How to play Michael Myers

Your options depend on your level

Michael starts with two always-on traits, Shape Jump and Killer Sense, and a choice of five starting weapons. The three special abilities arrive with player level; you do not pick them before a match.

So when you read advice that leans on an ability, check whether you have unlocked it yet. Early on you are playing with fewer tools than a high-level Michael.

What catches new Michael players out is the map: the game announces when someone escapes, not where from. How Michael learns about exits, what closes one and which spots to check first are on the escapes page. The rules around light, Bloodthirst, finishers and the car are on the Michael tips page.

Reality Tear is defined by what it ignores

Detection Pulse marks victims and occupied structures in a large radius. Blackout disables anything powered in a local area. Both are straightforward.

Reality Tear is the one to understand properly. It forces Michael into or out of Shape Jump regardless of circumstances, including while downed, while lit and while being watched. Those are the three things that normally block Shape Jump, and Reality Tear ignores all of them in both directions.

That makes it two tools at once: a way out of a fight that went wrong, and a way to appear somewhere a civilian thinks is safe. Treating it as just a mobility button wastes the second half.

Getting downed, and getting back up

Civilian squads used to be able to chain one-shot downs on Michael, especially with Bob, Laurie or Drunk perks. Patch 1.0.3 ended that. Civilian melee hits softer at high stat values, and Michael takes less damage at every Bloodthirst level, so melee fights last longer and you get more chances to answer.

When you get up from Downed you now get a short buff: stagger immunity, plus more damage resistance, melee damage and attack speed. After that you also get a spell of faster health regeneration and daze resistance. Use that window to punish whoever is still standing over you.

The wood axe and pickaxe were toned down in the same patch, with slightly less damage and slower combos, so civilians have a little more time to shove you mid-swing. Heavy weapons, rifles and shotguns also spawn less often across every map, which means fewer armed civilians.

The story mode is the tutorial multiplayer lacks

The prologue teaches grabs, executions, environmental kills and stealth routing in six challenges against orderlies, and the later chapters layer Stalk tiers, Bloodthirst and improvised weapons on top. If the multiplayer side feels opaque, play the story mode first.

It also has its own exclusive items and collectibles that do not appear in multiplayer.