Jack-o’-lanterns. Orange and purple lights. Spooky decals. If you live anywhere that values the concept of fun, you’ve probably been seeing these things pop up around you lately — or maybe you’ve been getting in on the decorating yourself! That means it’s the Halloween season!
While it’s always fun to sit back with a good horror movie, book, or game, this is the time to go crazy with all things horror. If you’re looking for some more vintage-styled Halloween fun, though, we’ve put together a list of five great pixel art games worth playing during the Halloween season.
Halloween Forever
It’s right there in the title, folks. Halloween Forever celebrates the spooky holiday by featuring all kinds of monstrous ghouls and creepy settings. You play as a pumpkin-headed character who spits out — Are you ready for this? — candy corn!
Levels in Halloween Forever include a graveyard, mansion, and church. Admittedly, there’s an undeniable degree of charm to these stages thanks in large part to the game’s pixel art. That said, the hanging corpses, giant leech enemies, and spike traps are still pretty daunting, especially since Halloween Forever isn’t an easy game. It’s not too brutal, but it’s a tough little indie platformer.
Haunted: Halloween ‘86 — The Curse of Possum Hollow
The folks over at Retrotainment Games love the Nintendo Entertainment System. Haunted: Halloween ‘86 — The Curse of Possum Hollow would’ve fit right in on the NES. And actually, it did! The game was originally created on an NES cartridge and was completely playable on Nintendo’s old-school platform.
Haunted: Halloween ‘86 is the follow-up to the aptly titled Haunted: Halloween ‘85. Both games draw inspiration from beat-’em-ups like River City Ransom and add tricky platforming and challenging boss fights — including a battle against an enemy that looks like a nod to Maniac Cop. There’s also no save system, but fret not, because clearing a stage rewards you with a password, so if you get a game over, you can continue where you left off so long as you remember to jot down that password somewhere.
Savage Halloween
Here we have another game with “Halloween” in the title, but that’s okay because we love the holiday, right? Anyway, Savage Halloween is a shoot-’em-up platformer. The game is challenging, throwing enemies, obstacles, and traps at you from every direction.
In Savage Halloween, you can pick between a character with a Jack-o’-lantern head (like in Halloween Forever!), a puppy that turns into a werewolf, and a vampire with a floating jump like Princess Peach in Super Mario Bros. 2. There are Frankenstein monsters, giant spiders, and goblins everywhere, and they’re all presented in glorious, colorful pixels.
Witcheye
Witcheye is a nice little title that’s super lighthearted and perfect for those moments when you just need a chill game to sit back and relax with. You play as a witch who’s at home minding her own business when a “heroic warrior” steals all of her treasure.
In order to reclaim her riches, the witch turns into a large eyeball and takes on cutesy enemies that could’ve been taken from a Kirby game. You’ll battle spiked toads, aggressive ravens, and giant skulls. It’s good, simple fun, and it’s great if you’re just leaning back in your favorite chair and want something to pass a few moments with.
Party Hard
Probably the darkest game on this list, Party Hard (as well as its sequel) takes after slasher films. You play as a masked psychopath who’s annoyed by all the noise his neighbors are making with their late-night party. The solution: Put on a Jason Vorhees-like mask and murder all those fools!
Party Hard features stealth-action gameplay. You’ll have to hide and sneak in the shadows, taking out partiers one-by-one to satisfy your bloodlust… and hopefully get some rest afterward.
Honorable Mention: Hillbilly Doomsday
It may not be perfect, but Hillbilly Doomsday has quite a few fun moments. The game is a platformer/hack-and-slash/shoot-’em-up that takes you across farms, caves, and even an alien-invaded city. You’ll have to protect the homestead from zombies, giant killer tomatoes, and all kinds of nasty ghouls using your trusty shovel and shotgun. The last few stages are messy and not much fun, but overall, Hillbilly Doomsday offers up enough entertainment to make it worth a look.
