Seven Games for Halloween, From CloverPit to Fatal Frame II

Halloween gaming doesn’t have to mean spending the evening in a haunted house or dodging jump scares. Pocket Tactics staff have picked seven games for the season, ranging from punishing horror and zombie survival to costume collecting and gothic dressmaking. The common thread is atmosphere: each offers a distinct way to make October feel a little stranger.

Some choices lean hard into fear. Others work better as a seasonal side activity, whether you’re walking around town with Pokémon Go or stitching together a raven-inspired outfit. Here’s what the team is playing, and what makes each game fit the mood.

CloverPit turns a slot machine into a threat

Connor Christie’s Halloween pick, CloverPit on Nintendo Switch, blends the pressure of a Las Vegas fruit machine with the repeated runs of a roguelite. Its premise adds a harsher edge: miss the target for a round, and an unseen observer sends you into a pit of doom. The threat gives each spin a weight that a conventional high-score chase might lack.

The game’s horror comes from more than that central punishment. Body horror, existential unease, and a touch of sacrilege shape the experience, making it an especially fitting choice for October. Yet its strongest hook may be how readily its run-based structure invites another attempt. Christie says the game has kept him chasing a better score, with no plans to stop soon. That’s a useful measure of its appeal: the pit is frightening, but the pull of one more run may be stronger.

Pokémon Go brings seasonal costumes outdoors

For Daz Skubich, Pokémon Go is a Halloween game because it gives familiar Pokémon seasonal outfits and puts ghost types in the spotlight. This year’s event includes Pikachu wearing a hat and cape, Sinistea with a bow, and a special Mega Chandelure Raid Day. The appeal is partly the hunt for limited-time looks, and partly the chance to revisit a collection built up over years of events.

The game also lends itself to Halloween plans beyond the screen. Players can set a ghost Pokémon as their buddy while walking, follow local Routes in search of Zygarde cells during trick-or-treating, or use augmented reality mode to photograph friends and family alongside costumed Pokémon. Switching on the game’s music brings back the eerie Lavender Town soundtrack, a small bit of nostalgia that fits an evening outdoors.

Skubich points out that the game has accumulated a decade of Halloween costumes. For returning players, that collection is a record of past seasonal events; for newcomers, it offers a reason to see how the mobile game has held its place. Pocket Tactics has a Pokémon Go review for readers weighing it up.

Dressmaker trades scares for gothic style

Not every seasonal game needs a monster. Holly Alice has been playing Dressmaker on Steam Deck, a recent release built around clothing commissions and custom designs. Townsfolk request garments to suit their preferences, while players can also create pieces to sell off the rack. That open-ended creative loop offers a gentler counterpoint to the season’s survival horror.

Alice has used prompts such as pumpkins, bogs, and raven feathers to make increasingly elaborate gothic outfits. The game’s appeal lies in taking a theme and turning it into a design, rather than trying to frighten the player. She’s enjoying it on both Steam Deck and PC, and would like to see it come to Switch 2, where the Joy-Cons’ mouse functionality could suit its fashion-focused controls.

Hellraiser: Revival pushes survival horror to extremes

Kayleigh Partleton’s pick is Clive Barker’s Hellraiser: Revival, a long-awaited game set in the horror franchise’s world. Saber Interactive makes pain and pleasure central to the experience, with gore, sexual content, and frightening enemies turning Aidan’s effort to save his girlfriend into a demanding ordeal. Partleton describes it as an endurance test in places, a sign that this one is aimed at players who want horror with a sharp edge.

The game also borrows familiar survival-horror ideas. Its inventory management calls for arranging items Tetris-style, while a merchant supplies weapons and upgrades. Those touches recall Resident Evil 4 and Village, giving players practical systems to work through alongside the franchise’s more extreme material. Partleton’s Hellraiser: Revival review offers more detail for anyone considering the game.

Death Road to Canada makes survival a group problem

Quinn Collins doesn’t usually seek out horror, but Death Road to Canada has pulled them into a series of runs on Nintendo Switch 2. The game’s zombie threat is only one part of the challenge. Players must keep a traveling group supplied, manage morale, and react when danger reaches the party. A run can unravel because the undead attack—or because a companion causes trouble first.

Its structure recalls The Oregon Trail: a crew to manage, grim odds, and the suspicion that the journey might have gone better with a different weapon. Collins says reaching Canada for the first time felt like winning the lottery. The game offsets its unsettling premise with goofy dialogue, including options to tell someone to “cool it” or call them a “dink.” That mix makes it a good fit for players who want zombie chaos without a relentlessly grim tone.

Diablo IV offers a gothic co-op session

Sam Comrie recommends Diablo IV for players who want their Halloween darkness paired with loot and character progression. Sanctuary is filled with demons and other hostile creatures, and the action sends players through grim dungeons as they uncover a threat to the world. The game supports up to four players, so its gothic fantasy can also make for a group session.

Comrie has been playing on Nintendo Switch 2. Cross-play with PlayStation 5, Xbox, and PC lets friends join from other platforms, while cross-progression carries a character between them. That flexibility sits alongside a steady stream of skill, weapon, and armor choices for players who enjoy building up a character and searching for better gear. Comrie’s Diablo IV review covers the Switch 2 version.

Fatal Frame II makes silence part of the scare

Tilly Lawton’s choice is the Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly Remake, which follows twin sisters Mio and Mayu after they become trapped in a village haunted by vengeful spirits. Their main defense is the mysterious Camera Obscura. Using it to confront the ghosts is also part of the game’s distinctive approach to combat, while the sisters piece together the village’s history and their connection to it.

Lawton likes how the remake lets its horror unfold slowly. It relies on quiet, atmosphere, and lingering tension as much as sudden scares, with a haunting story and mechanics that test the player’s nerve. The result offers a different kind of seasonal fear from action-heavy zombie games. Readers can find more in Lawton’s Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly Remake review.

These picks show how broad a Halloween game can be: a punishing roguelite, a mobile collection, a design sandbox, or a slow-burn ghost story can all suit the same season. For more recommendations, browse Pocket Tactics’ guides to horror games, mobile games, indie games, and Steam Deck games.