is going to spot you can be tricky. Also, Michael’s human form generates noise that his victims pick up on, but it’s often so late that the mechanic might as well not exist.

Clearing each chapter in the story unlocks new abilities, like one that places a yellow beam of light in the world when you’re in your Shape Jump state. It points you in the direction of your next victim, letting you save a lot of time between your kills. Other abilities attune Myers’ senses towards his victims, letting him stalk them from the shadows before he steps out into the light to stage executions that are pretty tough to watch the first time you pull them off.

However, it’s here that things begin to fall apart a little. You see, Michael isn’t as nimble as you’d expect once he’s out of Shape Jump. He moves slowly, relying on an awkward grab to get hold of his victim before he can kill them on the spot with a quick-time event that requires different combinations of face buttons for various unlockable executions. You could also drag them around and use the environment to end their lives as painfully and brutally as possible. You know, an average day in the life of a slasher.

Get spotted, and you have a basic attack that lets you damage your victims, and a dodge to let you try and avoid taking any damage. It’s so clunky and annoying that you’re going to want to take a stealthy approach almost all the time, revealing yourself only when it’s the perfect time for the kill. But to make Michael’s human side as useless as it is while lending a supernatural air to the powers that actually let him be effective is kind of a hard choice.

"The story is more or less faithful to the film although its attempt to translate it to an interactive simulation is only serviceable."

You might argue that the game’s representation of him is great if you think about it from the perspective of his victims. He’s only human, but his relentless way of hunting down anyone he decides deserves his knife can make him seem more than that. But break things down, and I can’t help but feel it should have been the man who had the power, and not the monster. To me, what made Michael a monster is how he used his own innate abilities.

The story is more or less faithful to the film although its attempt to translate it to an interactive simulation is only serviceable, and I can’t see it appealing to anyone but die-hard fans of the franchise. Nevertheless, it exists and each of its six chapters does come with some replayability as you try to complete special objectives to unlock customization options and new characters to use in the game’s multiplayer modes. They’re sandboxes where you’re left to explore the level as much as you like before unleashing Myers’ signature style of brutality on the chapter’s target. There are bonus points for creative kills as well as for clearing challenges.

The entire thing could take you a couple of hours to clear if you pursue your targets with Myers’ single-minded determination but you’d be robbing yourself of a pretty significant part of the single-player experience on offer if you do. The victims from the films might be familiar to you, but it’s all the other residents of Myers’ ill-fated hometown who bring a bit of freshness to the experience, as you get to watch people going about their regular lives unaware of the threat that has just invaded their so-called safe spaces.

The NPC AI is a bit of a letdown, and you’re going to find yourself predicting their actions quite accurately once you spend a little time with the game. That’s a problem that stands out, as it further exposes how repetitive things can get once you get over the initial thrill of hunting people from the shadows as a character who is kind of a household name at this point. The maps are large enough to support the fantasy without being so big that you’re aimlessly wandering through them.

Higher difficulty modes are also available, all of which bring rewards to use with the game’s multiplayer modes. I was pretty excited to try Halloween’s take on online multiplayer with Michael and a bunch of civilians dealing with a literal life and death situation.

"Too much hunting as Michael is going to have you looking for something else to do too quickly for this one to be a great take on the character"

You get to select a preference for spawning in as either Michael, where you’re hunting your fellow players, or as one of several characters from the story, each with unique perks that can help them survive Michael’s onslaught. Tanya, for instance, has buffs that activate a noise lure that successfully gets Michael’s attention, while another character gets a massive boost to all of his stats if he happens to be the last one left alive on a map.

I’d have loved to test out how each of those perks worked, but the game insisted on spawning me in as Michael every time despite switching the appropriate settings around to indicate my preference to play as a civilian I’d selected. I eventually gave up after more than an hour of trying. Its gameplay loop as Michael can get repetitive very quickly thanks to the rather singular objective of killing everything you can.

The visuals are all right, as is the sound design. They’re great at recreating the unique vibe that the films have made iconic, but they don’t really stand out in a year of some very good lookers. The performance is stable for the most part, with solid image quality on my base PS5 without any stuttering or crashes. However, that was countered by bugs such as characters that randomly teleport across large distances and others such as Myers getting caught in the environment frequently enough that these issues cannot be dismissed as minor. It’s stuff that can be fixed, but its presence is worth noting.

I can’t really recommend Halloween: The Game to anyone who’s not as obsessed with the franchise as Myers is to his victims. I wish things were different, but Halloween: The Game isn’t getting the good candy from me.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 5.

