By: Max Cannon
Special holiday segments aren't exclusive to TV shows and made-for-television movies, video games have had their fair share of holiday-based levels or games based entirely around the theme. With Halloween coming around the corner, it's a perfect time to take a look at the best use of Halloween in video gaming!
1. The Costume Quest Series
Costume Quest is an RPG that takes place on Halloween and is made from the awesome developers over at Double Fine Productions, the team behind Psychonauts and this year's Psychonauts in The Rhombus of Ruin. Controlling some trick or treaters as they go door-to-door on Halloween night is an interesting setup in itself but when you bundle in some awesome, turn-based, RPG gameplay you get one of the smartest uses of a holiday in the industry.
Costume Quest 2 - PAX Gameplay Trailer | PS4, PS3
It's easy to think that a Halloween based game would be filled with scares but Costume Quest focuses on the other side of the night. The fun of being with your friends, showing off your cool costumes, and going door-to-door to get your hands on the best candy in the neighborhood is perfectly realized in this fun game. It's also a family-friendly pair of games that aren't more expensive than $15 at the most and only $9.99 for the original. This is maybe the best realization of Halloween in a video game.
A screenshot from the original Costume Quest.Courtesy of PlayStation
2. The Kingdom Hearts Series
Kingdom Hearts is a much-beloved franchise that mixes up the worlds of Final Fantasy and Disney into an action-RPG with an overly complicated story. Players will be running all over the world to worlds like Aladdin's Agrabah, Neverland from Peter Pan, and even Halloween Town from The Nightmare Before Christmas. Our main characters, Sora, Donald Duck, and Goofy, all head over to Halloween Town in one level to fight the Heartless alongside Jack Skellington, the main character of the movie and source material.
Sora's first trip to Halloween Town in the original game.
While the first game is a barebones trip to the town, the second game returns players to not just Halloween Town but Christmas Town with a plot that is similar to that of the movie. The opportunity to explore a town that's entirely based on the atmosphere of the holiday season is a perfect way to honor not only the film but the holidays and what exactly they mean for us who participate in the holiday season. Maybe we'll be seeing a return to Halloween Town in Kingdom Hearts 3?
The adventure to Christmas Town changes up our hero's costume.
3. Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare
We'll be lucky enough, hopefully, to get our hands on the sequel to Red Dead Redemption later this year. A cowboy game set in the wild west was an awesome game that was made even better by its zombie DLC that came out just in time for Halloween. Many hail this as the best DLC of all time and it's a perfect take on an already beloved game. John Marston's tale resolves in a truly Halloween-esque fashion when he learns that all of the zombies are created by a haunted mask, very reminiscent of something you'd expect on the holiday.
Red Dead Redemption 2 Trailer
With all of this talk of a sequel, maybe the latest entry will also get its own horrific take on zombies. But until then I'll be happy to just play through the original, which is backward compatible with Xbox One.
Have Your Say!
Which Halloween games mean the most to you? Have you played any of the above games? Share your comments below!
