All Hallows’ Eve is nearly upon us. Our day of bobbing for apples, carving pumpkins, and trick-or-treating is finally here. It’sHalloween! But spooky season isn’t just for October, it’s for life. And if there’s one thing video games does good, it’s being spooky.

So, if you don’t fancy braving the cold, grab your pumpkin spiced lattes, stock up on toffee apples, and stick on your Nintendo, PlayStation or Xbox and get gaming with Team Venom’s spookiest games of all time.

Five Nights at Freddy’s

Life as night security guard at a pizza restaurant should be pretty cushty. But there’s no such thing as a simple shift at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza. In Five Nights At Freddy’s, you’ll spend your time defending yourself from Freddy, Foxy, Bonnie, and Chica – a gang of malfunctioning animatronic animals - which doesn’t sound so bad at first.

But there’s a catch. You never know where the characters are, or when they’ll show up. They arrive right in front of you, giving you jump-scares that’ll have you pole-vaulting over your sofa. If you fancy dialling up the fright fest, explore the series – there’s trips to amusement parks, children’s parties, and ventilation systems – and get lost in its virtual nightmares.

Resident Evil 7: Biohazard

A first-person frolic through an abandoned house searching for your missing wife sounds like standard Resident Evil stuff. Doesn’t sound too scary or spooky, does it? But don’t forget, there’s never enough bullets, there’s the creepy Baker family who want to kill you in every corner of their home and constantly regenerate, and decisions to make that’ll shock you to your core.

If it still doesn’t sound spooky enough, try switching the lights off and playing the game in VR – being chased through the corridors by bloodthirsty zombies doesn’t sound so nice now, does it?

Pathologic 2

A mind-bending tale of a plague-riddled town inspired by the dying Russian Empire doesn’t sound like it should be spooky. It’s a Victorian thriller waiting to be filmed, right? In Pathologic 2’s case, it’s one of the most frightening games you’ll ever play.

You step into the shoes of Doctor Artemy Burakh, tasked with clearing your name of a wrongful murder as you scrounge for food and water, fend off infection, and cure the disease that’s spreading throughout the world. You’ve got 12 days to do it, and everyone around you can succumb to the sickness, shifting how your story unfolds. Okay, it actually does sound frightening.

But none of that is what makes Pathologic 2 one of the spookiest games you’ll ever play. It’s the cryptic nightmares, creepy characters, and crazy side quests that come out at night that’ll have you shaking in your boots for Halloween’s to come.

Amnesia: The Dark Descent

One of your earliest experiences of horror will be the monsters hiding under your bed. Monsters chasing us has frightened us since we stepped out of our cribs and into our own beds. And Amnesia: The Dark Descent takes that primal fear to a whole new level.

The longer you stay in the darkness, and the more horrifying imagery you focus on, you’ll feel your sanity slowly slip away – literally! As you navigate the creepy Castle Brennenburg, you’ll need to manage the sanity mechanic by avoiding staying in the dark too long.

But don’t forget, if monsters spot you in the light, they’ll chase you until you can get out of their sight. Oh, and there’s no weapons, or ways of fighting them off, so it gets spookier and spookier the deeper into the dark you descend.

Outlast

Outlast isn’t so much spooky as it is mind-numbingly terrifying. Whereas the survival horror of classics like Resident Evil and Silent Hill have you managing your resources, Outlast has you managing your ability to not ragequit and run behind your sofa.

Your time as freelance investigative journalist Miles Upshur going undercover at Mount Massive Asylum to search for your next scoop is relentlessly scary. Enemies won’t leave you alone until you're six feet under ,and you’ve not got anything but a camera to really protect you.

Outlast tests your ability to withstand the world’s most horrifying thoughts made virtual. Take the moment you’re hiding under a blood-stained bed while a mad, skeletal doctor hunts you down; you’ll feel the fear coursing through your very veins as the goosebumps cover you.

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