IllFonic, the studio behind the new “Halloween” video game, stripped out a controversial sex minigame on Sunday after players discovered that the 56-year-old Dr. Loomis character could initiate intimate encounters with teenage survivors.
The early-access title, which launched Sept. 4, casts players as counselors scrambling to escape Michael Myers, the masked killer who has anchored the horror franchise since 1978. Among the playable characters is Dr. Samuel Loomis, the psychiatrist originally portrayed by the late Donald Pleasence, who in the game can partner with other survivors to evade the slasher by ducking into closets and concealed spaces.
While hiding, one player could press a button to proposition another. If that second player agreed, both would mash buttons in unison to fill an on-screen heart meter. The act itself was never shown directly; the camera remained fixed on the exterior of the hiding spot as the room shook and moaning audio played, a sound cue that also risked alerting Myers to the players’ location. The mechanic functioned across all character pairings, meaning the elder Loomis could trigger the sequence with the game’s high school-aged survivors.
Social media reaction was swift as gameplay clips circulated. “I think they forgot to make it so Loomis couldn’t f–k,” one gamer posted after the footage went viral. Another pressed for action before the patch arrived: “The 70 year old dead actor’s likeness f–king a teenager has gotta be patched out right?”
IllFonic excised the feature entirely on Sunday rather than restricting it by character age. The removal itself then became fresh fodder for complaint across Reddit and X. “Lame bandaid fix — just removing something entirely because people whined is crazy,” one player wrote.
The studio has not publicly addressed either the original minigame or its deletion. Representatives for IllFonic did not respond to requests for comment.
The “Halloween” franchise, created by John Carpenter, has spawned thirteen films across four decades and multiple timelines, with Myers returning as an unstoppable force of evil in each iteration. The property’s jump to asymmetrical multiplayer horror follows the commercial success of similar licensed titles, where survivors cooperate against a single powerful antagonist.
The game is scheduled for wide release to the general public on Sept. 8.