4 New Horror Games for Halloween

Halloween. If you’re a bit too old to go trick-and-treating, and you’re not in the mood for a debaucherous dress-up party – what to do? You always try and having a few friends over for a games night. We look at some of the best new games to enjoy this Halloween.

Dead of Winter: The Long Night

I think it’s fair to say that the original Dead of Winter did quite well for Plaid Hat Games – hyped to heck and gone, and sold out / reprinting for long periods after launch after receiving rave reviews.

It was essentially The Walking Dead in cardboard format. The real enemy in the game was not the horde of zombies banging on your settlement’s door, but the people next to you, helping to bar the door… or were they? Dead of Winter is a semi co-op title in which everybody works together to make it through the zombie apocalypse, but by introducing a traitor mechanic some of your co-players could have their own agenda and secretly be plotting against the survival of your colony.

Dead of Winter: The Long Night is a new standalone game but it can also act as an expansion to the original game. It introduces more characters, items, crossroads cards and objectives, but also the ability to now upgrade your colony, and protect if from outsiders.Upgrades can include fires to heal frostbite damage as well morale improvements with outhouses (you really still need that in an zombie apocalypse) and the bandits add the mechanic of having third parties raid your locations for equipment you may need. There are also the big bad that you will find in the Raxxon location, with super mutants as well as super powers for those characters willing to take the risk of investigating. With the end of the world looming, you may as well play with all the extras and attempt to survive for as long as you can!

Obtain more of everything that made Dead of Winter an epic struggle for power and survival! Experience a new colony full of new survivors and new gameplay elements, each of which is introduced to players through its own game scenario. Fight off bandits from another colony, build improvements to your colony, and most intriguingly, unravel the mysteries of the new Raxxon Pharmaceutical location. It is full of powerful items, but also full of Raxxon’s twisted human experiments that show up in the game as disturbing new enemies.

Mansions of Madness 2nd Edition

Mansions of Madness 2nd Ed is a revamp of the 2011 original, a horror storytelling adventure in which one player acts as a gamemaster (referred to as “The keeper”) and orchestrates a scenario for 1 to 4 other investigators. The investigators work together to find clues to solve a mystery, battling Lovecraftian horrors along the way, and conclude the story – the ending of which will be affected by what happens along the way.

The latest edition of Mansions of Madness changes things up with the assistance of a companion app. The app takes over the role of the keeper, which means that the game can also be enjoyed as a solo experience. But that’s not the only aspect the app controls – it randomizes the layout of the mansion, making sure that no two playthroughs are the same.

You’ll all work together to investigate the evil and have all the leg work of administering the scenario lopped off in a horrifically satisfying manner. With new scenario expansions on the way, digital downloads available for new adventures this all may seem a bit too jolly for Halloween, but playing through one of the more difficult scenarios will have you crying as you reset the board.

Fight for your life in Mansions of Madness Second Edition, the app-assisted horror game inspired by the works of H.P. Lovecraft. From the makers of Eldritch Horror, this fully cooperative game takes you and up to four other players on a harrowing adventure through the dark and desolate halls and alleyways of Arkham. Much like the original Mansions of Madness game, the second edition offers a number of thrilling and confounding scenarios, each with a unique and unpredictable map, intricate puzzles, and bloodthirsty monsters.

Betrayal at House on the Hill: Widow’s Walk

Betrayal at House on the Hill is a classic entry in the horror genre. Players explore a haunted mansion but they discover that one of their party members is trying to kill them. Fight off spirits and uncover who the traitor is.

The game’s popularity is why people have been begging for an expansion (sure, the main game was only released in 2004 :P) , and finally we now have Betrayal at House on the Hill: Widow’s Walk. The expansion adds more areas to explore, with new rooms and a whole new floor – the roof. There are also new monsters, items and over 50 new “haunts” – story elements.

And these are not from the wealth of fan generated haunts throughout the years, but heavy-weights of the industry coming together around the campfire at midnight to tell their own tales of horror and betrayal. These include a Cards against Humanity creator Eli Halpern (thats terrifying enough), as well as Rob Daviau, Jon Gilmour and Zoe Quinn who have all penciled their worst fears for you to play through. We can’t wait to get our copy to bring the original game out of its place in the attic!

Now the horror reaches new heights with Widow’s Walk—the first-ever expansion for the critically acclaimed board game Betrayal at House on the Hill. The house is expanded with the addition of 20 new rooms, including the roof, a previously unexplored floor. Also in its halls you will find new monsters, items, omens, events, and 50 brand-new haunts, penned by an all-star cast of contributors from the world of gaming and entertainment. In Widow’s Walk, terror and panic are taken to a whole new level.

Arkham Horror the LCG

Arkham Horror The Card Game is Fantasy Flight Game’s latest entry in their popular Arkham range. It is a living card game that takes the Cthulhu mythos and places it in the same co-operative system of the Lord of the Rings Living Card Game. Players take on the role of investigators, with each assigned one of 5 classes which grants unique abilities. Use these abilities to work together to overcome whatever troubles the Elder gods are throwing at you, and complete various campaigns.

Coming out next week sadly, but still a terrifying long campaign awaits fans of the Arkham Files series. In an RPG style narrative you’ll be equipping your hero with cards and forming a deck of boons and curses which will develop over multiple story lines. The narrative maps to be explored are created through the cards and each scenarios toughness can be scaled to a players preferred difficulty level as well as number of players. Its also looking to be the solo gaming sleeper hit that ironically might give you nightmares.

Arkham Horror: The Card Game is a cooperative Living Card Game® set amid a backdrop of Lovecraftian horror. As the Ancient Ones seek entry to our world, one to two investigators (or up to four with two Core Sets) work to unravel arcane mysteries and conspiracies.

Their efforts determine not only the course of your game, but carry forward throughout whole campaigns, challenging them to overcome their personal demons even as Arkham Horror: The Card Game blurs the distinction between the card game and roleplaying experiences.

If you’re looking to take a stab at some of the “Classic” horror games, we suggest you try any of the following:

• Fury of Dracula
• City of Horror
• One Night Ultimate Werewolf
• Eldritch Horror

And those are our suggestions. Are there any games you are looking forward to playing this Halloween?