High 10 Indie Video games for a Horrifying Halloween 2023

Get able to unlock the crypt of spine-tingling indie video games and unearth the secrets and techniques of the season! This Halloween, we’re diving headfirst right into a cauldron of chills, thrills, and unforgettably eerie experiences that may hang-out your creativeness lengthy after the final jack-o’-lantern sparkles out. Put together your self: it’s time to delve into the darkish delights of our favourite season!

Every haunting Halloween horror on our fastidiously curated listing for this 12 months meets 4 important standards: it’s indie, we haven’t featured it earlier than, it’s totally launched (not in Early Entry), and most significantly, it’s good! Get able to feast on a trick-or-treat bag crammed to the brim with spooky indie sport choices on your autumnal enjoyment!

World of Horror

by panstasz

This 1-bit Rogue-like borrows from some apparent cosmic horror influences – most notably Junji Ito and H.P. Lovecraft – that wouldn’t essentially look like apparent selections for the extra supernatural folks horrors we affiliate with Halloween, however its themes of encroaching dread slowly overcoming a seemingly atypical seaside city are an ideal match for the lengthening shadows and lengthy nights of autumn’s encroachment.

We’ve been eagerly anticipating this one since TheOvermatt lined it in Early Entry for his Sport Cross Good Stuff column all the best way again in 2020, and solo developer pantasz has solely improved the sport’s procedurally generated mysteries and monstrosities within the subsequent three years.

“These anticipating an edge-of-your-seat spook-fest for the vacation would in all probability do higher with a few of the different entries on this listing. Nonetheless, if what you need is a compelling Rogue-like RPG that borrows the very best components of Lovecraft and Ito and will get higher as you play it, then you definitely’re in for a deal with. It’s mainly a online game model of the Arkham Horror board sport with killer visuals, and if you happen to’re something like me, that’s sufficient to make it your new obsession.” ~TheOvermatt

Platforms: Nintendo Swap, Sony PS4, Home windows PC, Mac, Steam

Bramble: The Mountain King

by Dimfrost Studio

Dimfrost Studio takes issues in a extra conventional route: youngsters misplaced in a haunted forest. The mixture of childhood innocence and supernatural scares conjures that feeling of trick-or-treating once you had been younger sufficient that even a neighbor in a fright masks was sufficient to terrify, a lot much less this fairy story as grim as something the Brothers Grimm collected.

“Nordic fables have discovered a cushty area of interest in horror video games (I imply how may they not? They’re terrifying!), and Bramble is a stellar instance of why. It’s a horror journey that, because of its attractive visuals and compellingly creepy world, belongs up there with indie darlings like Limbo and INSIDE. When you like your Halloweens equal elements whimsical and nerve-wracking, this one’s for you.” ~TheOvermatt

“Bramble makes use of shallow depth of subject and different digicam tips to place you inside a Lilliputian escapade proper out of your childhood forest adventures. Didn’t have forest adventures? Then proper out of your favourite Brian Froud pop-up books. Didn’t have these both? Effectively now, you’ll be able to have Bramble.” ~Indie-Sport-Freak

Platforms: Nintendo Swap, Sony PS4, Sony PS5, Microsoft Xbox, Home windows PC, Steam

Slay the Princess

by Black Tabby Video games

Slay the Princess, alternatively, takes a traditional fairy story trop and inverts it. There’s a princess held prisoner in a bit cabin deep inside a darkish wooden – thus far, so typical – however on this choice-driven visible novel, you’ve received to kill her or one thing horrible will occur. A bit totally different from the standard ghouls and ghosts, however excellent if you happen to like a bit existential dread and surrealism alongside along with your Halloween sweet.

“A sport as misleading as it’s unsettling, this visible novel duties you with killing an imprisoned princess to save lots of the world. Nonetheless, issues rapidly go mistaken in methods I dare not spoil, however belief me after I say you’re not ready. That includes tons of branching paths and glorious narration by The Magnus Archives creator Jonathan Sims, this can be a actual deal with for followers of creepy tips.” ~TheOvermatt

Platforms: Home windows PC, Mac, Linux, Steam

Waterfall Prisoner

by APA Estudi

We wish to learn Poe this time of 12 months – nicely, any time of 12 months is an effective time to learn Poe, however Halloween particularly – and this digital escape room instantly had us considering of tales like “The Cask of Amontillado” and “The Pit and the Pendulum.” Will you fare any higher than a Poe protagonist at discovering your manner via the fiendish traps APA Estudi have set in your manner?

“My full evaluation of Waterfall Prisoner is coming quickly, however I had so as to add it to the Halloween Record. Why? Due to the environment! This sport has all of the Halloween spirit you possibly can need. You get up in a humid, darkish dungeon. Your solely companions are skeletons who by no means made it out alive.

