Spooky Games to Play Next Halloween

The Halloween season is one of the most enjoyable for a lot of people. There’s something about the pumpkins, the trick-or-treating, and the general spookiness of the holiday gets people excited as soon as October 1st. As such, there’s a ton of games to play leading up to All Hallow’s Eve and they’re not just your standard horror games. There’s even some designed exactly for the holiday. Here are some of my picks for this special day!

F.E.A.R (First Encounter Assault Recon)

The general vibe of the Halloween season is frights. What better way to encapsulate the frights than with a game whose acronym is F.E.A.R.? Now fifteen years old, the first-person shooter garnered massive critical acclaim upon its release, spawning two sequels (an exceptional one in 2).

Characterized by the ability to slow down time with your reflexes and the constant pursuance of the creepy little girl, Alma, the title executes some of the best jump scares in a non-horror game ever. You might have to dust off a seventh-generation console or install some patches to run it on a modern PC, but it’s essential playing for Halloween.

The Typing of the Dead: Overkill

The House of the Dead series might catch some flak for being under polished titles with some of the cringiest voice acting in all of gaming, but I think that adds to its charm. That’s carried over to Typing of the Dead: Overkill, something anyone with a keyboard can play. The zombie-killing in this game stems from you completing a few words as quickly as you can, so it doubles as typing-training. The story/characters are at a so-bad-it’s-good level that you can’t help but stare and laugh at. Yet, it’s worth picking up and playing and is a guilty pleasure for the fall season.

Dead Space

Arguably the pinnacle of horror shooters, Dead Space is pretty much a household name for gamers. Isaac Clarke’s expedition onto the Ishimura channeled the tenseness of Alien with the gameplay of Resident Evil 4. It’s a visual marvel for the time and is chock full of moments that keep the player on edge. With enough visual horror to petrify the pure of hearts, this is a good one to turn off the lights and immerse yourself in. It’s hard to think of a scarier game in my library and I look forward to getting back into it every Halloween season.

Costume Quest

Okay, what better than to play a game that takes place on Halloween where you get to trick or treat? Yes, the innocent Costume Quest is the ultimate Halloween game, and it’ll never be dethroned from that title. In collecting candy and customizing your costume, it’s sure to take the player back to a simpler time of free candy and friendship. With RPG elements and the extra effort given from the prolific Double Fine Productions studio, it’s a no-brainer grabbing this whenever it goes on sale for a few bucks. It’s a nice short experience that you can easily fit into Halloween week or even a night if you have the time.