I noticed a lack of actual fun topics on here, so I decided, hey, 2025 is a pretty horrific year so far and it's October, why not discuss spooooooky games?

I'm currently going through Dead Space and Shadow Man this month as my go-to games fit for the season. I already played Dead Space closer to when it came out, about 2009, and I feel like I'm half way through it this go around, but Shadow Man actually surprised me with how much it actually challenges the player. It was described as a Metroidvania and while I have my qualms with such a genre designation in general, it does fit. It's got a voodoo gothic vibe I like about it even if it's by a British developer taking inspiration from industrial rot.

Some other games I played this year that are horror themed include Alan Wake, BloodRayne, Quake, a bit of a replay of FEAR. I have Clive Barker's Undying installed but only played a very few moments at the start of the game, and I still have yet to finish Blood. Another game I'd recommend that is secretly a horror game is SWAT 4. Gloomy atmosphere that is always at night or dusk, intense and (semi-) realistic situations that remind you that monsters don't need to put on a mask to scare you, and you're always one slip up from failing a mission, and an electronic/industrial score that is half dark ambient, half cinematic techno/noise rock.

What've you been playing or recommend that fits October?

I made a list of games I wanted to see OneyPlays stream, but they're good games too, not just streamer bait.

If you're willing to browse Reddit

I have never played Alien Isolation, although I've owned it ever since it was released, and every October it's on my list of Halloween games to play. I've just never got around to it. Maybe this year.

Last year would have been the perfect time to play it too, because for the first time ever, I didn't get a single trick or treater.

Another one I've been curious about but never played is Scratches from 2006. And now Asylum is on that list as well.

Does mentioning single levels of games count, too?

If "yes", than "Thief: Deadly Shadows - Mission 09 - Robbing the Cradle".

If the nightly visit to the "Shalebridge Cradle" doesn't scare the shit out of you, then nothing will.

EDIT: I just remembered another "level" if this game: "the Abysmal Gale" - a ship full of zombies, anchored at the docks.
Not quite as scary as "The Cradle" (nothing is), but it can be a nerve-wrecking experience, anyway - depending on how easily scared you are.

Also:
A little on the short side of things, but in "Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines", the "Ocean House Hotel" is one of the scarier locations.

definitely 'control'

those eerie whisperings, invisi monsters and the general sense of madness

Anything that fits the theme. Even that Piglet game.

I personally think Yuppie Psycho deserves more love. It's really hard to describe it in just a few words. It's horror but also comedy. It has a fantastically realized setting that draws you in and keeps you pushing forward. Super creative, and not a ridiculous time commitment.

"Ghostmaster" is a lot of fun: it's a strategy game where you are the Ghostmaser, commanding a group of ghosts whose goal ti to teach mortlas proper respect for the supernatural by driving them from whatever building be it home or business,...they occupy. And, yes, is pretty much for laughs and not meant to be serous horror.

And Nocturne remains my Horror game classic I would most like to see on GOG.

While I wouldn't really call it a spooky game overall, Dishonored 2 does has a few missions or aspects that are on the creepier side, at least for me. I thought it the first time but having recently replayed it I still feel the same. In particular The Addermire Institute and The Crack in the Slab missions (in the present).

I guess it's the slightly dilapidated looks and feel of the levels along with an ominous soundtrack that does it for me. Brigmore Manor from the first games DLC also had that feeling the first time through even though.

Bonus points for the buzzing of bloodflies in your ears with headphones on and the nestkeepers..

Extra mention for Prey - even by the end of my playthrough mimics still go the jump on me sometime.

Alien Isolation complete edition is 9.99 and an absolute must play for halloween.

A Castle Full of Cats
A Park Full of Cats - Specifically the included "Haunted Ride" DLC.
Beacon Pines
Costume Quest 1 & 2
Dagon
Dungeon Keeper / Dungeon Keeper 2
Ghost Master
Gibbous: A Cthulhu Adventure

Grim Fandango
Technically this one is more Day of the Dead, which is November 1st & 2nd.

Sticky Business
This one isn't 100% spooky. There are, however, Halloween themed sticker parts.

Right, Gibbous is great! A pity the follow up from the studio ditched the characters and the detective/lovecraftian mystery for some sort of Hogwarts knock-off. I mean, it's probably an ok game, but not what I hoped for when I finished Gibbous.

I've just started KISS: Psycho Circus - The Nightmare Child and I must say, it's really perfect for the season. I'm still at level one so I don't know if this applies to the rest of the game, but the nocturnal setting, eerie atmosphere, gothic architecture and deranged enemies (all served with a good helping of "camp") suit the Halloween theme to a tee, despite the convoluted plot (and the appalling Italian localization, which perhaps only serves to make it even sillier - well, it adds to the campy feeling). It's generally not regarded as a particularly good game, but so far I think it's great. Unfortunately, it contains licensed music (yeah, Kiss songs, of course), so I'm afraid a GOG release is unlikely.
Other items on my Halloween menu are Dissolution of Eternity, the expansion for Quake (always a good choice for "Spooktober") and Dead Space. Also Archangel (2002), maybe not really horror but at least "dark fantasy". But all this will bring us well into November... and even beyond, maybe.
I ain't got much to recommend, besides well-known titles like Penumbra trilogy (despite the third chapter not being really horror), Amnesia: The Dark Descent, and Nosferatu: Wrath of Malachi, my diamond in the rough among horror games. Perhaps we can add Realms of the Haunting to the list, even though it's a long and somewhat arduous game that risks tiring you out on the long run (I never finished it). Really great game, and genuinely unsettling at times, for me at least. Interesting take on the game. Well, a couple of levels are indeed in close proximity to being a horror, in a sense. Those who have played the game will probably get what I'm referring to. What can I say... I approached that level with the greatest anticipation, given all that I had read about it, afraid of maybe dying from a heart attack... but that didn't happen. Really, it's certainly sinister, spooky, creepy and all that, but I
honestly didn't find it THAT scary. Every year I look forward to the Halloween sale in the hope of these showing up... maybe this will be the right one?