The best PC games to play on or around Halloween

Want to grab a few friends to play through something together? Supermassive Games’ Dark Pictures Anthology are all good choices, but it’s House of Ashes that really stood out to us as the best of the bunch. Short enough to be completed in an evening, but intriguing enough to want to discover all the possible outcomes, each choice you make can and will affect how the story plays out. You’ll need lightning-fast reflexes to get past some of these quick time events, so stay sharp, or you may just end up killing off your favourite character!

With fixed perspective camera angles, constant inventory management, and a terrifying lack of ammo, PQube’s horror game has clearly found inspiration in the classic Resident Evil titles. The Winterlake Mansion is home to fiendish puzzles and unspeakable evils, and you’ll need to navigate protagonist Caroline Walker around this labyrinthine-esque manor as she seeks to escape the dark forces inside.

Between this and Resident Evil 7 biohazard, Capcom have breathed new life into the Resident Evil franchise by transforming them into first-person shooter games. This (in our opinion at least) makes the games even more terrifying. Add VR into the mix, and you’ve got yourself a real spooky time!

Raiser Games clearly took notes from Alien Isolation with this game, with an entity known simply as “The Presence” that learns how you play the game and adapts to your decisions. Play as several different characters as you seek to unravel the mysterious goings-on inside some classic horror locations (abandoned hospital, anyone?) and survive against a perma-death mechanic that adds to the already tense atmosphere.

This one’s a little different: an immersive narrative thriller in which you find a lost phone belonging to a woman named Anna and uncover the mystery of what happened to her as you reveal the chilling contents of the phone. A fully live action cast and many different endings make this simple, yet creepy, title one best played with the lights on!

A third-person survival horror that takes many elements from the Resident Evil franchise, The Evil Within is packed full of grotesque monsters and disturbing environments, with scarce resources to defend yourself with. Bethesda really had a great series going with this one, and I hope a third title will be announced one day.

As a soldier in the First Encounter Assault Recon team, your main job is to combat the supernatural. Throughout this game you’ll encounter plenty of supernatural events! Not only that, but the ever sinister ghostly figure of a young girl named Alma likes to make frequent appearances to terrify the life out of players. Part psychological horror, part action movie, developer Monolith combined two genres to create a fantastic first-person shooter full of scares!

Are you a fan of Japanese horror movies? If so, then PM Studios’ Ikai may just be what you’re looking for in a horror title. This atmospheric first-person title borrows from Japanese folklore to create a genuinely unnerving experience. You’ll need more than just your wits about you; playing as a defenceless main character you’ll have to combine stealth with smarts to stay alive.

Playing as Linda Meilinda (yes, that really is her name) you’ll combat ghosts and demons, as well as banishing those without a corporeal form using a smartphone. Those of you that have experienced the horror of the Fatal Frame series will know that using a camera against the spectres results in tense, nightmare-inducing scenarios that will leave you sleeping with the lights on!

Supermassive Games are back again, this time with their latest game: The Quarry. Similar in style to House of Ashes — but a much lengthier experience — you’ll control several camp counsellors stuck in the middle of nowhere as someone (or something) is hunting them. Once again, each choice you make will determine the fate of each character, and no one is safe from potential death as you try to keep everyone alive! Will everyone survive until the morning? Or will you or your potential co-op partners make one too many mistakes and lead these unfortunate teenagers to their demise?