No, it doesn’t seem like you’ll be traipsing through his childhood (for all we know). Instead, you’ll control Michael as he was in the original movie – escaping from a sanitarium by sneaking through a storm, hijacking a vehicle, and driving into Haddonfield. Things take a ghastly turn as he starts murdering innocents, eventually happening upon his signature mask in a shop.

It also happens to have an assortment of knives. Naturally, he chooses the biggest one, just like in the movies. There’s a mention of Michael moving through the shadows, pretty much foreshadowing his major ability in multiplayer. Throughout all this, Dr Samuel Loomis is on his trail, and hopefully won’t be too late to stop him.

Halloween: The Game launches on September 8th for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC. If you are a multiplayer aficionado, it’s worth checking out the overview trailer, which outlines the gameplay loop and how the player victims can counteract Myers in different ways.

The map has been described as the town’s “bustling hub”, and a prime hotspot for residents that want to partake in various day-to-day activities, like shopping and grabbing some drinks with friends. This means that there will also be plenty of commercial locations that players will likely get to explore, and where they can potentially even find some useful tools. Among these locations are a bar, a park, a costume store, a car repair shop, and a music store. The trailer wraps up this tour with a musical crescendo that turns into the iconic theme song for the 1978 classic horror film.

Halloween was first unveiled in August 2025 with a trailer. As its name might imply, it is based on the John Carpenter film of the same name, and features Michael Myers as the main threat that players will have to deal with.

Much like other horror multiplayer games like Dead by Daylight, in Halloween, one player takes on the role of Michael Myers, stalking the streets of Haddonfield and executing its citizens one by one. Four other players take on the role of these citizens and must try their best to survive, alert the rest of the town to Myers’ presence, and, if possible, even try to slow the monster down. To help them deal with this, the game provides the citizen players with plenty of weapons – real and makeshift – to slow Myers down.

The players trying to survive Myers’ onslaught also have the capability of commanding nearby NPCs, and can equip them with weapons to give them a better shot at surviving an encounter with the monster.

When it was first unveiled, IllFonic described Halloween as being an “immersive horror sandbox”, which indicates that players will be able to interact with many environmental elements to help them in their fight for survival. Along with its multiplayer component, the studio has also confirmed that there is a single-player story mode that revolves around an event known as “The Night He Came Home” from the perspective of Michael Myers.

Back in March, IllFonic had released a new trailer for Halloween, providing more details about how its multiplayer would work. The title was described by the studio as its “most robust, dynamic and terrifying multiplayer offering yet.” Among the features showcased in this trailer included Myers’ Killer Sense ability, which shifts the camera to a first-person perspective, giving him the ability to track players and resources.

Myers will also have some supernatural abilities, like Shape Jump, which allows him to move through environments more easily, and even phase through solid objects. Similarly, he can also get a speed boost thanks to Shape Dash.

Halloween is coming to PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.

Described as its “most robust, dynamic and terrifying multiplayer offering yet,” Halloween is an asymmetrical title where one player controls Myers. Four others embody his soon-to-be victims, but his killing spree isn’t chaotic. By slaughtering specific residents before the time is up, Michael can accrue better rewards.

Killer Sense is one of his core abilities. It shifts to first-person, where longer observation will result in more resources for better tracking and wilder kills. He can also use Shape Jump to quickly move through environments, phasing through solid objects without being detected, reappearing when least expected. If you need even more speed, Shape Dash is on hand.

The downside is that you need to be in the darkness or outside of a target’s line of sight. Naturally, that leads to the killer’s other play – destroying any light sources or cutting power to the town. Another twist is that players can actually use weapons and pursue other residents of Haddonfield to help them escape from Michael’s clutches. And if you die, it’s possible to return as a deputy or the iconic Dr Loomis.

IllFonic will reveal even more details for Halloween in the coming months, including character progression, traits and customization. Proximity chat is also confirmed, which should make for even more terrifying experiences (depending on which side of the mask you’re on).

In Halloween, one player takes on the role of Michael Myers and stalks the streets of Haddonfield, executing citizens one by one. Four other players take on the role of these citizens and must strive to alert the rest of the town about the impending danger of Myers’ bloodlust. In the process, the citizen players must find weapons, both real and makeshift, as they figure out ways to slow Myers down while also alerting the rest of the town.

While Michael Myers is a nigh-unstoppable force, players taking on the role of citizens also have the ability to command NPCs and equip them with weapons to help outsmart the threat. The title has been described by the studio as an “immersive horror sandbox”, and has confirmed that there will also be a standalone single-player story mode where players explore the events surrounding “The Night He Came Home” from the perspective of Michael Myers.

