List by Matt S.
I know what you’re thinking. This looks like anything but a Halloween game. It looks like one of this bright, cheerful visual novels with moe anime characters and stuff.
I’ve got to say of all the horror games that I’ve played in recent years, this one has got to be my favourite. It’s a remake of an old horror game, so there are some (very) rough edges. But underneath all that is a game that genuinely knows how to be terrifying. And unlike so many modern horror games, it’s actually a stalker horror title; you need to run and hide from enemies, because you’ve got nothing that you can fight back with. I miss the days when those kinds of games were common. That’s when horror was actual horror, and not an action game about shooting ugly things.
Given that so many people are out and about on Halloween, either trick or treating, or (for parents) supervising trick or treaters. So it makes sense that there would be a special Pokemon Go on for all the people roaming the streets. It’s a pretty cool themed event, too, since you can do a very Halloween thing and bump into plenty of ghost Pokemon, and get bonus candies simply for playing – it’s going to be a bonanza for people who are still getting a kick out of the Augmented Reality revolution.
Well, this is a more serious toned game than many of the above, and Nioh isn’t explicitly horror or Halloween, per se, but we’ve thrown it in here because it does deal with a lot of spirits gone very bad, and it’s certainly intense enough that you’ll come to respect, if not outright fear them. Nioh, above and beyond its very Japanese dark fantasy theme, is a simply incredible game, and if you haven’t played it yet, Halloween provides you with the perfect excuse to do so.
The other awesome thing about Halloween is the parties that people put on, where everyone dresses up in all kinds of crazy costumes, everyone drinks a lot of alcohol, and everyone then needs a solid year to recover from it. Dead or Alive 5 has had a set of Halloween-themed costumes released each year, and while no one in the real world would ever be brave enough to wear what those ladies and men wear for Halloween, it’s still a nice little nod to that the fun that people have at these parties.
Slasher horror has been a Halloween tradition for many for decades. There’s always one or two movies released to go with the season, and they’re usually of the dodgy B-grade variety. It never stops being fun renting one of these to laugh and the ridiculously over the top deaths, obligatory jump scares and sex scenes, and cheer the serial killer on as he does his thing. Friday the 13th, the game, picks up on that tradition and makes it all interactive. A good time to be had by all.
Night in the Woods plays to the Halloween spirit incredibly well; the idea that at night, for one night, the unnatural becomes natural, and spirit becomes solid. This is not really a horror game, just like some of the others on our list, but as a narrative-focused adventure game, it weaves some really beautiful stories, and it feels like something that’s appropriate for the day.
Just like Dead or Alive 5 up there, Overwatch’s take on the whole Halloween event is to give players extra costumes to find and throw on. Unlike Dead or Alive the focus on these costumes is less about raunch and more about what you might conceivably expect someone to wear to a Halloween party. Whichever of the two you prefer, once you settle in for a solid gaming session, Halloween will be over before you even know it.
