It’s All Hallow’s Eve, and no one celebrates quite like a horde of soon-to-be-dismembered polygons. Every year, developers roll out Halloween events for some of the biggest games. Here’s a quick rundown of some of the best.
“Scream Fortress” for Team Fortress 2 has you completing custom “Merasmissions” and working to loot the community-created Gargoyle Case. You’ll get the chance to earn 19 new items, as well as items from all past Halloween events. Best of all, none of these rewards have the Halloween or Full Moon restrictions from previous years. Like a kid with a garbage bag full of candy, you can then show off your stats to the other players on the scoreboard. All previous Halloween modes are available, along with four new maps, as well as revenue shares for their creators. Mannpower Mode is also out of beta, with its own map and three new power-ups — “plague,” “king,” and “supernova.”
Destiny‘s Festival of the Lost tasks you with quests to collect masks — which you can trade or dismantle for a chance to upgrade — and grab festival candy for temporary buffs. There are new legendary dances to learn (read: buy), and you can download and create your own guardian masks to wear around outside in real life to make sure your neighbors think less of you. Taken King owners can enjoy the Cathedral of Dusk multiplayer map, which will remain in rotation even after the Festival ends.
ARK: Fear Evolved brings new holiday-themed items to craft and collect, beasts to tame, free game codes, and a new Steam achievement in ARK: Survival Evolved. The Fear: Evolved contest will give a $100 Steam Wallet gift code to the first survivor to post a video of them slaying the mythical “Dodo Rex” that wanders the land (with bloodthirsty zombie dodos in tow) on a PVP server. I killed a normal dodo on the beach where I spawned, then I felt terrible about it and tried to befriend the next one. I was promptly disemboweled. I don’t think I’m going to win this one, guys.
Dota 2‘s Haunted Colosseum is a new 5-on-5 territory control battle, and it comes alongside a revamp to the custom games overview page — replacing the “suggested games” list with a much cleaner “open lobby” list. This is intended to get people into lobbies and actually playing the game far more quickly. The extensive update has plenty more general quality of life improvements, such as a new “game of the day” panel and the Tribute of the Sharpened Feather (a second Tribute treasure for Fall Compendium owners). You’ll find improvements in personal profiles for showcasing achievements, offline solo play, and managing downloaded replays. While less specific in its Halloween thematic content, it’s a robust addition just in time for getting you out of one of those truly terrifying “Halloween alternative” events by your local youth group.
Grand Theft Auto V is already a perfect example of what it would be like if the level of social chaos on Halloween night happened every single day. Despite already being an unofficial constant stream of people in masks collecting treats and vandalizing cars, Rockstar has upped the ante with their Halloween Surprise. A new adversarial Slasher mode is live, along with permanent commemorative items. These include a “Lurcher” hearse and the Frankenstage. Twenty new dashboard bobbleheads and new masks and face paints have been added, making your constant stalking of the only female avatar on the server even creepier than it is during the rest of the year.
Virtually every MMO in existence is joining in on the fun, so if your hacking and slashing includes thousands of other people in giant shoulderpads, you should log on and check it out. Me, I’m just going to sit at home and steal candy from my children while I bring all of you more content to read when you should be working. The real monster is me.
Nate Church is @Get2Church on Twitter, and he can’t become a wildly overhyped internet celebrity without your help. Follow, retweet, and favorite everything he says. It’s the Right Thing To Do™!