Save yourself some money for sweets with a few free games this season.

Halloween doesn’t have to be all scary movies, pumpkin picking, and dressing up. It’s also the ideal time of year to switch off the lights, boot up your computer, and sink some hours into a totally horrifying game that’ll undoubtedly keep you up long into November.

Buying new games can be expensive, but thankfully, there’s a whole world out there of games that you don’t need to spend a penny to enjoy. So, in case you’ve already spent all of your Halloween budget on sweets (whether that’s for yourself or trick-or-treaters), then here’s a list of just a few free games you might want to try that won’t leave your pockets full of cobwebs once the haunting hour is over.

Last Seen Online

Tech horror and gaming naturally fit together like Halloween and Trick-or-Treating. The medium complements the genre perfectly, as it places you, the player, directly inside of the horror itself as you interact and engage with it. That’s been made clear by an influx of charming but eerie interface games like Lily’s World XD, Needy Streamer Overdose, and Sochin Studio’s Last Seen Online.

Despite its similarities to other tech horror titles, Last Seen Online puts a twist on things. The developer describes it as a “psychological horror escape room” – except instead of arguing with loved ones while a game master watches over CCTV, the so-called “room” you’re escaping is actually someone else’s computer.

To unlock all of the secrets of the computer, and by extension its former owner, you need to play detective and crack increasingly odd puzzles. At face value, it sounds like it could play out along the lines of games like A Normal Lost Phone, but suffice to say, things get weird – quickly.

Ann

If you’re like me and spent the 2000s and 2010s playing low-res indie horror titles like Ao Oni, Ib, or The Witch’s House, then Ann is going to be way up your street. That’s because developer Rong Rong took influence from the “golden age of Horror RPG-maker games” when creating the mystery-puzzle-adventure game, per Ann’s Steam page. 

Like in other, similar titles, in Ann you find yourself trapped in a mysterious building – in this case, the protagonist’s school – which you must uncover the secrets of to escape. Depending on what you discover while trapped inside, you can unlock multiple different endings, giving it tons of replayability. Seems like an awfully good deal for a free game.

Ann’s influences are immediately clear not only from the gameplay and overarching story, but also from its charming, nostalgic pixel art style. Something particularly impressive about its visuals, though, is its use of fully animated 2D cutscenes throughout. 

Concluse

For any fan of Silent Hill or Alan Wake, Concluse follows a familiar premise: following a cryptic tip, Michael Benson sets off to a small town (fittingly named Hell) in the middle of nowhere to find his long-missing wife. 

Concluse rightfully prides itself on being artistically lo-fi, fantastically voice-acted, and deeply atmospheric. It also relies more on instilling dread than giving you jump scares, so if you’re usually the first to hide under a blanket while watching horror movies, then this could be for you. It’s also combat-free, giving you ample opportunity to soak in the survival horror’s setting and narrative without you needing to gun down any zombies.

Doki Doki Literature Club

Doki Doki Literature Club’s reputation precedes itself. If you’ve spent any amount of time online in the past decade, you probably aren’t too surprised to see a cute-looking, candy-coloured dating sim appearing on a list of games to play over Halloween. But just in case you’re wondering why this makes the cut, then trust me when I say that not everything is as it seems in the titular literary club.

Generally speaking, it’s advised that you play this without knowing too much about it beforehand. So, I’ll spare you any spoilers by sharing much more about it. But I will say that the disclaimer in the trailer warning away younger players or those who are “easily disturbed” should be heeded. Oh, and “easily disturbed” might be doing some heavy lifting.

Pumpkin Panic

Just like with Doki Doki Literature Club, don’t be fooled by Pumpkin Panic’s cute façade. This farming simulator isn’t just Tales of Mistria or Stardew Valley in a cute, autumnal cloak. Instead, once night falls, you’ll spend most of your time protecting yourself from vaguely Eldritchian horrors while frantically trying to perfect your Fall harvest.

