The Best Halloween Video Games And Events To Play This Year
From themed specials to standalone horrors, here are your essentials for the spooky season.
October is coming to an end, which means it’s time to carve pumpkins, go trick-or-treating, and dress up for costume parties to celebrate All Hallows’ Eve. Or play some scary Halloween video games! If you happen to stay in during the holiday, or just want to get into the spirit and tickle your nerves a bit — or a lot — here are the best video games to play in the spookiest time of the year.
Halloween Events
With online titles tending to pay homage to real-life holidays, there always are a ton of Halloween-themed specials for gamers to sink their teeth into. Right from the early days of October, the devs start pouring in seasonal content, always making sure to set the right mood with eerie aesthetics and sinister soundtracks.
If you’re not much of a horror genre fan but would love a little spook to mark the occasion, then a fun thematic event in your favorite MMO is exactly what you need. Let’s see what some of the most popular titles have in store!
Festival of the Lost (Destiny 2)
Destiny 2’s Festival of the Lost can be rightfully called one of the best Halloween events in video games, and for a reason. With some deep lore behind the celebration, the fest offers armor, weapons, ornaments, and other spooky rewards in great abundance. Eva Levante comes back to the Tower to offer a rich roster of goodies. How do you get them? It’s simple! You just put on your Halloween mask and kill enemies, which will earn you an event-special currency named Candy.
This year, Festival of the Lost runs from October 18 to November 8, so you still have plenty of time to pay Eva a visit and get your share of sweet treats.
Hallow’s End (World of Warcraft)
Celebrated all around Azeroth, Hallow’s End offers a great variety of themed quests and activities for players to enjoy. There’s apple bobbing, good old trick-o-treating, and a whole bunch of other fun stuff to do to feel the holiday spirit and earn good rewards. You can also try on different costumes and get a special buff to help amp up your XP and reputation gains. For those up for some real challenge, there’s a chance to take on the formidable Headless Horseman boss.
Live from October 18 to November 1, Hallow’s End is a great reason to dive back into WoW Classic and explore its new content, especially if you prefer sticking to your favorite video games to play on Halloween.
Fight or Fright (Apex Legends)
The four-week Fight or Fright runs until November 1, rolling out limited-time modes and a truckload of thematic outfits to dress your favorite characters in. Shadow Royale, the event’s signature mode, adds an entertaining respawn mechanic, allowing all the defeated Legends to come back and continue fighting as Shadows.
Since Apex’s reward system is mostly cosmetic-based, you should expect a lot of themed skins and exclusive items on sale. Some of the arenas, for example, Olympus, will also get a temporary After Dark redesign to add an atmospheric touch to the familiar locations.
The Witches Festival (The Elder Scrolls Online)
The Witches Festival treats players to some spooky goodies and a fitting atmosphere to set the tone ’cause that’s what Halloween in video games is all about.
Apart from defeating powerful bosses to get unique materials and items, you’re free to try out new recipes and earn tickets to spend on rewards from the event-exclusive vendor. On top of all the themed quests and goodies, a massive XP buff will come as a nice bonus for players to use in their leveling journeys.
The festival is live until November 2, so if you still haven’t started racking up those tickets and Plunder Skulls, right now seems like the perfect time to do it.
Fortnitemares (Fortnite)
Fortnitemares might not be the most diverse and involving event on our list, but it really stands out, and not only because of its clever naming.
Fortnitemares is a full-on party with a DJ set and dancing, but a pretty weird one because you’re most likely to turn into a monster while busting it out on the dancefloor. During the event, you’ll be able to equip a set of unique abilities and try out new werewolf powers. The Zero Build Horde Rush will pit you against an army of terrifying creatures, and special quests will push you to complete as many of them as you can to get more rewards. If you’re looking for fun Halloween video games to play with friends, that’ll be just what the doctor ordered.
Scary outfits and themed locations come in the package as well, waiting for you to check them out until November 1.
Tricksters and Treaters (Sea of Thieves)
Sea of Thieves has quite a history of various All Hallows’ Eve adventures, all fitting in perfectly with the title’s narrative and aesthetic. This year, the devs rolled out the Tricksters and Treaters adventure and promised us some ”diabolical delights.” All players need to take on the role of either a Trickster or a Treater to work on adding points to their team’s overall score and get rewarded for their contribution. A rich collection of thematic cosmetics will go on sale in the in-game shop as well.
Unlike other video game Halloween specials, T&T is very short: going live on October 28 and ending on November 1, it leaves you with only around three days to enjoy the festivities, so you better not waste your time.
Special Mention: Dead By Daylight
A great example of survival horror, Dead By Daylight is a perfect fit for a spine-chilling gaming session just as it is. Apart from that, it also has its own Halloween event to serve a double dose of creepiness to all those in search of a good scare. If you’re looking for Halloween-themed video games, Dead By Daylight is certainly a solid option to consider.
Haunted by Daylight brings in a collection of iconic character looks, a new mechanic, and a set of objectives for you to enjoy the gameplay novelties to the fullest. There’s also a host of new Event Tome challenges for you to beat to earn some more terrific rewards.
The event is already in full swing and will be available all the way until November 3. Hop in, and let the fun begin!
Best Halloween Horror Games
For all those horror lovers that are not satisfied with just a time-limited experience, here’s our list of the creepiest video games that’ll keep you on the edge of your seat. But be careful! Some of these might scare the life out of you, so if you end up sleeping with your lights on for a month or so, don’t say you haven’t been warned.
