13 Spooky Video Games We Love for Halloween

Rated M; PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S

The original Dead Space terrified players with its horrifying combination of Aliens and 28 Days Later, set within the survival horror gameplay of classics like Resident Evil 4. Remade with modern technology 15 years later, Dead Space feels even more vital, interesting, and fun. It puts players in the role of space engineer Isaac Clarke as he travels with a rescue team to find the deep-space mining ship USG Ishimura. But Clarke and his team find the Ishimura overrun by horrific necromorphs: transformed and mutated crew members that Clarke can stop only by cutting to pieces using makeshift engineering tools like the Plasma Cutter and the saw-firing Ripper. The remade Dead Space is often stunning, frequently scary, and always fun, if you have the heart (and the stomach) for its graphic horror violence and frequent scares.

—Arthur Gies

Rated T; Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S

In the current era of gigantic open-world games that can take hundreds of hours to beat, I appreciate smaller games that nail their execution and don’t overstay their welcome. My favorite entry of the past couple years is Death’s Door, an action-adventure game starring a little crow with a giant sword on a quest to open the titular Death’s Door. They had me at “little crow with a giant sword,” but I also fell in love with the game’s spooky vibes, excellent soundtrack, and dark sense of humor that depicts the afterlife as a tedious bureaucracy. If you’re into games with puzzles and exploration akin to The Legend of Zelda and satisfyingly difficult—but always fair—combat like Elden Ring, you can’t go wrong with this spooky little game.

—Kimber Streams

Rated M; PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S

System Shock is one of the most influential first-person games of all time; it inspired BioShock, Deus Ex, 2017’s Prey, and countless other games. In this retro-style remake, you’re stuck on a space station overrun with robots, mutants, and cyborgs and enslaved by a rogue AI. This immersive simulation game—designed to allow open-ended problem-solving and gameplay decisions within a first-person shooter shell—has been remade in modern tech, but with design and trappings are gloriously rooted in the ’90s, complete with edgy cyberpunk aesthetics and weird, creative gameplay possibilities that manage to feel fresh almost 30 years later. It’s just as creepy as it ever was.

—Arthur Gies

Rated E; Nintendo Switch

If you haven’t visited your island in Animal Crossing: New Horizons in a while, now is a great time to jump back in. In October, you can get adorable spooky-themed furniture items from Nook’s Cranny, trade candy for DIY recipes from villagers, and dress up your character with face paint. You can also grow pumpkins, catch new critters and fish, and of course, decorate your island on theme.

—Haley Perry

Rated M; Mac, PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S

From the creators of classic horror video game franchise Amnesia, SOMA is a terrifying trip through an undersea laboratory full of horrifying experiments and murderous robots. Unlike many of the other games on our list, SOMA isn’t an action game—it doesn’t have fighting at all. Instead, you need to avoid the dangers that roam the station or, in a pinch, run for your life and hope for the best. SOMA’s story deals with concepts of personhood and identity in the finest horror media tradition, and if you’re intrigued but worried about being good enough to get through, there’s good news: SOMA has a safe mode, which leaves the monsters in but disables their attacks, so you can explore and learn exactly what occurred at the bottom of the ocean.

—Arthur Gies

Rated M; PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S

Resident Evil 4 revolutionized action games and horror games back in 2005, and now it’s back with the same remake treatment that developer Capcom has given to the other mainline Resident Evil titles. The results are fantastic, with gorgeous redone visuals, a fleshed-out story and characters, and some big surprises in store for fans who have played and replayed the original game on numerous other systems. The game plays with modern-feeling controls and side quests and goals that tie more directly into Resident Evil 4’s systems and progression. But be ready for a challenge—and some pretty graphic violence to go along with that M rating.

—Arthur Gies

Rated E; Mac, Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation, Xbox

If you want to get spooky while keeping things cute and lighthearted, Disney Dreamlight Valley—one of our favorite cozy games for both kids and adults—is offering a limited-time update in the spirit of Halloween. This year marks the 30th anniversary of Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas, and during the month of October, players can unlock an Oogie Boogie–themed outfit and a host of new decorative and clothing items.

