When I say the word “Splatterhouse”, I should hope it transports many longtime players like myself back to bygone days when horror films were many, but true horror gaming was still pretty sparse. Popular horror IP made some crossovers (mostly bad), but we didn’t quite have the techniques and technology horror game designers have today, and so at one point we got a cartoonish beat-‘em-up rife with references and gore that would come to be known as Splatterhouse. Fast forward to 2024 where Boss Team Games and WayForward got their hands on not only the Ash vs Evil Dead license, but also that of John Carpenter’s Halloween. The resulting games in this expandable arcade are an awesome nod to that lighthearted and pixelated side-scrolling horror action that once captured our hearts in arcades and home consoles for years.
A day in the life of Ash & Myers
While we’re looking Ash vs Evil Dead and Halloween in RetroRealms Arcade, it’s worth noting that RetroRealms Arcade simply acts as a hub for these games. You can get the hub by itself, but the Ash vs Evil Dead or Halloween games are sold separately at $24.99 a piece, or as a bundle at $49.99. More on the opportunities and features of the hub later. If you have either Halloween or Ash vs Evil Dead, you can approach their respective cabinets and play them. They are retro-style hack-and-slash beat-‘em-ups set in each’s respective universes with you playing Ash in the Evil Dead game and Michael Myers in Halloween.
The games are two full-length retro-style adventures, although they share quite a few common threads. In each game, you will traverse levels as Ash, Myers, or other characters, using a chainsaw or butcher knife to cut your way through hordes of foes on your way to stop an evil overlord and reclaim something precious. For Ash, it’s the Necronomicon. For Myers it’s his deceased sister’s tombstone. The levels are a wild array of trailer parks, factories, insane asylums and more. However, a neat gimmick here is that you can use an eye artifact to transport your character into a nightmare version of the world. Enemies are fiercer and more relentless there, but the nightmare realm sometimes offer unique ways forward through levels. It also often hides secrets and collectibles.
Monster killer or killer monster?
One of the coolest parts of these RetroRealms is that they share just enough common ground in mechanics and features to allow a special avenue of play: You can play as Ash in the Halloween game or Myers in the Ash vs Evil Dead game, each with their own unique stories. I loved watching Ash jaw with the evil overlord in the before-level dialogue in his game, but then he seemed to pick up right where he left off when I selected Ash for play in Halloween. It’s really great that WayForward thought far enough to not only make these character’s playable in each other’s games, but also give them unique story scenarios that make it even more fun to do so.
The RetroRealms Arcade is also an awesome gallery of unlocks and fun beyond the two actual arcades. As you progress through them and get further in levels, you’ll unlock dioramas, props, and even behind-the-scenes video showing off the making of various things such as the iconic Halloween musical theme and the stories behind these games’ creation. It’s a great incentive to go back to the games and try to get every collectible you can find to unlock all of the hub’s secrets related to each game.
The spooky start of something spectacular?
The way that the RetroRealms Arcade is set up makes me believe that down the line, we could see even more games made for it set in different IPs and ideas. We already have a great start here with Halloween and Ash vs Evil Dead giving us a schlocky, over-the-top, and retro action vibe, but I’d also be interested to see other pairs or groups of games added to RetroRealms Arcade with different gameplay styles. Maybe Alien/Predator run-and-gunners or Texas Chainsaw Massacre/Hannibal cooking games? Wistful thinking. For now, just in time for the spookiest time of year, John Carpenter’s Halloween and Ash vs Evil Dead provide a promising start for the arcade they inhabit, as well as just being ridiculously silly and good times.
These impressions are based on an early PC copy provided by the publisher. RetroRealms Arcade and the Ash vs Evil Dead and Halloween add-ons come out on October 18, 2024, on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, and PC.
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replyTJ Denzer posted a new article, RetroRealm Arcade's Evil Dead & Halloween feel like Splatterhouse love letters
