Upcoming Spookies: 15 Horror Games Releasing This Halloween | 2026
You know what month it is? It’s spooky month! And you know what that means? Hundreds, if not thousands of horror games that range from pretty neat to absolutely terrible. Some are bound to scare you, others will undoubtedly make you laugh and walk away.
Given how creative you can be with horror, with the right amount of imagination, you can make all kinds of scary games, and a lot of what gets made this time of year often gets overlooked simply because of how busy the market currently is.
So I’ve done the job of painstakingly browsing through every indie horror game I could find that’s coming out on Steam throughout the entirety of October. That means going through some genuinely horrific-looking games, and I don’t mean that in a “they look scary” kind of way.
In the end, however, my quest was a success, and I have managed to find 15 spooky games encompassing a wide array of genres and styles. We have survival horror, shooters, puzzlers, platformers, and all manner of unique adventures. There are even a few co-op games thrown into the mix.
If you’re looking for some tense experiences to persevere through, then I hope at least one of these games stands out to you. Every entry you see here will be available for purchase on Steam, and I will provide links to all of their store pages.
Anyway, Happy Halloween! Let the horror show commence!
ABSOLUTELY NOTHING GOOD
ABSOLUTELY NOTHING GOOD is a first-person, retro-style psychological horror taking place in a roadside mini-market. You are working the night shift, and are responsible for keeping the store tidy and stocked, all the while serving the odd customer making their way through.
Tonight is no ordinary night, however. It’s Halloween night, and that means the barriers between the worlds of the living and the dead are stretched thin. When you come across strange sightings in the darkness, will you still be able to do your job?
Looks like a relatively straightforward experience with a prime focus on storytelling and atmosphere. The art style and presentation look spot on, and some of the creepier screenshots definitely look unsettling. This one releases on the 2nd October.
The Call Button
Another one featuring a retro art style, The Call Button is an observation-based survival horror taking place mostly inside a hospital room. You’ve been committed here after something happened in your job, and are unable to escape.
Every day you wake up in this hospital room, only, things are not what they seem. Very quickly you begin to see unexplainable events, or anomalies, as the game calls them. Once spotted, you must take your medication. If nothing is wrong, you press the call button for your daily-check in.
There’s a mystery to solve here. On the last day of your job, you stole secret files from your company. The story is told through nightmare scenarios where the past comes to haunt you. The longer you survive, the scarier the whole thing gets. The Call Button releases on the 6th October.
Invokyr
Our first multiplayer game on this list, Invokyr is a co-op survival horror game taking place in a haunted house ruled by the Gamemaster. In order to escape, you must beat the Gamemaster by completing trials and enduring the horrors that are thrown at you.
Each round you must roll a dice, and that dice determines what obstacles you will face. The house is massive, filled with different biomes that challenge you in different ways. It’s best to work as a team to have the best chances of escaping, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you have to.
Everywhere you traverse, there are dangers to face, whether they are traps hidden away or monsters lurking in the darkness. There’s a lot of variety on offer here, and it’s one of those games that looks to be amusing one minute, then terrifying the next. Arrives on the 8th October.
Cyan Heart
Cyan Heart is a puzzle horror game featuring a reversed camera perspective to create a unique experience. You see the world around you through a phone camera’s selfie mode, with the main character being visible at all times.
Taking place in a world facing a dangerous crisis, you must explore a seemingly abandoned facility to find a solution to “Cyan”, an unstable force of energy that is consuming and rewriting matter at an exponential rate.
What lies in wait for you inside the facility is unknown, but given the unique nature of Cyan, you must tread carefully. Since the camera is always facing the character, you will need to stop and switch perspectives to have a clear idea about where you need to go next. I really like the look of this one. It releases on the 9th October.
The Hat Man
Ever been through sleep paralysis and seen a shadowy entity in your room who looks like a tall guy wearing a hat with red eyes? Well, if you have, then here’s some free PTSD, because The Hat Man is getting his own video game.
Based on the urban legend, The Hat Man is a survival horror game that sees you facing off against the titular character through a series of encounters. You must control your breathing and blinking while retaining eye contact. Every mistake you make gets him closer to killing you.
It doesn’t stop when you have woken up, however. The Hat Man isn’t just a figment of your imagination. He is in your house. What comes after that has yet to be revealed. In all seriousness, this is one of the more amusing titles on the list, but I had to include it. Comes out on the 9th October.
PAPERHEAD
Less of a horror game and more of a boomer shooter with some very creepy visuals, PAPERHEAD is a fast-paced FPS taking place in a research facility harbouring a dark history. What was once a place filled with cute, sentient cardboard cutouts, is now a twisted nightmare.
Explore the facility and uncover what happened that resulted in everything being the way it is. Shoot, kick and explode anything in your way. The residents here may have been cute once, but now they are terrifying monsters who deserve no mercy.
Use an arsenal of weapons to defeat them, or just kick them to death. You also have a pencil that can interact with the world around you, whether that’s through drawing explosives or doors to make a path forward. There’s also a heavy metal soundtrack because of course there is. This one also releases on the 9th October.
My Beautiful Faraway, Please Don’t Be Cruel To Me
The one I’m most interested in on this list, My Beautiful Faraway, Please Don’t Be Cruel To Me, is the very long name for the puzzle adventure game taking place in a dream-like limbo. Self-described as an unhurried experience, there is no handholding here, meaning you must explore your surroundings without any guidance on what to do.