Halloween is being developed using Unreal Engine 5 and is coming to PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S in 2026.

Predator: Hunting Grounds will launch for PS5 and Xbox Series X/S on October 1, a week from now. Three versions of the game will be available for purchase, including a standard edition, a Jungle Edition that will also feature four additional Predators with unique equipment, and a Yautja Edition, which will also include all DLC for the title.

A physical edition of the game will also release for PS5 on November 12, with pre-orders for the same set to kick off tomorrow, on September 24. Sadly, it doesn’t seem like Xbox players will the option to purchase the game physically.

In a press release, IllFonic CEO Charles Brungardt said, “This game has a strong, enthusiastic player base and a vocal community that wants to see the game updated and supported. Now that IllFonic is publishing games, we knew we had to get Predator: Hunting Grounds back. We knew we needed to get back to the Chopper!”

Before its launch for current-gen consoles, Patch 2.49 will go live in April for PS4 and PC. It will include a rework and balance changes for fireteam weapons and the Predator’s weapons, alongside improvements for the UX and playability. Player movement is also getting some changes.

After its release for PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, with Standard and Digital Deluxe Editions offered, IllFonic will add new Predators this Winter and in Spring 2025. Hopefully, we’ll learn more about improvements to the current-gen versions sooner than later. Stay tuned for updates, and check out our review for Predator: Hunting Grounds here.

Developed by Illfonic of Friday The 13th: The Game fame, Ghostbusters: Spirit Unleashed is also a similarly asymmetric multiplayer game that sees a team of Ghostbusters storming various locations in order to curb any and all paranormal activity from that place. Ghostbusters: Spirit Unleashed is a tie-in release for Ghostbusters: Afterlife – but both properties have different and unconnected storylines.

"Ghostbusters: Spirit Unleashed has finally come to the rescue of these starved fans, though the game isn’t without its fair share of shortcomings and design frustrations that can come in the way of its chaotic multiplayer mayhem."

The game sees you assuming the role of a rookie Ghostbuster, who has just joined this anti-paranormal organization that has set up shop in a rusty, old Firehouse. You get to choose the looks, voice, and body type for your character by selecting from various options in the character creator.

Upon doing so, you will be greeted by the founder Ray – who will show you the ropes but not before boring you with his endless dialogues. You also get to meet Catt who is the operations manager, Winston who is responsible for finances, and Eddie who is the brains behind most of your equipment. These characters are all pretty distinct in their personality; complete with their many quirks.

Once you are through with your creations, a short tutorial takes you through the basics of ghost-catching. Firstly, you get a P.K.E. meter which changes reading as you get closer to a ghostly presence – and performing a blast move with the device will cause the ghost to appear from any possessed object. You also get a Proton Blaster, which can be shot to bind a ghost to a tether, and you need to pull that tether to a previously laid-out Ghost Trap – which will ultimately trap the ghost. There are some nuances to these activities as well, such as the Proton Blaster overheating with repeated use or trap battery depleting rapidly once opened – but for the most part, it’s easy to understand and execute.

"Your multiplayer adventures aren’t meaningfully related to the story, and both remain mostly separate affairs."

Ghostbusters: Spirit Unleashed also features a storyline that blends into the multiplayer aspect of the experience. While that certainly sounds like an enchanting premise, it’s anything but. As you complete a set number of jobs, you will be greeted with a narrative-related cutscene that moves the plot forward. Your multiplayer adventures aren’t meaningfully related to the story, and both remain mostly separate affairs.

The Firehouse is the hub of operations, where you can talk to characters, upgrade your equipment and take up jobs. Your standard ghostbusting operation will pit a group of 4 Ghostbusters against a Ghost as it tries to completely haunt the place. A Haunt meter dictates the progress of the match, and as a Ghostbuster – you need to catch the ghost before the meter reaches 100% progress. The ghost can place three rifts anywhere on the map, which needs to be tracked down and destroyed first since trapping a ghost with any active rifts will cause it to respawn. The ghost will also cause other nuisances to further its haunting rate, such as scaring civilians who need to be calmed down or throwing slime spits that can knock your character down. If the map reaches a 100% haunting rate, a short endgame phase starts where all rifts are automatically destroyed – and the ghost needs to survive for that final minute in order to win the game. But if the ghostbusters manage to catch the ghost within that short time frame, they can get themselves a last-ditch victory.

