The Resident Evil 2 remake brought back the magic I experienced many years ago, and the new visuals are a treat along with all the old zombie tricks. You always feel underpowered. Anything could jump out at any time and often does. I’m so glad the game and series has come back from the dead.
Doom 2016 is a descent into Hell, and I love the ride. Instead of being afraid, I strike fear into the hearts of demons everywhere as they explode in gleeful gore. It’s still very tense. The game’s speed gets your heart beating and palms sweaty as you are constantly running and gunning while collecting health and ammo just to stay alive.
As a bonus, I would play Dead Space 2. It took ideas of space horror and madness and expanded them with great lore, scary monsters, innovative weapons, and brilliant atmosphere. I still think about the eye scene (you know the one) and cringe. Tragically, the studio that made this series was the victim of a corporate slasher.
Hannah Ellis
Perhaps an obvious choice, but Bloodborne is my first Halloween game. It has just the right amount of spooky sounds and gamey gore that it keeps me on my toes, whilst the uncertainty of what lies around the next corner/wall/gate sends me upwards off the sofa. Sadly, I’m a regular casualty of Yarnham and seem destined to remain as nothing but a name on its headstones. Yet, the brutal reality of my ineptitude does little to discourage me from trying to survive a little further into its world. After all, every journey starts with a single step. Or in this case, multiple restarts.
My second choice would have to be The Italian Job on the PlayStation One. It is a game we always used to play through as a family at Christmas, along with watching the iconic film. But nowadays, with real-life getting in the way, carrying on the tradition requires an earlier start than December 20th. Not that I need much persuasion – it’s a classic that deserves a remake (cough cough, Sony!).
Kyle Durant
Another holiday or event and another piece Horizon Zero Dawn Hater, Chris Harding, wants from me. I mean, he could just admit Aloy’s journey is one of the best RPGs on the PlayStation 4 and we’d be done with this song and dance. Instead, he wants my writings on Halloween games or digital experiences we’ve tied together with the candy holiday.
Being an avid gamer, I can’t tie any video game titles to the end of October except customizing my PS4 backdrop with an appropriate dynamic theme and Rocket League or Overwatch’s seasonal events. This year my theme is three skeletons dancing to house music overlooking a foggy marsh I believe. It was on sale for like $1.09 and the only aspect that could have made it better was having Spooky Scary Skeletons as the background music.
Ever since I dropped over 800 competitive points in one night playing Overwatch, I don’t immerse myself in that community anymore. I’ve also retired and unretired with Rocket League a few times for similar reasons, but the soccer-car-game and I are currently on good terms. So, I will be participating in Psyonix’s Halloween event this year. These developers always do a good job slapping on a new coat of paint for Rocket League. There are new items to unlock, new challenges, new aesthetics, and sometimes even a new game mode. Of course, I’m going to trick out my car to have the bat goal explosion and a candy corn topper.
Lastly, if you’re just looking for a scary game to play then may I suggest Dead Space 2 or Resident Evil 7, especially in the VR for the latter. Dead Space 2 is the perfect mix of action and horror and is the game that has the sole title of ruining Twinkle Twinkle Little Star for me forever. RE7, on the other hand, is the perfect example of modern horror done right. If you don’t play the Chris Redfield DLC, that is. Either way, both experiences are perfect for the October season with a hot cup of cocoa or apple cider. Or, you know, just playing Horizon Zero Dawn too because it’s the best RPG on PS4. [Ed: Prick…]
Stuart McLean
Being a massive wimp Halloween isn’t that much of an event in my household, so having a couple of games lined up to play often depends on what is idling in my disc drive – luckily October is always jam-packed with new releases so that is never really a problem.
If I was forced to pick, I’d say my first choice would have to be Red Dead Redemption Undead Nightmare, for obvious reasons. This was one of the first times I can ever remember my eyes being opened to what a DLC could do for a game, and as to how it relates to Halloween that’s a bit on the nose. Extending what was (and still is) a gaming masterpiece with something so out there was a stroke of genius on Rockstars part, and never did it really feel overly silly or stray too far from the source material – what they did felt true to the main game even with it being so outlandish, as odd as that sounds.
As for a second Halloween treat, I’ll refer to my earlier comment about what is currently idling on my PS4- Ghostbusters: The Videogame Remastered. You can’t get more appropriate than that, can you?
