Halloween events in games

You don`t have to travel to Florida themeparks like I did a couple weeks ago to experience something spooky. You can just sit around and play a videogame. I adore Halloween in all shapes and forms, and as a game designer myself, I find their seasonal events extremely inspirational.

It would take far too much time to list the Halloween events of every videogame around. Most simply give people things to collect & exchange for costumes - or sell them in a cash shop. Instead, I've picked a few that do something unique when the season rolls around.

Great gifts for an online game player

I've written these too. Sure, it's not halloween, but everyone has birthdays. :)

Warcraft

Guild Wars had the most memorable Halloween events out of everyone I've talked to while creating this page. I haven't had a chance to experience it myself yet, but I will be this year. The game has been running for many years - improving and expanding their seasonal event-every time it comes around.

Towns get eeriely themed decorations. Non-player characters appear, bestowing tons of quests. A special character by the name of Mad King Thorn appears from the Underworld, granting boons to players... and killing them mercilessly if they don't give in to his insane demands or lose in a match of rock, paper, scissors.

Halloween 2006 promotional video:

(I couldn't find the more recent ones to post here.)

The Haunted Burrow / Harvestmath / Fall Festival

A mysterious burrow has been found beneath Bilbo's home in the Shire, and it's up to you to explore it. It's basically a haunted house with a lot of different quests sending you around inside.

However, it`s not scary at all - it`s intentionally cute. LOTRO puts a much friendlier twist on the season. For example, there are little hobbits in blanket ghost costumes. Players can win exclusive horses in races, learn new emotes, and have a chance of finding a very weird looking painted skeleton steed.

Unlike most, LOTRO's Halloween event happens a few weeks before October 31st.

A fan-made preview video of Biblo's Haunted Burrow, starts at 0:20.

Hillbilly Horror Event

KF can basically be described as "a game about shooting zombies and things". However, for Halloween, all the enemies in the game are replaced by hillbilly zombies and similarily themed monsters.

They get new voice sets as well. Special achievements are available for the halloween season. Players can unlock a new character costume skin if they complete them all.

Warning: The video (and game) contain computer-generated gore.

Hasn't started yet, but it's bound to be good after what they've done in the previous game. See the following for more information as it gets closer to October 31st:

A press preview:

Endless Night of Mabar

One silly thing about Halloween in DDO is how they change their beholder monsters. Those are one of the most iconic about DND. They're basically a floating eyeball of death with a mouth, and eyestalks. But for halloween? They're gigantic pumpkins (image, another) and skulls (image) with eyestalks. It's hilarious... until they kill you...

There`s a graveyard filled with undead, shadowy things, and pumpkin decorations. The video below shows it. Normal stuff for a MMO game. Every few hours a special dungeon becomes available - with a big ghost dragon to defeat. The story is almost non-existant, but what really sets it apart is what happens inside.

A player is brought to a random location after opening the door. Around thirty players are also somewhere in the dungeon with them, randomly chosen from all the people trying to get in. There is no limit to the number of these instances - enough for everyone. There are also no instructions. You have to communicate using just public chat, and organize yourselves into 8 different groups who split up. The map is big enough to switch groups, but they have to work together at the same time when the dragon arrives. Everyone loses if one group fails.

That might not sound like fun. I'm sure it frustrates some people. I'm impressed that the designers actually managed to convince their bosses to let them put it in a game.

Players get to use actual leadership skills with people they've never met before, strategize, and make bonds in tiny groups as they try to complete their task. All that in ten minutes!

This is a game for younger audiences - most of the people I saw in my travels there were under the age of 20. A mysterious Punkin King appears in dungeons, offering people a chance to get candy. You can trade it for cosmetic items if you get enough. Nothing special there.

Spiral Knights goes an extra mile by making the Punkin King a minigame. He turns into a giant pumpkin pinata you have to chase around, bouncing away from your characters and their attacks. He is really difficult to hit with most weapons, but doing so releases goodies.

There`s just one problem... the Punkin King has friends. Mad, bombing pumpkin friends. They explode whenever they touch you and chase you around. Dying to them is very common. It`s a fun (in my opinion) and extremely intense minigame good enough for a short game of its own.

To put it in DOTA terms:

"Items are dropping like candy, candy drops your HP, Invoker is no longer an arsenal magus but an egg incubator."

That description was posted by tsunami643 on NeoGaf.

This game features a redecorated combat zone, filled with werewolves and undead to fight. Costume items as quest rewards. Sounded like typical things you`d find in a MMO. I am not familiar with this game at all and couldn't find any informative writeups. I was going to skip mentioning it, but Rift's team get bonus points for releasing this video: