Finally, the temperatures are dropping, the leaves are falling, that pesky sun is going away earlier, and the bugs are dying. Welcome to autumn. Speaking of death, we are now officially in spooky season!!! It is the perfect time to stay home, make yourself comfortable, and enjoy some video games.
While visions of zombie apocalypses, insidiously haunted houses, and miraculous healing abilities may come to mind when thinking about video games centered in the horror genre, there are a slew of video games that not only keep to the spirit of spookiness, but allow us to enjoy the experience with the younger loved ones in our lives.
Here are a few titles, all found in our library system, that not only have the potential to get us into the spirit of the season, but may kindle feelings of nostalgia and memories of a time when trick-or-treating was better than Christmas.
Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD (Nintendo Switch) (Rated E) (Single and Multiplayer, kinda)
Yes, we’re starting our list with the most obvious family-friendly spooky game franchise out there, but not where you may expect. Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD for the Nintendo Switch
is a remaster of Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon, originally releasing for the handheld Nintendo 3DS console in 2013 as a sequel to the original 2001 GameCube game Luigi’s Mansion. As a remaster, Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD offers improved movement controls, enhanced color, upgraded textures, and clean and crisp animations.
Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD follows Luigi as he’s tasked with restoring the shattered Dark Moon back into its rightful place in the sky of the Evershade Valley. Equipped with the upgraded specialized vacuum cleaner, The Poltergust 5000, Luigi must search for and find the pieces of the Dark Moon while dealing with the once-friendly ghosts in 5 different mansions. While the main gameplay is single-player and has a heavy focus on exploration, the game does include an unlockable ghost-hunting multiplayer mode called ScareScraper. Within ScareScraper, there are three multiplayer modes for up to four players. ScareScraper is unlocked once the player completes the mission "Visual Tricks" in the Dark Moon Quest. The mode can be played locally or online, for up to four players.
Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD is rated E (Everyone) but does include some Mild Fantasy Violence as some ghosts can punch Luigi (HOW DARE THEY?!), players can shoot seeds at mice and launch cartoony bombs at enemy creatures.
Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD’s story clocks in at an approximate 14 hours, making it a commitment to play through, though completionists (those who wish to explore and do as much as possible in the game) could spend upwards of 30 hours.
Goosebumps: Dead of Night (Nintendo Switch, XBOX ONE) (Rated E10+) (Single Player)
Goosebumps: Dead of Night is, as one reviewer called it, “baby’s first survival horror game”. Loosely based on the 2015 Goosebumps film, the player is tasked with running
around a mansion in search of book pages to return Slappy, the villainous ventriloquist dummy (and most terrifying of all Goosebumps characters, in my opinion) back into his book. At one point, the player obtains a certain weapon that shoots a particularly fun projectile, but I will not spoil it here.
Goosebumps: Dead of Night is rated E10+ (Everyone over 10 years of age) due to Fantasy, Violence, and Mild Blood since it involves puzzle-solving monsters (e.g., ghouls, werewolves) that lunge towards the player’s screen, resulting in the player’s screen briefly turning red with slight splashes that indicate damage.
Goosebumps: Dead of Night’s story clocks in at 3-4 hours, making it low commitment and a suitable steppingstone for tweens (or particularly brave children) into horror games.
MediEvil (2019) (PS4) (Rated T) (Single Player)
MediEvil (2019) is a remake. Originally releasing for the original PlayStation home console in 1998, MediEvil follows Sir Daniel (Sir Dan) Fortesque, a great hero who led an
army against the evil wizard Zarok, giving his life to defeat the nefarious forces that threatened the kingdom of Gallowmere and bringing forth an era of prosperity. 100 years later, Zarok is back and bringing chaos with him. Sir Daniel is resurrected and can now take on Zarok again….right? MediEvil is a good lesson in why historical revisionism, misinformation, and idolization can be dangerous since Sir Dan turns out to be exactly the opposite of how history remembers him. With a chance to make the legends about him a reality, Sir Dan sets forth to defeat Zarok through a now ghoulish Gallowmere.
MediEvil’s strength is very much in the charming story and its characters. With witty, macabre writing, goofy character design, and a likable protagonist, MediEvil delivers the same charm as the original with improved graphics. That being said, it is a remake and nothing new was added which makes the “hack and slash” game mechanics, ahead of their time in 1998, outdated by today’s standards. The game also suffers from lack of checkpoints, meaning if you get killed, you’ll need to return to the very beginning of the level to do everything all over again. Along with that, the camera does tend to shift and change during certain parts of the game play. With two potential endings, the game is a good Halloween time play, and it really scratches the old “this is how we used to game” itch.
MediEvil (2019) is Rated T (for Teens) due to Blood and Gore, Violence. Enemies are stylized in a goofy manner and include headless zombies, figures hanging from nooses/gallows, and impaled monsters. Combat includes swords, clubs, and crossbows along with slashing sounds, cries of pain, and frequent blood-splatter effects.
MediEvil (2019)’s story clocks in at 9 hours, making it more of a commitment than other titles on this list, but not by too much. Completionists are looking at 15-16 hours in order to find and do everything.
