image by Flickr user:  seanmasn (cc)

Happy Halloween everyone! It’s the spookiest day of the year, and that means today’s the day for all things scary! Haunted houses, parties, and horror movies are all excellent choices on this darkest of days. However, if you happen to find yourself alone today and just not feeling up for any of that, then perhaps what you need this Halloween is a spooky game to get lost in! There’s plenty out there for constitutions both strong and…not so much. So pull up a chair, turn out the lights, and consider giving one of these a try this Halloween season.

For those just looking for some holiday fun
Halloween is plenty of fun even without the scares, and there are at least two games that have realized that. If you just want some Halloween fun, then look no further than Animal Crossing (any of them) or Destiny (until the end of the weekend). Animal Crossing works on a real-time clock and calendar, so the Halloween festivities won’t kick in until 6pm tonight. Once they do though, it’s up to you satisfy the villager’s hunger for sweets! Succeed and you’ll get some lovely pumpkin spiced furniture for your house! Fail and…prepare for a nasty trick!
For those who already own Destiny, the first annual “Festival of the Lost” was held this week. Masks, decorations, trick or treating, and even that killjoy who always gives out raisins all make an appearance! Get some masks, earn yourself some candy, and enjoy the festivities while you can. It all goes back to normal once the weekend concludes.

For those want something creepy
If you’re anything like me, then a simple spooky atmosphere is usually preferable to outright scares. If that sounds like you, then Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem for the Gamecube is the game for you. Eternal Darkness tells the story of the Roivas family and their attempts throughout history to prevent evil from taking hold in our world. The ‘evil’ they’re struggling against varies from playthrough to playthrough, but it’s always going to be coming from some sort of Lovcraftian entity. You know the type; they don’t just want to take over the world, but also want to kill everyone living on it in unspeakably horrible ways. It’s the kind of evil the human mind simply cannot process, and the game is very much aware of that.
As the game progresses, everything becomes more and more unreal. The mansion becomes distorted, monsters roam the halls, we lose our sense of what’s real right alongside our main character, and that’s just the beginning! This is a game made to mess with your head. It’s never outright scary, but does everything in its power to creep you out.

For those who just want to mess with zombies
It may old at this point, but Dead Rising still holds up as a solid zombie game from the good ol’ Xbox 360. You are Frank West, a freelance reporter who also happens to be the most capable combatant in the world. Seriously, if it’s not bolted to the floor Frank West can easily pick it up and kill something with it. In the world of Dead Rising everything is a weapon, and Frank West is a master of it all! It’s not really scary, but you won’t care once you start beating up zombies with nothing but a soccer ball.

For those who want to be scared all the way into next week
Halloween isn’t all light-hearted fun though. Indeed sometimes the holiday just won’t feel complete without a good scare, and OUTLAST delivers scares in spades. In OUTLAST you step into the shoes of investigative reporter Miles Upshur as he attempts to learn the truth of what happened at Mount Massive asylum. He was led to believe that shady business was going down there, but I can guarantee that he was in no way prepared for what he found there. Miles is no Frank West, so he doesn’t stand a chance against the crazed and bloodthirsty residents of the asylum.

It’s up to you to not only discover the truth, but also to keep Miles alive by any means possible. Run away, sneak around, and hide in the dark. Your only hope for survival is to stay one step ahead of your enemies. If you don’t manage to do that, then not only will Miles meet a gruesome end, but the world will never learn of the horrors that await it! (Those susceptible to jump-scares might also find themselves in need of a change of pants too, as they’re often triggered when the tension is at its thickest!)

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If after all this you still find yourself wanting something spooky to check out, why not have a look at our first annual Halloween live stream over on our YouTube channel? This year the Duck of Indeed took on Five Nights at Freddy’s, and good times were had by all! Well, regardless of how you spend it, we here at UWG wish you a Happy Halloween!