—Haley Perry

Rated M; PC, PlayStation, Xbox

This online multiplayer game modeled after the titular 1974 horror film is like a sadistic version of hide-and-seek. In The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, you can join a team of four victims who’ve been captured and held hostage on the Slaughter family farm to try to quietly escape the premises without getting caught by the Family. Conversely, you can take on the role of Leatherface or other members of the Family to hunt down the victims and collect their blood to feed to Grandpa. It’s as creepy, gory, and adrenaline-inducing as it sounds, but it’s also downright silly at times—nothing gets my nervous laughter going more than getting the bejesus scared out of me by Leatherface after turning a dark corner in the farmhouse.

—Haley Perry

Rated E; Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S

Dredge is a laid-back, cozy fishing adventure—until you get to the part about the Lovecraftian nightmares. Developer Black Salt Games takes a pretty competent fishing-boat game complete with markets, an economy, and upgrades, and mixes in the deep-sea horrors of Cthulhu. Dredge grabbed me harder than I’d expected. While the controls are a little finicky and the goals can be opaque on occasion, the desire to pursue more upgrades and new fish types mixes well with the threat of supernatural terrors waiting for unwitting sailors who venture where they shouldn’t, looking for secrets that should stay buried. And despite how the game might look, it’s not an endless exercise in fishing with bits of story—most players will play 10 to 12 hours to see all the horrors Dredge has to offer.

—Arthur Gies

Rated E; Nintendo Switch, PC, Xbox

Ooblets is one of our favorite cozy games about collecting creatures by winning turn-based dance battles, and this month, you can update the game to enjoy a special Halloween-themed event. From now until November 15, the town will be decked out with spooky decor, and the residents will be dressed up in cute costumes. You can trick-or-treat by collecting candy from villagers with your very own pumpkin pail, or go on the hunt for the new Ooblet called Xanaboo, who can only be found at night while the event is running. You’ll also be able to find new clothing, decor, and furniture items, or dabble in potion-brewing at the town cauldron.

—Haley Perry

Rated M; PC, PlayStation, Xbox

I always hoped there’d be a successor to the iconic Left 4 Dead games of the late 2000s. Back 4 Blood was made by the same creators of that series, but it’s not a direct followup—instead, it put its own spin on the co-op zombie shooter genre. With up to three other players, you’ll choose from eight characters to battle hordes of the undead through a series of first-person campaign missions. Each character comes with their own starting loadouts and roles on the team, but your gameplay will be impacted most heavily by the deck of cards you accumulate and build over time. These cards have different buffs, perks, and modifiers that can be combined to tailor your own playstyle. For example, if you like hand-to-hand combat, you can equip cards that boost your melee damage or speed, or grant you and your teammates extra health when you make a melee kill. Once I got the hang of this unique deck-building system, I found Back 4 Blood to be one of the most entertaining multiplayer zombie games I’ve played in a while.

—Haley Perry

Rated E; Android, iOS, PC, Nintendo Switch

In The Room, you’re presented with a wooden box that literally and figuratively unfolds into a beguiling puzzle. Solving it depends on finding hidden buttons and missing pieces while making sense of each new puzzle box. The further you go the weirder things become, culminating in the games’ cosmic horror-tinged climax. But it’s never truly frightening and maintains an enjoyable spooky vibe throughout. The game has a coziness to it; the warm wood and the satisfying clicks and creaks of the devious mechanisms are as enjoyable as completing each box. The Room isn’t a long game, and you’ll probably want to move on quickly to the other games in the series. They’re all excellent, and only loosely connected, but the ambitious The Room 3 and the VR title The Room: A Dark Matter stand out.

—Max Eddy

Rated M; PC, PlayStation, Xbox

The Quarry follows a group of teenage counselors who are alone in the woods on their last night of summer camp, and it plays like a choose-your-own-adventure horror flick. Most of the game is spent in cutscenes with dialogue options that determine how the story will pan out, and it’s cinematically thrilling. The characters are emotive, and the voice acting is excellent thanks to a loaded cast of stars such as David Arquette and Lance Henriksen. The gameplay is pretty hands-off aside from some basic movements and quick-time events, making it one of the most approachable entries for horror fans of all skill levels.

—Haley Perry

This article was edited by Arthur Gies and Caitlin McGarry.