Ash vs Evil Dead and John Carpenter's Halloween being turned into 16-bit-style platformers
By Shantae studio WayForward.
Cast your mind back to the murky distant past of 24 hours ago and you might remember publisher Boss Team Games teasing two projects based on John Carpenter's Halloween. Well, it turns out one of those is a 16-bit-style platformer from Shantae developer WayForward, and the studio's creating an Ash vs Evil Dead platformer too.
As reported by IGN, Boss Team (which previously published Saber Interactive's now-defunct Evil Dead: The Game) is releasing both titles as part of its new RetroRealms series. The publisher describes its first two instalments as "gore-filled" and "fast-paced 90's arcade style" platfomers, and you can get a taste of their retro-inspired action in the trailer below.
RetroRealms: Halloween and RetroRealms: Ash vs Evil Dead are both set to launch for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and Switch on 18th November, and they'll cost $24.99 USD (around £20) each. A $49.99 physical Double Feature bundle is also on the way, with Boss Team noting players owning both games will unlock new features, including the ability for protagonists Michael Myers and Ash Williams to cross over to each others' worlds.
Today's news (which, if nothing else, has reminded me I still haven't watched all of Ash vs Evil Dead) follows Boss Team Games' recent announcement it had two Halloween projects in the works, both enabling players to "relive moments from the film and play as classic characters". One of these is evidentally WayForward's platformer, but the other remains mysterious. It does, however, seem likely this second project will be the one John Carpenter is said to be "intimately involved" with, unless Carpenter had some particularly revolutionary ideas about running left and right and occassionally hitting a jump button.
There's no word of a release date for Halloween game number two, but hopefully the oft-reliable WayForward will deliver the goods when RetroRealms: Halloween and RetroRealms: Ash vs Evil Dead show up on 18th October.