This year we are preparing to face a Halloween different, even more disturbing than usual: no fancy dress parties, no horror movie watch parties with friends and (unfortunately or fortunately?) no more children ringing our doors looking for some candy. But let us not be discouraged: despite these logistical difficulties, the technology comes to meet us to overcome these inconveniences. What better way to celebrate Halloween than with gods themed video games, maybe on a Discord call with your bravest friends?
Days would not be enough to list the horror games that deserve to be played, so for this Halloween we offer you a selection of 7 quality indie games for PC with reduced duration, between i 10 and 60 minutesas well as completely free. This way you can have fun (and be scared!) With more titles over the course of the evening, but also support the work of some excellent indie developers. As a warning to the most cowardly, we would like to specify that the recommended games have a null or reduced number of jump scare and that the titles have been put in order from least to most disturbing.
Now turn off the lights, put on your headphones, turn up the volume and walk towards your fears ...
The Supper
Developer: Octavi Navarro
Gender: graphic adventure
duration: 15-20 minutes
Traceability: available for free on Itch.io and Steam
Language: English
Level of restlessness: bass
Let's start the Halloween horror marathon with a appetizer: What's better than a game set in a restaurant to open the dance? Conceived and developed by Octavi Navarro, the Spanish pixel artist behind Thimbleweed Park, Photographs and The Librarian, The Supper tells the story of Ms. Appleton, a kind restaurateur tormented by a Voice, who orders her to serve some particular dishes to its customers, strictly served with the special sauce of the house. But what mysteries are hidden behind this restaurant? With mysterious and dark tones, this simple title is perfect as a warm-up, embellished with an effective storytelling that will lead you to an ending that will not disappoint you.
Midnight Scenes Episode 1 & 2
Developer: Octavi Navarro
Gender: graphic adventure
duration: 10 to 30 minutes per episode
Traceability: available for free on Itch.io (Episode 1 and Episode 2) and in a deluxe version on Steam for € 5,11
Language: English in the free version, Spanish in the deluxe version
Level of restlessness: moderate
We continue with two other short games by Octavi Navarro, or the two mini-episodes that make up Midnight Scenes. In the first episode, called The Highway, Claire Barnes will find herself in front of the scene of a car accident in a deserted street that blocks the passage, heedless of horrors connected to it… In The Goodbye Note, with more sci-fi but equally dark tones, Dr. Richard P. Griffin fears for his life aboard a plane, due to a paranormal mystery he has been investigating for some time and which, in spite of himself, will change his life forever ... The two stories, independent of each other, are very reminiscent of the tones of CREEPYPASTA, managing to perfectly instill both the restlessness generated by the plot and the curiosity to understand what lies behind these mysterious circumstances, all wrapped up in a bite-sized narrative that will probably leave you thinking for a long time on the meaning of the episodes. In black and white, in pixel art, with an original soundtrack and commendable storytelling, which incorporates some horror archetypes without trivializing them: unmissable.
Deep Sleep, Deeper Sleep & The Deepest Sleep
Developer: Scriptwelder
Gender: graphic adventure
duration: about an hour in total
Traceability: available for free on Itch.io (Deep Sleep, Deeper Sleep, The Deepest Sleep) and as an improved trilogy on Steam for € 3,99
Language: English
Level of restlessness: high
We continue our Halloween marathon with the horror trilogy of Deep Sleep, developed by Scriptwelder. The tension begins to become tangible: dreamlike and alienating settings, a dark pixel art graphics, a minimal and anxious sound sector and a story that is not at all obvious. Are we in the real world or in a fictional reality made up of nightmares? Better understand this quickly, because one thing is certain: we are not the only ones wandering around these rooms. The Deep Sleep trilogy includes and effectively reworks many elements typical of horror: dark rooms, clowns, non-working phones, dark wells and so on and so forth, forcing the player to understand how to put together the pieces of the puzzle that makes up the disturbing world into which he was catapulted. Who is chasing us in this lucid dream?
Happy's Humble Burger Barn
Developer: Scythe Dev Team
Gender: first person simulator
duration: about 30 minutes
Traceability: available for free on Itch.io
Language: English
Level of restlessness: high
What does a job simulator in a selection of recommended games for Halloween? If that wasn't clear enough from the disturbing trailer, Happy's Humble Burger Barn it is not a simulator like the others. Our task, as a good model employee, is to run a fast food restaurant very respectable. Of notte. From only. While the lights make a fuss and the mascots move by themselves. What else can go wrong? Happy's Humble Burger Barn is a journey into a twisted world of paranoia, out-of-the-ordinary events and rich menus with burgers, salmon nuggets and fries. From a technical point of view, the game winks at anni 90, with its graphics low poly and lo-fi soundtrack, which earned the very positive feedback from gaming critics, prompting the Scythe Dev Team to develop a sequel, Happy's Humble Burger Farm, now in alpha on Steam.
