RetroRealms: Halloween and RetroRealms: Ash vs Evil Dead review — Michael Myers and Ash fight through two scarily good adventures

Halloween is nearly upon us and what better way to celebrate the macabre than to take the reins of two of horror’s most iconic characters in the bloody and challenging 16-bit inspired platformers RetroRealms: Halloween and RetroRealms: Ash vs. Evil Dead? Two games which, while similar in structure, manage to carve out their own identity and prove to be surprisingly great representations of their respective franchises.

From the moment you boot up the RetroRealms arcade, a free download which cleverly serves as a central hub from which you can access both the Halloween and Ash vs. Evil Dead DLCs via arcade machines. You can feel RetroRealms reverence for the source material and their dedication to providing a scarily good gaming experience. The arcade is deceptively basic at first glance. Sufficiently spooky though relatively bare, it appears to be just a decrepit arcade with only two arcade machines and a haphazardly built barrier made of wood planks blocking off a back room. As you progress through both Ash and Michael Myers’s adventures though, you’ll begin to realize there is more to the arcade. The barrier will fall and new areas will become accessible, inviting you to view painstakingly crafted dioramas for each level completed and the ability to unlock memorabilia from both franchises via in-game tickets found during your playthroughs. Another room provides an area to watch a few informative documentaries, providing insight into the game’s creation. The hub is wonderfully crafted, simple yet functional, and a well thought out idea which in turn helps provide new layers of replayability to both adventures.

How much content available in the arcade is determined by the DLC you own. Both Halloween and Ash vs. Evil Dead can be purchased separately, though I highly recommend purchasing both thanks to the surprisingly well-implemented crossover feature. This allows you to play through the Halloween game as Ash and through Ash’s adventure as Michael Myers. These new playthroughs come complete with new dialogue and story beats, essentially providing four unique campaigns to complete.

Despite being a huge fan of the Evil Dead series, I decided to tackle Halloween first, excited to continue the blood-soaked experience I had begun a few weeks earlier during my preview. Being able to step into the silent but deadly feet of Michael Myers is certainly an intriguing game premise, especially since Michael is the protagonist here rather than Laurie Strode. It’s a tall undertaking to translate Halloween, a slow, methodical, and suspenseful series, into an action-packed platformer, but thankfully RetroRealms did not disappoint. 

It helps that RetroRealms isn’t tied to the original story, but rather utilizes the movie series to serve as inspiration for various levels and bosses, while telling its own story. The game begins with Michael Myers sitting stoically in a cell in Smith’s Grove Sanitarium (I mean, how else would Michael Myers sit?) as chaos erupts outside his door. Soon he learns the cause of the chaos, as he is visited by a mysterious being known simply as the Overload, who tasks him with sowing hatred and despair in his name in exchange for being released. Michael, ever the wordsmith, responds by staring blankly. Not one to let silence deter him, the Overlord decides that Michael’s silence serves as an adequate agreement and bestows upon Michael his iconic knife, along with the ability to enter into the Nightmare Realm at will and sends Michael on his merry way to wreak havoc.

Halloween is broken down into five chapters, with two levels each, with each chapter taking place in a new location and culminating in a unique boss fight. During your time in Halloween you’ll explore many distinct locations, crammed full of small details and intricate backgrounds, full of people running for their lives and dealing with all sorts of unspeakable horrors. Michael will have to escape the Sanitarium, slash his way through Phelps Garage, walk the streets of Haddonfield, explore a Nightmare realm, and more on his journey. As you progress, each chapter throws more difficult enemies and trickier platforming challenges at you. What begins as a fun, but simple platformer, quickly ramps up in unique and clever ways. No matter how skilled you are, you’ll be hard pressed to not die a few times as you learn boss attack patterns and how to overcome the many nefarious traps littering your way.

Let’s first dive into Michael’s limited, but powerful, attacks and move set. Michael can slash enemies using his knife, which nearly always results in a one hit kill, and by attacking innocent bystanders he is able to obtain a pitchfork, sickle, or a couple of other items capable of being thrown a set number of times depending on your ammunition supply. He is even able to bounce off enemies for some height by utilizing a downward thrust. Eventually you’ll be able to unlock combo attacks, a powerful and high-reaching uppercut, the ability to body slam, and more. While the attack upgrades aren’t necessary to complete the game, they certainly come in handy. The uppercut certainly saved me some frustration when defeating the final boss, though he can be defeated using other strategies. Additional upgrades available include your health meter, ammo capacity, and Nightmare Realm duration. My only qualm with the combat is that Michael slashes relatively slowly, especially with the combo attack upgrade, which hurt more than it helped.

Level design is highly reminiscent of retro titles, mixing enemies which slowly become more powerful as you progress and light, though sometimes surprisingly complex platforming sections which are a thrill to navigate especially when mixed with the horrors and additional pathways that the Nightmare Realm spawns. Oh, and there are gallons upon gallons of blood in each level. Seriously, killing enemies often results in blood splatters on the screen as you watch your enemies gloriously explode into chunky bits. The absolute carnage you inflict is quite beautiful to behold.

Aside from being a one man army, Michael is quite agile, which certainly helps with navigating the increasingly difficult levels. Michael is capable of crouching and dashing to pass through small openings, performing wall jumps, and grabbing ledges to pull himself up. All of these are imperative to master as the levels become increasingly filled with challenging platforming sections and enemies which can and will quickly overwhelm you. Though, in true retro spirit, no amount of skill will help you get past some frustrating enemy placements without taking damage, especially when multiple enemies are perched on small ledges and hurling projectiles at you as you clumsily attempt to dodge level hazards. 