Teamwork is the name of the game here, and you need to work as a team if you wish to catch the ghost. The ghost is a nimble creature, and can quickly cover distances and break tethers – so it becomes essential to lure it into a trap where multiple ghostbusters and traps can easily nip the nuisance in the bud. Splitting responsibilities like finding rifts and calming down civilians also have to be done in a timely fashion to avoid frustrations and quick defeats. Thankfully, Ghostbusters: Spirit Unleashed features cross-platform support which means you can play with your friends regardless of any platform restrictions.

"The ghost is a nimble creature, and can quickly cover distances and break tethers – so it becomes essential to lure it into a trap where multiple ghostbusters and traps can easily nip the nuisance in the bud. "

But if you want to go solo, you could try playing as a ghost that flips the tables on its head. As the ghost, you must choose the perfect spots for hiding your rifts. And once the match starts, you need to haunt and scare off civilians to increase the haunt percentage of the map. You also have special attacks to damage your opponents, each of which consumes some energy from a common pool. Once that depletes, you need to take possession of any object to restore that energy. You can also sabotage a ghostbuster’s proton pack, or pass through certain walls – and it’s equally fun and chaotic.

While the game is pretty balanced for the most part, there are some frustrations that can get in the way of fun. The biggest is undoubtedly the absence of a mini-map, which can make navigating through spaces an exercise in pain at times. Without any information about the level geometry, it can become frustrating to track down the ghost and search every nook and cranny for rifts – especially the first few times in a level. Also, playing with randoms can significantly put the odds in favor of the ghost – though that’s something that could vary with every individual. Furthermore, I also experienced many glitches during my time with the game. My character would randomly fall to the ground or glitch out while climbing up or down stairs – which made a few level runs pretty frustrating.

Upon completing your ghostbusting jobs, you are awarded XP and other rewards which help in progressing your character. You can also take on side hustles which are basically challenges that reward you with additional XP and rewards upon completion – making them a great way to level up your character. On the gear side of things, your equipment level increases depending on your usage of that gadget, and you can unlock better parts for that equipment once you level up. Besides this and cosmetic upgrades, there isn’t much variety within the tools that you can use for your business – ultimately resulting in a rather thin progression loop.

"It would have been great if there was some more variety in terms of game modes or at least some mini-games spread throughout the Firehouse, and it’s easy for a sense of monotony to kick in after some time given the current status of the game. "

While Ghostbusters: Spirit Unleashed features more than a handful of varied map locations ranging from museums to restaurants and warehouses, they are home to the sole game mode that is ghostbusters versus ghosts. You can collect news scrapings scattered across each level to learn more about the location and its significance, but apart from that – there’s little that you can do with the game. It would have been great if there was some more variety in terms of game modes or at least some mini-games spread throughout the Firehouse, and it’s easy for a sense of monotony to kick in after some time given the current status of the game.

In conclusion, Ghostbusters: Spirit Unleashed can make for some great chaotic fun with friends. The core gameplay loop is simple yet enjoyable, and Illfonic has made a game that’s pretty balanced on both ends. Mixing the single-player narrative with the PvP multiplayer is an interesting prospect, but it ends up being a gimmick more than anything else. Furthermore, some annoying design oversights such as the lack of mini-maps and additional game modes can make the game frustrating at times. All in all, it’s a decent experience that might be worth looking into for Ghostbusters fans, but it could have been a lot better had it spent more time in the oven.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 5.

Premise

Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed doesn’t seem to tie into any of the movie storylines (whether old or new), instead relying on a more freeform premise. You’re a Ghostbuster, part of a crew of four. There are Spirits and they have been unleashed. Go catch them. It’s easier said than done though because the Spirit or Ghost is controlled by another player with all kinds of tricks up their sleeve.

Ghostbusters

If it weren’t obvious by now, this is a 4v1 asymmetrical multiplayer title. Four Ghostbusters must hunt down a Ghost through any means necessary. This is done from the first-person perspective, as you locate the Ghost, bust them, and destroy any of their rifts in the process. You also need to calm down any bystanders, reducing their fear. Once a map has been fully haunted, the Ghostbusters have a limited window to capture the Ghost before it’s game over. While finding and capturing the Ghost is priority one, you also feel like a Ghostbuster that’s investigating the paranormal phenomenon while preventing any further catastrophe.

Gear and Gadgets

You’ll have all of the familiar Ghostbusting equipment to accomplish this goal. Use the PKE Meter to track the Ghost, then whip out the Particle Thrower to weaken them. Deploy a Ghost Trap for capturing…and then do that a few more times to succeed. Be careful, though – the Ghost can struggle against a Trap’s pull and eventually get loose. Equipment can be leveled up as you use it and slotted with multiple upgrades.