Don’t Starve Together (PS4, XBOX ONE) (Rated T) (Single and Multiplayer)
Don’t Starve Together is the sequel to Don’t Starve, the dark and supernatural, yet cartoonish survival game with art influenced by the works of filmmaker Tim Burton and writers like Edward Gorey. While it is encouraged to start with the original if you want the lore (believe me, there is LORE) Don’t Starve Together’s main feature is its multiplayer capability. The original single-player Don’t Starve combined survival-horror and action-adventure where the player explores worlds in an alternate dimension as the main character, Wilson (the pale guy with the awesome hair). Wilson needs to fend off monsters, craft things like supplies, and shelter while tending to his fragile state of mind and body to avoid permadeath (permanent death). Don’t Starve Together has players drop into the same map (world) to survive against that world’s monsters while tending to their physical and mental states. Don’t Starve Together features three gameplay modes: Survival, Wilderness, and Endless. In Survival, the players cooperate to survive in the world of the game. Wilderness is a more difficult mode, with each death taking the player back to the character select and no resurrection items. If you’re looking for a single-player experience, Endless is the casual player-friendly mode, which doesn’t require cooperation between the players.
Don’t Starve Together is rated T (for Teen) because of Fantasy Violence, and Crude Humor. Younger teens or older tweens may enjoy the atmosphere of whimsical characters, mysterious settings, survival challenges, cartoonish violence, and art style though younger children may find some of the character design unsettling and objectives too difficult.
Don’t Starve Together’s gameplay clocks in at approximately 34.5 hours if only focusing on the main objectives, making it the most commitment heavy game on our list; Completionists may see upwards to 254 hours.
Little Nightmares (PS4, XBOX ONE) (Rated T)
Little Nightmares is a third-person puzzle adventure platformer that really puts out the creepy vibes. Players take on the role of Six, a little girl in a hooded yellow raincoat (reminiscent of Georgie from Stephen King’s IT) who must traverse the nightmarish world known at the Maw. Due to her small stature, Six must sneak around avoiding leaches and large corrupted human-like enemies. As players make their way through the Maw, clues begin to emerge as to what is truly happening and the realities of Six’s world. Stealth is a must, getting caught will result in death from strangulation via leach to being placed into a cooking pot. Little Nightmares could be called an allegory of a child growing into adulthood in a world existing between dreams and reality.
Little Nightmares is Rated T (for Teen) due to Blood and Violence. Enemies often try to grab at Six, the corrupted chef will place her in an oven, a hanging corpse’s legs can be seen in one of the rooms and various blood stains can be found through the environments. This game is more suited for middle teens who enjoy darker settings and an excellent musical score.
Little Nightmare’s gameplay clocks in at approximately 3-5 hours, making it low commitment for players while completionists may see an 8-9 hour commitment (it is WORTH IT).
Grim Fandango Remastered (Switch) (Rated T)
Grim Fandango Remastered is the second remake on our list, and for good reason. Originally releasing for the Windows Operating System in 1998 by LucasArts (who made GOLD back in the day), Grim Fandango Remastered follows Manny Calavera, a travel agent in the afterlife working for the Department of Death in El Marrow (because even in death, we can’t seem to escape bureaucracy). Through a series of events, Manny gets tangled up in a web of lies and intrigue that takes him on a 4-year journey of redemption and justice.
Grim Fandango Remastered’s strength lies in its story-focused gameplay, making it an enjoyable experience on modern consoles. The remaster saw updated graphics, reworked controls, a point-and-click interface, and a re-recorded score. The game is divided into four acts, each taking place on November 2 (the Day of the Dead) in four consecutive years. The characters are based on Mexican calaca (skull) figures used to celebrate the Day of the Dead in a 3D Art Deco and Aztec-inspired environment. The game combines elements of Aztec afterlife and film noir style, with influences from such films as The Maltese Falcon, On the Waterfront, and Casablanca. At 7,332 lines of dialogue among 50 different characters, the largely comedic story is full of character-driven jokes that don’t feel cheap or pandering, but also holds a dark realism. The game soundtrack, originally digitally synthesized (aside from the jazz parts that were recorded live), is a mix of Latin American folk music, jazz, swing, bepop, and big band sounds recorded by a live orchestra (the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, no less), and is truly one of the best aspects of an already great game. Despite this being a remaster, no tutorial level or hint system was added, making the game a bit frustrating at times because of the numerous puzzles.
Grim Fandango Remastered is Rated T (for Teens) due to Fantasy Violence, Mild Language, Crude Humor, Use of Alcohol and Tobacco, Mild Suggestive Themes. There's infrequent bad language and occasional suggestive dialogue, mostly between Manny and a female police officer who's particularly keen on the idea of searching him. There are innuendos, references and such throughout, along with simulated gambling and the ability to cartoonishly kill other skeletons with guns.
Grim Fandango’s story clocks in at approximately 11 hours making it more of a commitment than other games on our list but completionists will only need to invest around 12 hours to fully complete the game.