Halloween: The Game, IllFonic’s multiplayer survival game based on the Halloween film franchise, received its first hotfix patch this morning. However, the game doesn’t officially release until September 8 and is currently only available in advanced access to those who pre-ordered the deluxe edition. So, what kind of game-breaking bug could have possibly necessitated a sudden pre-release update?
It’s possible it was the one that let a 56-year-old character, who was modeled after a much-beloved late actor, sleep with its cast of underage teenagers. As spotted by several users on X last night, Halloween: The Game previously featured a rather tongue-in-cheek sex minigame.
The minigame is clearly a play on the “Sex Signals Death” slasher movie trope, which features multiple times in the Halloween franchise. Unfortunately, it seems the devs overlooked the fact that there’s a specific outlier in the cast of under-18 teens that make up Halloween: The Game’s playable characters: the 56-year-old Samuel Loomis, who shares his in-game likeness with the deceased actor Donald Pleasence.
The 70 year old dead actor’s likeness fucking a teenager has gotta be patched out right https://t.co/6OSe3nJPlp
— baz. (@BazBombadil) September 5, 2026
Much like Loomis, several of Halloween: The Game’s playable characters are also from the Halloween films, such as, for instance, the 17-year-old Annie Brackett. As a result, it should come as no surprise that today’s Hotfix 1 patch for Halloween: The Game has outright removed the sex minigame in its entirety.
While the Hotfix 1 patch notes do not mention the minigame, several posts on the game’s subreddit confirm that it’s been removed. The developers haven’t referenced the minigame’s disappearance in either the Halloween: The Game’s Discord server or on any of its socials.
Considering that the internet only caught on to this yesterday, I’d say that a sub-24-hour response time is pretty impressive. Still, if this was indeed the reason for the emergency pre-release patch, it’s equally strange that nobody during the QA testing phase caught that letting the likeness of a deceased middle-aged actor sleep with underage characters might be a potential issue. Perhaps the devs can reintroduce the sex minigame in the future, but program Loomis to simply shake his head in disapproval at the sight of the wardrobe instead.
Update 9/8/2026, 4:35 p.m. ET: IllFonic shared the following statement with IGN confirming the age gap issue was indeed the reason for the mini-game’s removal:
Players may have noticed that our latest hotfix removed the Two-Person Power-Up minigame. This was due to an unintended issue that allowed end game reinforcement characters to engage with the minigame, which was a major oversight on our part. We have more content and minigames coming in the near future but current focus is our attention on immediate game needs. Keep an eye on our socials for updates as they become available.