Ghosts

As a Ghost, your objectives involve haunting a building, inducing fear and panic into various NPCs and evading capture by the Ghostbusters. Played from a third-person perspective, the Ghost can create loud noises, possess objects (which is also good for hiding) and unleash slime. As you level up, new upgrades become available, though they’ve yet to be fully showcased.

Maps

There’s quite the array of locations for players to hunt Ghosts through, including a Prison, Hotel, Aquarium, and so on. Each has different sections, which the Ghost must haunt, and unique objects that can be possessed. The maps appear fairly complex, so knowing the best hiding places and the largest concentration of civilians will be key, both for the Ghostbusters and Ghost.

The Firehouse

When starting the game, the Firehouse serves as the main hub for the busters. You can customize your character, indulge in some target practice, choose missions, and so on. And yes, the Basement Containment Unit is present, along with the ability to slide down the firepoles. Ray’s Occult Books is also confirmed, though it plays a different role (more on that shortly).

Character Customization

A myriad of options are available for customizing your Ghostbuster’s appearance, including Physique, Face and Hairstyles. Physique allows for customizing one’s body type, voice, height, and so on. Face provides multiple different heads, skin colors, eyes, ears, and whatnot to customize, along with more nuanced options like brow height, ear width, etc. There’s a pretty decent range of hairstyles to choose from along with multiple colors, as well. You can also customize different Outfits with various tops and pants, and Accessories, including eyewear, gloves, elbow pads, knee pads, footwear and headwear.

Ghost Customization

Of course, your Ghost is also customizable by accessing Tobin’s Spirit Guide in Ray’s Occult Books. How extensive this customization will be, and whether it’s on the same level as the Ghostbusters, is unknown. With the number of nods and references to the series, expect some classic Ghost types to appear.

Co-op

If you’re not confident about your Ghostbusting skills, then you can team up with four players in co-op and take on an AI-controlled Ghost. Whether you can set the difficulty levels, or obtain the same amount of XP and rewards from the same is unknown. However, the option is there if you want a crash course in mechanics and gameplay.

Offline Play

Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed is a multiplayer-focused title, first and foremost, and should be purchased with that in mind. However, offline play is also supported, allowing one to play solo with AI teammates. You can even play as the Ghost against a team of Ghostbuster bots. It’s far from the ideal experience, but serves as another great way to familiarize yourself with the maps, abilities and mechanics.

Iconic Characters

What would a Ghostbusters title be without the actors from the original films showing up in their iconic roles? Along with Ernie Hudson returning to voice Winston Zeddlemore, Dan Aykroyd voices Raymond “Ray” Stantz. Of course, you won’t be able to play as them but knowing the original crew is around can be somewhat comforting. There are also some “new faces” promised and hopefully they’ll offer the same level of charm.

4K Ultra HD, 60 FPS+ and Ray Tracing

In terms of resolution and frame rate, Xbox Series X (and by extension, PS5) players have quite a bit to look forward to with 4K Ultra HD, HDR10, and 60 FPS+ support. Ray tracing is also confirmed, along with Spatial Sound support. The Xbox version supports Smart Delivery, which means you can buy the game on Xbox One and access the fully optimized version on Xbox Series X/S. On the PlayStation Store, purchasing the game provides access to the PS4 and PS5 versions.

Crossplay

Along with cross-gen multiplayer, allowing players on previous-gen consoles to matchmake with current gen, there’s full crossplay support for all platforms. Xbox players can thus team with those on PlayStation and PC. Whether there’s an option to turn off crossplay is unconfirmed, but given that Spirits Unleashed isn’t too heavy on the competitive aspect, it’s unlikely.

PC Requirements

The minimum PC requirements for Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed are pretty forgiving. According to the Epic Games Store (to which the PC version is exclusive, for now), all you need is an Intel GPU (or an equivalent AMD CPU) with at least four threads running at 2.3 GHz or higher, 8 GB of RAM, and a GTX 760 or Radeon HD 7970. The recommended requirements are also pretty manageable and include an Intel Core i7-5820K or similar AMD CPU, 16 GB RAM and a GeForce GTX 970. Those interested in ray tracing will at least need an RTX 2070. Fortunately, only 15 GB of installation space is required.

Pre-order Bonuses

The Standard version costs $40 – no Deluxe Edition here. However, there are incentives for pre-ordering, like advance access to the iconic ghost Slimer. Players also receive a custom Particle Thrower and Proton Pack, along with special clothing colorways (which have yet to be revealed).