October is finally here, the time of pumpkin carving, Halloween decorations, candy costumes, and horror movie marathons. And the perfect time to play some spooky games.

But if you´re anything like me finding good ones to play can be a challenge, since most game lists only have horror games as suggestions. While I enjoy horror, I can be a bit of a scaredy-cat when it comes to gaming, mostly because of how immersive this medium really is unlike a book or a movie.

So, for those of you who still want in on the fun, here is my personal curated list of games with a spooky theme, but are more tolerable to the non-horror fun. Just a warning, just because they´re low on the scary factor doesn´t mean they don´t have dark themes or creepy moments. They are only here because sacring the player isn´t the main point.

That said here are my entries.

1. Flipping Death

This one is a very creative and fun game that I experienced last year. Made by the same people behind Stick It to the Man, it tells the tale of a young woman who recently died and end up in the afterlife ( around Halloween no less). She finds herself temporarily filling in for the Grim Reaper who decided to go on a vacation. Now with the power of flipping between the world of the living and the dead, she runs around helping ghosts move on, as well figuring out who is possessing her old body.

The game is a puzzle platform with a fun possession mechanic. You can control the characters' limbs and create all kinds of shenanigans. The thing I enjoyed was the cardboard style of the environment. It feels like your playing through a popup book, making it stand out from other games. Also, it´s got a lot of comedic dialogue.

Game Links: Steam/Humble Bundle

2. Death and Taxes

There are only two things certain in life, death and taxes, so the saying goes. In this game, you play as a bureaucratic Grim Reaper in charge of deciding who lives and who dies. The game has a playstyle similar to Papers Please, where you have to fill reports and fill quotas if you want to keep your job. Every choice you make will impact the story, giving you different endings every time you start a new game.

But unlike Papers, ironically lighthearted, in dialogue and some game mechanics. Instead of worrying about making ends meets, your salary can be used to buy trinkets that can help with your gameplay, as a fun novelty, or to customize your Reaper appearance. And the best part is, you get to keep your upgrades the next time you start a new session, making this a very replayable game.

Game Links: Steam/GOG/itch.io

3. Among Us

I think this game needs no introduction, considering its popularity recently. As for why it´s on this list, you might be asking, how such a goofy colorful game has a spooky theme? Well, first there´s the main premise: a group of people who are stuck together in an isolated area except one of them is an impostor who tries to kill the crew one by one, creating sabotages, and the group has to figure their identity. Tensions and distrust run high.

If you think about it at his core, this plot is very similar to the movie The Thing, where an alien disguised as one of the researches and tries to assimilated them, while the researchers try to figure out who is human and who´s the alien.

It doesn't help that the game theme is similar to the movie soundtrack, one of the killing animations implies the impostor might be something other than human, and they even have a blood test as one of the tasks. Plus the POLUS map is practically the North Pole research station from the movie.

Even though I didn´t find this game scary, I still felt a bit paranoid whenever I went to a room with vents to complete tasks, or wonder if the other player I´m following can be trusted. On the flip side of being The Impostor, you always have to worry about being found out, especially if it´s one against an entire group. You will have to use your wits and collaborate with other players to win this game.

But on the fun side, this game also has cool hats and costumes to dress up your crew member, which is already a traditional Halloween activity. So, grab a couple of friends and experience a horror movie scenario.

Game Links: Google Play/Steam/Apple/itch.io

4. Night in The Woods

In this exploration game, you play as Mae, a college dropout who returns to her old crumbling mining town and try to bond with old friends while figuring out what she wants in life. Meanwhile, strange things start to happen after dark, and there´s a mystery to be solved in the woods.

This game has a very relaxed but melancholic feel to it. You spend the entire game interaction with other characters to dialogue choices, exploring the town, and learning more about Mae´s past. Most of the story seems to take place during Autumn, as you notice the leaves falling and Halloween decorations start popping up as the story progresses, hence why it´s on this list.

Besides exploring the games gives tons of things to do, you get to play a game within a game in Mae´s laptop, and even music games. The 2D graphics and the fact that it´s a town populated by talking animals gives it a certain charm.

Game Links: Steam/Humble Bundle/itch.io/GOG

5. They Bleed Pixels

This is a very challenging platform game inspired by Lovecraft and traditional horror. In this cute pixelated game, you play as a young girl who arrives at the Lafcadio Academy for Troubled Young Ladies. She suffers from terrible nightmares and travels to other worlds where she has to fight monsters. Unofortunently, those dreams are leaking out into the real world and slowly warping her flesh to resemble the horrors she´s facing.

It´s up to the player if she finally destroys what is the cause of her predicament, or she embraces her transformation as an eldritch horror.

The game has plenty of levels to play through, and difficulty levels according to each player´s skill.

Game Links: Steam/itch.io/Humble Bundle

Honorable Mentions

I already mentioned these games in a previous article, hence why I´m didn´t write them in this article. But if I had to pick, Vampyre Story and Unavowed the ones I liked the most. You´re also free to check the rest of those games for October, as they seem to fit in with the Halloween spirit.

That is all for now. I plan on doing a follow up of this article with more suggestions. Feel free to subscribe if wish to be notified about my next entry.

Update 29/10/2020: Part 2 has been posted here

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