Max Taylor
Costume Quest and its equally delightful sequel ooze with developer Double Fine’s quintessential charm, inventive game design and gorgeous, handcrafted presentation. When your twin is kidnapped by a sweet-toothed grubbin on all hallows eve, you must venture out into your new neighbourhood to collect candy, make friends and save your sibling.
Somewhere between a Nickelodeon cartoon and Final Fantasy, Costume Quest ingeniously adapts RPG convention; each trick-or-treat risks an enemy encounter and every hodgepodge costume transforms, bursting forth from its wearer’s imagination and into reality. French fry spiders, armoured unicorns and giant mechs face off against villainous grubbins in thrilling, turn-based combat.
Every time the air begins to chill and leaves cloak the ground, I feel enticed to return to this nostalgic, comforting gem. Easily one Double Fine’s finest, Costume Quest expertly captures the playfulness of childhood and magic of Halloween, while it’s festive “Grubbins on Ice” DLC extends the merriment and maiming into winter months.
The twisted, labyrinthine street of Yharnam drip with foreboding, the grotesque zealots of The Hunt endlessly afflicted by their own insatiable lust for blood. Emerging from Iosefka’s clinic having undergone a transfusion, you, a lone hunter, set forth into the long night with one goal at heart; to seek the paleblood and transcend the hunt.
FromSoftware’s Lovecraft-tinged nightmare is haunting, oppressive and feverishly compelling. Bloodborne’s intrinsic obliqueness paired with its fluid, precise and intensely challenging combat makes inching through its fearsome world and unearthing each piece of its rich, intricate lore a deeply rewarding experience. As my introduction to the Souls subgenre, Bloodborne was a baptism of fire, yet once the flow of its combat clicked, aligning with my fascination in its world, I became obsessed. Yharnam is absolute in its horror; eye-riddled monstrosities soon become disturbingly familiar sights yet never lose their dread, only lulling you deeper into city’s intoxicating terror. An experience I feel constantly drawn back to yet often too fearful to revisit, Bloodborne is the perfect Halloween game for those that feel trick-or-treating a little too tame.
Justin McKay
Silent Hill 2 is hands down, one of my favourite games of all time. It’s an easy punt for Halloween, but it’s not just the visuals that I found to be a horror. It was the ambiguity and the feeling of losing your mind. Although there was a goal in finding his girl, the main character, James appeared lost throughout. But the threat of danger is worse than the actual act (marriage, for example). But it is a sensory onslaught of fear invariably.
For a large part of the game, you wander around in the dense fog, that is Silent Hill, and there’s always that “something’s gonna jump out on me…” that never happens. The added white noise seeping from your trusty pocket radio induces the old grey matter that something bad will happen. It’s like creating a new game for yourself, and the horrors that my imagination come up with ensures that I seldom play this type of game at night, let alone at Halloween. All the more reason for you to revisit this gem – especially as Silent Hill 2 and 3 are available on PS Now…
For my second game, I’m going to go for Shenmue – yes, it’s old, and yes, it’s on the PlayStation 4, it counts. Why on Earth would I list this for Halloween? Firstly because nobody else would, secondly, because it’s the opposite of spooky. Other than solving a simple mystery why Ryo’s pa was murdered, nothing is terrifying or enigmatic about it unless you have a phobia of vending machines. Shenmue is the epitome of what it was like in Japan when I lived there – calm and community-based that couldn’t give an arse about Halloween. There were none of these little twerps thinking it’s The Purge that feels the urge to install a spud into your exhaust because you didn’t give them any Skittles. Ignoring the fights or QTE, Shenmue is an option to chill. Not much happens, and it leaves me feeling confident that I don’t need to put the light on or get out the rubber bedsheets.
Back in the day, I saw my share of video nasties on VHS (Google it) and a renaissance of consuming a copious amount of horror films in my uni days. With that in mind, I’ve always avoided watching scary movies at night. As mentioned above with Silent Hill 2, I have an active imagination, so don’t get a kick out of filling my pants by scaring myself. With that disclaimer, I’ll most likely avoid playing anything remotely ghost-like and opt for an uncharismatic Japanese schoolboy and a can of coffee. I’m talking about Shenmue, before you call the police.
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