Most important of Michael’s skills is the ability to swap between the Nightmare Realm, an alternate version of the world you are in, and the real world at will via a simple button push. While in the Nightmare Realm you’ll be able to reach new pathways which can be utilized to obtain a few of the collectibles hidden throughout each level. The Nightmare Realm comes with a caveat though, as it tends to be a lot more dangerous than the base world, with much stronger enemies, many of which can only be stopped for a moment, not killed. Making matters more intense is the time you can spend in the Nightmare Realm is limited by a meter you have, which quickly drains. If the Nightmare Realm meter expires while you are in an area unreachable during the original world, well, have fun being ripped apart. Thankfully this is only a minor inconvenience, as you’ll simply lose some health and are returned to the last area where you could safely stand. The risk of entering the Nightmare Realm is often worth the reward though, as the tickets and other items you collect will help you unlock various memorabilia from the series in the arcade.

Throughout each level you will collect candy corn, which serves as the game’s currency, health vials, and ammo. The candy corn is used at the end of each level to unlock the various ability and character upgrades I mentioned earlier. Levels can be replayed to earn more currency to unlock better upgrades if you find yourself struggling. Be warned though, a few upgrades are locked until you progress past specific chapters. Health is plentiful, thankfully, and ammo is found nearly everywhere, though you may have a difficult time finding the specific weapon you want to use.

Each chapter culminates in a challenging but fair boss fight, with each fight making creative use of individuals and scenarios from throughout the Halloween series. I found myself continuously surprised by the uniqueness of each encounter and it wasn’t until the last boss that I began to feel frustrated. Though, ultimately all it took to prevail was me slowing down and taking a moment to memorize the various tell-tale signs of upcoming attacks.

Overall, RetroRealms: Halloween was a bloody good time, full of great level design, fun bosses, slowly escalating challenges, and great homages to the Halloween series which kept me entertained for the 2 hours or so it took to complete the game. The true proof of how great the experience was is that as soon as I completed the main story, I immediately dove back in, dead set on unlocking all upgrades and finding all collectibles. 

Next I booted up Ash Vs Evil Dead, ready to grab my boomstick and chainsaw and tackle some undead hordes. Again, RetroRealms did not disappoint. Ash Vs Evil Dead begins with Ash enjoying a nap in Mossy Haven Trailer Park, when he is rudely woken up by the Overlord, intent on obtaining the Necronomicon. Ash refuses, forcing the Overlord to steal the book and run off, but not before dropping an eyeball capable of allowing Ash to invoke the Nightmare Realm. Ash grabs his chainsaw and shotgun, and takes off in chase of Overlord, determined to retrieve the Necronomicon.

Like Halloween before it, Ash Vs Evil Dead features a wonderfully realized world, with levels bustling with the undead ripping apart and chasing innocent civilians in the backgrounds as Ash cuts and shoots his way through increasingly challenging obstacles and enemies. Ash is equipped with his chainsaw arm as his primary weapon, along with knives, axes, a nail gun, and a fire bomb of sorts as his throwables. Additionally, he is capable of charging his attack to unleash a powerful shotgun blast, and utilizing his chainsaw during a downward attack to bounce to high areas.

As expected, Ash Vs Evil Dead is sufficiently bloody, with Ash slicing and dicing his way through countless enemies as he chases after the Overlord. I found myself gleefully smiling as I caused chaos, all the while laughing at the fantastic background antics. When I stepped into the second world I immediately felt nostalgic, as it brought to life the infamous cabin in the woods along with new enemies and obstacles to overcome. Later levels visit a few more recognizable locations, all while throwing a few hilarious enemies at you that fans of the movie series and TV show will recognize, which I won’t spoil here.

Overall level design and gameplay is similar in nearly every way to Halloween before it, so I won’t break it down like I did Halloween, instead I’ll speak about where it differs most: Ash’s speed. Ash wields his chainsaw quickly, ripping through enemies with ease, and having a shotgun as a charged attack really helps when dealing with pesky enemies just out of chainsaw reach. In general the whole experience had a faster, more chaotic vibe than Halloween, which fits the series well and I found it refreshing. Also, just like in Halloween, as you progress through the level you will pick up tickets to unlock collectibles outside the game, along with mixed drinks for health, money to unlock new abilities after each level, and ammo. Upgrades are nearly identical to those found in Halloween, with a few being locked until specific chapters are completed. The difference here again is speed, as the combo unlocks are extremely helpful when playing as Ash, since he moves fast enough to make them worthwhile and often encounters enemies with more HP than Michael Myers did.

The boss fights in Ash vs. Evil Dead is where the game falters a bit, as they are easier than the bosses in Halloween, and not quite as creative. They are still fun, but after playing through Halloween I couldn’t help but find myself a bit disappointed. Especially in an early fight in which you just defeat hordes of enemies, rather than take on the boss directly. Still, the bosses are entertaining to take on and draw from characters from the TV show and series, which is sure to make fans happy. Overall, I can deal with slightly disappointing boss fights when the game itself is so well done.

A unique feature included in both games is the ability to swap characters between games provided you own both Ash vs. Evil Dead and Halloween. Utilizing cross play you can run through Michael Myers’ world as Ash or through the Evil Dead world as Michael Myers, complete with new dialogue and stories. While the core gameplay of each world doesn’t change, it is quite fun to replay as a new character. Additional characters, including Laurie Strode and Kelly Maxwell, will be obtainable via DLC in the future, providing yet another reason to return to these titles long after you first complete them.

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