Horrors aside, the 2D art style is utterly charming, with a strong storybook feel to it. In turn, this just makes the terrifying creatures feel even scarier. Like, hey, who put that terrifying deer in with my adorable papercraft people?! So, be sure not to get too lulled into a false sense of security while tending to your cabbages or carrots, and keep an eye out for strange figures and monsters coming to get you.

A Date With Death

A Date With Death is another eerie dating sim, this time with – as you might’ve guessed – Death himself. If Death was a svelte bachelor voiced by Beastars’ Jonah Scott, that is.

Unlike a lot of the other games on this list, A Date With Death isn’t packed with jump scares and frightening plot twists. Instead, your main goal is to sweeten up Grim, get to know him through branching dialogue choices, and ultimately, well, date him. Still, even without being an all-out horror game, the monstrous vibe fits right in with Halloween.

Saihate Station

Saihate Station is a psychological horror visual novel and adventure game following two diametrically opposed office workers called Haru and Shion. After falling asleep on the train, they find themselves in the titular Saihate Station.

To find their way out and get back home, they need to put aside their differences to solve the station’s mysteries. For you, that means you’re going to spend a lot of time solving puzzles and choosing dialogue options – as well as managing Haru’s “dependency level”. 

This horror-adventure game is going to be way up your street if you watched The Summer Hikaru Died and thought, “What if those two were struggling even more with codependency?”. Equally, if you’re a fan of any other dubiously doomed black-and-white-haired duos, then you’re probably going to like this one.

ENA: Dream BBQ

ENA: Dream BBQ is a truly unique psychedelic horror-exploration game that feels like it’s plunging you into a super-saturated cross between a Dario Argento film and an Albert Gleizes painting. It’s a strange, bright, and incredibly unsettling experience, with some incredible character design and truly creative world-building.

Playing as Ena, you explore a strange, dream-like (or nightmarish) world, completing quests, solving puzzles, and getting to know a legitimately bizarre cast of characters. The tone and gameplay aren’t necessarily exactly what you might expect when you reach for a horror game, but it’s a suitably unnerving and disturbing experience nonetheless.

You can enjoy the first chapter, Lonely Door, for free. At the moment, that accounts for the entirety of the game so far. However, other additional paid-for content will be released further down the line, presumably pulling you deeper into this utterly bizarre world.

Poppy Playtime

Poppy Playtime is another title you’ve probably come across before, either in the annals of YouTube or thanks to that one time Huggy Wuggy became the subject of a moral panic.

Despite its unconventional appearance – the main monsters lurking in the Playtime Factory are actually brightly coloured dolls, toys, and animatronics – Poppy’s Playtime follows a tried-and-true survival horror formula. Most of the gameplay loop hinges on puzzling, lore discovery, and some rather spectacular jump scares. 

Just like with ENA, the first chapter is free, although you will need to pay for the rest if you want to wrap up the whole story. Still, it’s a fun and suitably scary romp, with a few hours of gameplay even if you don’t embark on the rest of the series.

The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog

In case your Halloween night usually looks a little more cosy than creepy, then this bizarre murder mystery might be the one for you. So long as you aren’t too upset by the traumatic death of a beloved childhood mascot, that is.

Despite the fact that this sounds like a long-forgotten video game creepypasta á la Ben Drowned, The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog is actually – somehow – an official SEGA title. Originally released for April Fool’s Day (I know, wrong holiday), this visual novel follows a cute little furry detective – that’s you! – trying to get to the bottom of Sonic’s untimely demise.

It won’t exactly leave you shaking in your chair, but Halloween doesn’t really have to be all jump scares and slashers all the time.

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Toni Oisin H.C. is the Head of Audio at QSO Media. Read more of his writing here.

The Lavender Pages Project provides books to incarcerated LGBTQIA+ individuals across the United Kingdom. You can find out more about them here and support them here.

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