Best Online Video Game Halloween Events To Celebrate The Holiday
October has arrived, bringing with it the joys and terrors of another Halloween season. As candy and costumes fill store shelves and horror movies take over Netflix, video games from Animal Crossing: New Horizons to Apex Legends are also gearing up to get into the spooky spirit with Halloween-themed, in-game live events, allowing players to celebrate the holiday from the comfort of their own homes.
While true spookiness reigns supreme in nearly every medium during October, horror video games aren’t for everyone. Thankfully, a variety games across nearly every genre host Halloween-themed events for players each, allowing even the most easily spooked gamers to join in on the festivities without real fear. MMOs like World of Warcraft have long held holidays in-game, and live-service games like Fortnite in other genres have since adopted similar limited-time events.
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With physical gatherings mostly out of the question in 2020, many video game fans are likely missing the excitement of various October festivities. Here are a few of the best Halloween-themed video game events gamers can look forward to this year, hopefully letting players experience a bit of that lost holiday spirit.
Details have yet to be revealed for 2020’s hotly anticipated Apex Legends Halloween event, but 2019’s Fight or Fright Collection Event may offer some clues. In addition to a variety of both earnable and premium cosmetics, Fight or Fright featured a nighttime version of the King’s Canyon map in the limited Shadowfall mode, in which a mysterious figure hosted a warped version of the Apex Games. In Shadowfall, players who died during the initial battle royale would respawn as undead versions of their characters with new abilities, joining the Shadow Squad with the rest of the undead to oppose the remaining living Legends. The event offered a dark, exciting twist on the game perfect for the Halloween season, hopefully setting the stage for an even better follow-up this October.
Since 2017, Hinterland Games has treated players of their game The Long Dark to a four-day Halloween event titled 4 Days of Night. The event transforms the The Long Dark’s open-world survival in ways both big and small, from the high calorie snacks found outside of houses to replenish health to terrifying demon-wolf enemies that threaten players’ survival. Best of all, the game world is plunged into perpetual darkness for the entire event, promising gamers a scary-good time. Though the event has yet to be confirmed for 2020, the game’s recent port to the Nintendo Switch sets the perfect stage for it to return this October.
Ghost Pokémon can be a little hard to come by in Pokémon GO’s augmented reality world, especially during the long daylight of the summer. Thankfully, since its release in 2016, the game has treated trainers to a Halloween-themed event every October, featuring special Halloween-themed outfits, spooky research tasks and raids, and increased appearances of Ghost- and Dark-type Pokémon. Trainers should start saving up their Pokéballs and Potions – Niantic’s announcement of Giritana coming to five-star raids is just the beginning of Pokémon GO’s October programming, with further events to follow later this month.
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Destiny 2’s Festival of the Lost returns for its third annual event October 6. Free for all Destiny 2 players, this year’s festival will see a return to the randomly generated Haunted Forest with a quest involving Spider. Top prizes for the 2020 event include new rolls for the Horror Story and Braytech Werewolf Auto Rifles – two previous Festival of the Lost weapons – as well as a new Exotic Sparrow, ship, and Ghost. And, of course, festival participants can show their spirit with a variety of spooky masks and armor.
The annual Overwatch Halloween Terror event has been a staple of the game since its release in 2016. Though the details of this year’s event have yet to be revealed, past iterations have included weekly challenges, Halloween-themed versions of existing maps, creepy new enemies, and, of course, a variety of Halloween-themed skins, voice lines, and other loot. The event generally runs for about three weeks, so Overwatch players should keep an eye out for an announcement from Blizzard in the coming days.
Whether they prefer the gentle AR experience of Pokémon Go or the heart-thumping battle royales of Apex Legends, there is a Halloween-themed event for every gamer this October. Just be sure to stock up on candy before settling into a game – the rush to buy candy last-minute on October 31 is the most dangerous game of all.
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