Counting on clues from cryptic notes and your handiness with no matter objects yow will discover, you have to clear up the clues to flee earlier than the dungeon fills with water…otherwise you succumb to the insanity that comes from listening to nothing however the gradual, ominous trickle of water and the faint cries of LOST SOULS who couldn’t assume calmly sufficient to unravel the puzzles and escape! A chilling problem for many who love a bit little bit of technique with their screams.” ~Aeryn

Platforms: Home windows PC, Mac, Steam

Youngsters of Silentown

by Elf Video games, Luna2 Studio

Children confronting actual monsters is a traditional Halloween theme, from the motley crew confronting cosmic clown horrors in Stephen King’s IT to the fashionable angst of Mae Borowski and buddies in Night time within the Woods, and the setting of Youngsters of Silentown – a bit village deep inside a forest stuffed with real-life, child-abducting monsters – makes for excellent autumnal gaming.

A story-driven journey sport that’s each whimsical and eerie, this one reminds us of Sally Face and Fran Bow each in its themes and a cute-but-spooky visible model that borrows from comedian ebook artists like Roman Dirge and Jhonen Vasquez.

Platforms: Nintendo Swap, Sony PS4, Sony PS5, Microsoft Xbox, Home windows PC, Steam

Killer Frequency

by Team17 Digital

Halloween is a vacation – the very best vacation of all, if you happen to ask us – nevertheless it’s additionally the identify of the John Carpenter movie that mainly outlined your entire slasher film. Team17 Digital provides a novel interactive tackle the subgenre with Killer Frequency. The twist: you’re the host of a late-night radio call-in present, and your listeners are being hunted down one after the other. Can you retain them secure? Suppose Not for Broadcast however with tons extra blood.

Set in a small city within the ’80s, this sport is loaded with environment, chills, and never a bit mordant humor. You may chuckle a short time taking part in this one, nevertheless it’ll be nervous laughter.

“Some nice Deskpunk within the line of 5 Nights At Freddy’s and Not for Broadcast, however with the reduce of Halloween.” ~Indie-Sport-Freak

Platforms: Nintendo Swap, Sony PS4, Sony PS5, Meta Quest 2, Microsoft Xbox, Home windows PC, Steam

El Paso, Elsewhere

by Unusual Scaffold

This one reminds us of a Carpenter movie, too: Vampires. It doesn’t have James Woods or that one Baldwin brother, nevertheless it does have a southwestern setting, loads of over-the-top motion, and tons of supernatural monsters.

You’ll go slowly mad as you blast your manner via the bowels of a demon-infested motel on this neo-noir third-person shooter that reminds us a little bit of Max Payne, because of its troubled protagonist, and Painkiller, because of the sheer variety of werewolves, vampires, demons, and different creatures of the night time you’ll be taking pictures at.

Platforms: Sony PS4, Sony PS5, Microsoft Xbox, Home windows PC, Steam

Propagation: Paradise Resort

by Wanadev Studio

Our haunted Halloween highway journey takes us from demonic motel to zombie-infested lodge with Propagation: Paradise Resort, the latest providing in Wanadev Studio‘s apocalyptic horror VR collection. Very like The Shining, the titular Paradise Resort is a personality in its personal proper, and IGR author Aeryn, who has expertise working in a big resort lodge herself, was particularly impressed by the sport’s verisimilitude.

She additionally praised the sound design, likening it to such horror classics because the Amnesia collection, and the nightmarish high quality of the zombies, which had been sufficient to elicit some real-life screams.

Learn our full evaluation of Propagation: Paradise Resort.

Platforms: Oculus Rift, HTC Vive/Professional/Focus 3/Cosmos, Pico Neo3/4, Meta Quest, Home windows MR/HP Reverb G2, Valve Index, Steam

Vlad Circus: Descend into Insanity

by Indiesruption

Seasonal scares go hand-in-hand with spooky circuses and creepy carnivals. Indiesruption joins the likes of One thing Depraved This Method Comes, Freaks, and Killer Klowns from Outer House and a contact of the outdated Dropsy, with Vlad Circus: Descend into Insanity, an exploration of psychological horror set within the aftermath of a Nineteen Twenties circus hearth.

Nightmares and actuality collide as haunted protagonist Oliver Mills struggles with puzzles, monsters, and his personal thoughts. The evocative pixel artwork and maze-like mansion of a setting remind us a bit of the very best elements of Lovecraft’s Untold Tales, albeit with fewer tentacles and scarier clowns. The psychological horror and darkish carnival imagery, in the meantime, have us considering of Strangeland.

Platforms: Nintendo Swap, Sony PS4, Sony PS5, Microsoft Xbox, Home windows PC, Steam

Gordy and the Monster Moon

by Twinbeard

Scary stuff is nice, however typically horror – psychological, gory, or in any other case – is a bit an excessive amount of. Halloween isn’t simply alleged to be scary; it’s additionally alleged to be enjoyable and candy, what with dressing up in costumes and getting free sweet.

On that notice, we shut with a bit deal with – no trick – from the high quality Frog Fractions of us at Twinbeard. An exploration-driven providing within the vein of The Legend of Zelda, it’s received loads of pumpkins and witches and skeletons and sweet corn for that Halloween taste, however no gore, simply old-school motion and colourful pixel artwork. And at simply over an hour, you’ll chew via Gordy and the Monster Moon sooner than a fun-sized Snickers bar.

Platforms: Home windows PC, Mac, Linux, Steam

What haunting Halloween indie video games are you hoping to seek out in your trick-or-treat bag this 12 months? Tell us within the feedback!