A Showdown 40 years In The Making
HIGH That sweet Myers vs Myers action.
LOW The demon boss that’s only vulnerable when it wants to be.
WTF Is that weapon themed around the time Michael Myers killed a dog?
As far as hooks go, RetroRealms Arcade has a great one — it’s a 2D platforming framework that’s built on the base concept of a demon who jumps from dimension to dimension, spreading its vile corruption and conquering worlds as it goes. This ‘multiverse’ style approach allows the demon to encounter characters from iconic horror franchises, and conflict quickly ensues.
The first two stops on this IP mashup are Halloween and Ash vs The Evil Dead. The developers faithfully honor each franchise’s premise, allowing the player to choose whether they want to slaughter horrifically possessed abominations as Ash Williams (Evil Dead) or ordinary people as Michael Myers (Halloween).
However, these two stars are just part of the total content available, as one of RetroRealms Arcade‘s hooks is that any character can be used in either story — the player can see Michael Myers battling Kandarian demons, or Laurie Strode following in her brother’s footsteps by slashing her way though an army of mental patients, for example. Always wanted to see an Ash vs Myers showdown? That’s also possible, and exactly as satisfying as one would hope.
The meat of gameplay is combat and platforming, zipping the characters through levels filled with enemies that slash, charge, and occasionally shoot. The priority is keeping the player moving as quickly as possible to prevent things from getting stale, so there are no damage sponge enemies here — most are taken down with just a couple of hits, encouraging the player to push forward aggressively, combo-ing through hordes and fighting their way to extremely creative boss fights at the end of each chapter.
Retrorealms‘ level design is a high point, especially because of the clever dimension-hopping mechanic it’s built around. At any point the player can swap into the demon’s realm where everything is made of flesh and normal enemies are replaced by vile monstrosities. This is most frequently used to help the player track down collectibles that let them unlock new abilities and trophies, but it’s also central to many of the most intricate platforming sequences — players will find themselves jumping back and forth between dimensions to discover paths through tricky areas.
While the mechanical construction of the levels is quite good, the themes are a little lacking in variety. Simply put, the two properties aren’t different enough when it comes to locations.
While Ash vs The Evil Dead and Halloween may not seem to have much in common, the settings here are oddly similar. Both have levels set in small towns, forests, and insane asylums — and the final level of each takes place in the main villain’s castle. The layout and traps of the final castle are different, but the art assets are identical.
Likewise, character choice is more of an aesthetic consideration than a practical one. All four playble characters have a main melee attack and a variety of ranged secondary weapons. Due to the very precise platforming required, every characters has the same basic moveset, they all jump the same height, and they all have the same upwards slash that can be used in mid-air to snag otherwise-out-of-reach pickups.
Only Michael Myers from Halloween has a unique movement mechanic — while other characters charge up a shooting move when they hold down the attack button, Michael prepares a dash that can move him a good distance to the side, massively increasing the range of his jump. Looking at the whole cast, I’d never have predicted Myers would be the most effective platformer, but that’s where we ended up.
While there might not be enough variety to make playing through both games with every character feel like a worthwhile experience, RetroRealms arcade still works as a horror-themed platform. The levels are good, the boss fights — with one exception — are great, and as a concept it’s absolutely ripe with possibilities. Even if no more titles are ever added, this will remain a solid experience. However, with that said, I’d love the chance to take Michael and Ash down to a research lab in Antarctica or onto a faraway planet and see what kind of trouble they could get into.
Rating: 6.5 out of 10
Buy RetroRealms: PlayStation – Xbox – Switch – PC
Disclosures: This game is developed by Wayforward and published by Boss Team Games. It is currently available on PC, XBS/X, PS5 and Switch. Copies of the game were obtained via publisher and reviewed on the PC. Approximately 15 hours of play were devoted to the single-player mode. The game was completed. There are no multiplayer modes.
Parents: This game was rated M by the ESRB, and contains Blood and Gore, Strong Language and Violence. You are splattering innocent people as Michael Myers or slicing up possessed people as Ash. It’s as violent a sidescroller as has ever been made. Also, weird to not have ‘use of alcohol’ listed when drinking fruity mixed cocktails is how Ash heals.
Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes.
Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: All dialogue is presented as text, and there are no significant audio cues. Text cannot be resized. The game is fully accessible.
Remappable Controls: No, the game’s controls are not remappable. There is no control diagram. The thumbstick or control pad is used to move the character and navigate menus, with face buttons to jump, attack, use items, and interact with menus.
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