Halloween: My Favourite Spooky Games this Season
It's the Spooky Season and while I do not count myself a hardcore horror fan, I have always been horror-adjacent with my video game interests 1 and this Halloween, I've picked out a few gems I've been itching to replay:
The Last Door: Collector's Edition (2014)
A charming episodic psychological horror pixel point-and-click, TLD is capable of evoking a surprising amount of terror and dread given its pixel-graphic nature. It is impressively creepy with its brilliantly-woven tense and palpable atmosphere, and the story engages in a way that is truly hard to break away from. Easily worth playing on Halloween Eve.
Deck of Haunts (2024)
Become the Haunted House....
This is the basic and intriguing premise to this addicting reverse-horror deckbuilding strategy game. In Deck of Haunts, you take on the role of a malevolent Haunted House as you terrorise and kill unwitting visitors in order to expand your sphere of dark influence and grow more powerful while simultaneously protecting your dark heart.
It is surprisingly addicting and extremely satisfying, and reverse horror is a such seldomly-explored genre that I am genuinely happy when games like these succeed.
Link: Steam
Carrion (2020)
A true masterclass in metroidvania-style reverse horror, Carrion has you take on the role of a fleshy tentacle mass escaping from a lab facility, slaughtering everything in your way and causing bloodshed and chaos in gore-y pixel-art fashion. The controls are impressively smooth and the combat is simple yet addictive, with the puzzles included in the game being genuinely entertaining to solve.
Dredge (2023)
For all those eldritch horror and thalassophobia enthusiasts, Dredge is your perfect nightmare. This gem of a horror fishing game is such a unique gaming experience, it's hard to describe without playing: half the game consists of a cute fishing simulator, while the other is a disturbing deep sea horror survival. As an avid diver myself, I thoroughly enjoyed both aspects of the game.
Darkest Dungeon (2016)
This turn-based roguelike RPG is one I keep coming back to year after year - regardless of Halloween Season. Addicting, unforgiving, but fun and engaging. The moment I began playing, I became absolutely obsessed to the point of it being unhealthy. I've written most of my thoughts in my 2023 End-of-Year review2, but suffice it to say that the core gameplay loop of resource management, dungeon delving, and hero recruitment is immensely satisfying and despite the punishing nature of the game, I always come back for more. Also, the mods. So many good mods.
Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines (2004)
I will never stop coming back to this cult classic.
Bloodlines is a special kind of horror game that (to be quite frank) cannot ever be replicated. In this classic vampire aRPG, you'll take on the role of a newly-turned fledgeling and are forced into the gritty streets of LA as you stumble your way through complex vampire clan schemes, politics, and the nightly struggles of the undead. Despite its jank, it possesses an undeniable charm that seeps through the entire experience, and its deep gothic atmosphere, breathtaking soundtrack, and impressive roleplaying mechanics are all aspects that modern RPGs wish they could reproduce with the same charm.
If you're one of the newcomers experiencing this game for the first time - oh, how I envy you! 3
Available on Steam, GOG or Humble Bundle.
Bonus Round:
Death Road to Canada (2016)
It felt wrong to have a Halloween post without at least one zombie-flavoured title, and so I'll add DR2C to the list.
This post-apocalyptic zombie survival roguelike is just adorable and I love its comedic tone and pixel art style. The goal is simple: reach the safe haven of Canada with a group of your travellers. You’ll find yourself scavenging for food and supplies, recruiting (or abandoning) survivors to your team, and enduring not only zombie waves but also each other. The game is as unserious and whimsical as it gets and while it may not be a traditional horror game due to that fact - hey, it's got zombies and that counts IMO.
Playing Dead Space alone? Hell no. Sitting beside you and watching you play it? I'm 100% down.↩