The Resident Evil series
Yeah, we’re starting with the big guns right off the bat. The Resident Evil series made quite a splash back in the day, still defining the zombie horror genre and giving you some of the best Halloween video games to play.
Where do you want to take your zombie-slaying adventures: to a creepy isolated mansion or a monster-filled town? Or maybe you’re here for the spooky atmosphere of a misty village in the middle of nowhere and an eerie ancient castle filled with deadly traps? From the bone-chilling survival experience to action scenes that look more at home in a Michael Bay movie, the series is diverse and fun. With a total of eight main titles on the plate, you have plenty of Resident Evil titles to choose from to keep you up at night.
Blair Witch
If you’ve watched the 1999’s Blair Witch movie, then you might have an idea of what to expect from this title. If you haven’t, well. Imagine being lost in the woods, just your dog and you. The place is definitely haunted, swarming with horrible entities… or is it all just in your head? The further you go, the harder it’ll get to tell reality from terrifying delusion, which makes Blair Witch a total must-play on your spooky video games list.
Alan Wake Remastered
The Alan Wake Remastered action-thriller is one more mind-bending experience to give you the chills this fall. A writer on a search for his missing wife comes back to the town where the couple once shared a vacation. However, peaceful landscapes soon turn into scenes straight out of a nightmare, with shadowy creatures lurking in the dark and the line between sanity and madness starting to blur really fast.
The Amnesia series
Even with dozens of great horror titles having come out in the past years, Amnesia is still one of the most frightening games ever made. Inspired by H.P. Lovecraft’s work, the series takes survival horror to a whole new level. The atmosphere is not just unsettling, it’s downright disturbing, and the monsters you face on your way will probably haunt your dreams for weeks.
The main trilogy’s first title, The Dark Descent, offers the most frightening experience, but the sequel, A Machine for Pigs, is not so much behind. Those are definitely good Halloween video games to try out if you want to get scared out of your wits.
Layers of Fear
A tormented painter, an eerie mansion with dark secrets, visions that defy the laws of reality — it might feel like you’ve seen it all before at first, but trust us, Layers of Fear has a few tricks up its sleeve. Psychological horror in its purest form, it rolls out a pretty well-written narrative, along with exquisite aesthetic and cunning environment manipulation that plays tricks on the minds of you and the main character alike.
The game is a slow-paced, exploration-focused descent into madness, so if you’re not easily bored by the lack of action, Layers of Fear will most likely prove to be a good pick to keep you company at night.
The Evil Within 2
Compared to its predecessor, The Evil Within 2 has stepped up a great deal in terms of visuals and gameplay, managing to maintain the same disturbing atmosphere all the way to the very end. The story might lack the level of depth and detail of the first part, but it still delivers one of the best experiences you can get from a horror title. If you are in need of a scary Halloween PS4 game to play, this is a great option to consider. The Evil Within 2 also runs on PC and Xbox One, so you can take a trip to Union on basically any platform you like.
Until Dawn
A group of friends gather at an isolated mountain lodge… sounds like a premise to a Hollywood slasher, right? That’s where things take off in Until Dawn. The title offers an immersive, interactive adventure where every choice you make matters, defining the outcome of the whole story. Until Dawn might be guilty of overusing some movie clichés, but it still can surprise you with a couple of plot twists you definitely did not see coming.
If you ever wondered what you would do as a horror movie character, this is your perfect chance to find it out.
Outlast
A total gem in the genre, Outlast keeps topping the lists of the best Halloween computer games even years after its release. What sets it apart from other survival horrors is that you cannot fight your way out of any monster encounter. In fact, you cannot fight at all, which leaves you completely defenseless against the asylum’s patients, with any chances at survival limited to just running and hiding. Most of the time, you’ll have to navigate in complete darkness — or rummage through the hospital, desperately searching for batteries to power up your camcorder and use its night vision feature to pave the way. But sometimes darkness will be a blessing as some images that Outlast throws at you are so horrible and disgusting that you’re better off not seeing them at all.
Dead Space
An excellent blend of sci-fi body horror and action-packed shooter with exploration elements, Dead Space sends you to navigate a spaceship, fighting off dreadful necromorphs. Ominous music and ghoulish alien sounds, coupled with the distant rattling of a spaceship, add up to a constant state of fear and tension, making you feel uneasy all the time. Ultimate suspense is guaranteed.
If you binge-play at least a couple of entries in the Dead Space series, the jump scares might get quite predictable at times, but for your first playthrough, it’s an exceptionally good fit, especially out of the acclaimed Halloween PC games.
Silent Hill 2
Released in 2001, Silent Hill 2 aged incredibly well as it’s still considered one of the best video games of all time. Scary as much as thought-provoking, it tells a compelling story, filled with symbolism and a much deeper message than you’d typically expect from a horror title. Add immersive sound effects, an oppressive atmosphere, and an absolute masterpiece of a soundtrack, and you’ll get a perfect horror gaming experience that’ll make your blood run cold.
By the way, Konami has recently announced an SH2 remake, which gives you yet another reason to replay the iconic original.
How To Make Halloween Gaming Even More Fun
Wrapping up, we hope our special blog entry has given you guys a better look at some of the thematic seasonal content. Or maybe even helped you with a bunch of new Halloween game suggestions for the upcoming spooky weekend!
If you are an avid online player and there’s a seasonal fest running in your favorite title, why not get yourself a nice Halloween boost from WowVendor? Just pick a service on our website, and our experts will gladly help you get all the treats and enjoy the in-game celebration to the fullest. Terribly good discounts are guaranteed.
And that’ll be all for now. Happy Halloween guys, and see you around!
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