It’s a bit of a loose horror game in that its creepiness stems from its atmosphere and visual presentation, but the lack of explanation of what things mean and how people ended up getting lost here do make for a disturbing first impression.
Although it’s a short game, there’s still plenty to uncover, including multiple endings and worldbuilding elements. The main gameplay loop revolves around exploration, interacting with people and hearing their stories and solving intricate puzzles, all the while being left on your own to figure out where to go next. I'm really looking forward to this one. It releases on the 13th October.
Store Page: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4516190/My_Beautiful_Faraway_Please_Dont_Be_Cruel_To_Me/
Blue Ridge Hunting
Blue Ridge Hunting is a co-op game set deep in the Appalachian mountains. You play as a hunter tasked with locating signs of cryptids in the region, gathering as much evidence as you can. Before long, however, you will come face to face with the creatures you are tracking, and the job turns into a fight for survival.
The game will be playable solo, or with up to five people. One clever twist if you are playing with friends is that the cryptids react to your voice if you are using proximity chat. Communication is vital, but also very risky, and you never know what kind of creature you may encounter in the woods.
Speaking of environments, maps are designed based on real locations in the region, albeit with a retro coat of paint on it. There’s also a campaign mode, though details on that remain minimal. More to this one than meets the eye. Blue Ridge Hunting releases on the 20th October.
Inky’s Sleep
Here’s something mildly distressing. Inky’s Sleep is a 2D side-scrolling adventure game that sees you playing as Inky, a seemingly innocuous cat that’s managed to find himself in a twisted world filled with all manner of horrifying monsters.
The star of the show here is the presentation. Some fantastic-looking hand drawn visuals for both the environments and the enemies. It all feels straight out of a nightmare. A lot of work has gone into making everything unnerving to look at. There’s never a moment that feels safe.
You’ll be traversing this hellscape in search of a way out, and for an end to the darkness that is plaguing Inky. This means avoiding whatever denizens you come across and solving elaborate puzzles that may or may not have randomised solutions. I love cats, so I will probably never play this, but it’s definitely checking all the horror boxes. Releases on the 21st October.
Lighthouse of Madness
Lovecraft fans might want to keep an eye on this one. Lighthouse of Madness is a first-person horror game taking place on a remote island harbouring a dark history. Sent to locate a missing team of lighthouse workers, you are quickly thrown into an intense life or death struggle that tests your mental wellbeing.
Upon arrival, you discover both the lighthouse and mine are completely abandoned. There are no signs as to where the team could’ve gone. You must explore the area, solving puzzles to uncover clues, and maintain your ever-dwindling sanity.
Your only equipment is your lantern, which, while useful, can only do so much when facing the dangers of the island. Every location you travel to is filled with challenges and an uncertainty of what could be lurking around the corner. Lighthouse of Madness releases on the 21st October.
ALYSSA
ALYSSA is a first-person survival horror game taking place in a mansion filled with danger around every corner. You play as a little girl held captive by the residence’s inhabitants, all of whom are twisted in ways that appear supernatural.
In fact, everything about the mansion seems to be haunted in some way. The people who roam it are but one danger. It almost feels like the place is alive, or at the very least, everything is out to get you. Whether or not all those dangers are real and not just paranoid imaginations is a debacle you will often encounter.
Alas, there is a reason you have been kidnapped and sent here, and part of the game is figuring out why that is, as well as what makes you significant. Definitely unsettling from a visual standpoint. You’ll be able to play this for yourself on the 22nd October.
The Reflection
The Reflection is a co-op survival horror game with some puzzle solving thrown in. It feels like a mix of Phasmophobia and Dead by Daylight. You receive a letter from a friend who is supposed to be dead. You are given an address, and decide to investigate, only to be trapped once you step inside.
Immediately you are being hunted by some kind of entity. It has sharp predator skills and can sense your movements and actions. In order to escape, you must perform rituals to weaken the creature long enough to get out.
These rituals must be performed correctly, using the right items, or else things will turn out much worse. Whether or not you and your friends stay together is up to you. All communication is done through proximity voice chat. The Reflection releases on 23rd October.
Leviathan: Rhino
Another retro-style game, and one with another Lovecraft theme. Leviathan: Rhino has a rather interesting premise. You play as an old man living in a time when colossal creatures roam the Earth. Humanity has since accepted them as part of daily life and just get out of their way when they are close.
In this game, however, the old man you are playing has no intention of moving when a leviathan is on track to trample his home. Instead, you perform your daily tasks, attending to various jobs around the village and talking to residents, all the while occasionally fending off some monster in your backyard.
Judging from the trailer, the atmosphere in this one is top-notch, and is very likely the driving force behind the horror here. Either way, I thought the concept of it was fascinating, so I wanted to showcase it. Leviathan: Rhino comes out on 26th October.
Night Plane
Probably one of the strangest games on this list, Night Plane is a horror job simulator that sees you playing as a flight attendant. You are tasked with boarding passengers and attending to their needs, all the while making sure the flight runs smoothly and that no non-human entities make their way on board.
In some ways, it reminds me of No, I’m not a Human, only with an even more direct comedic tone. Like many other games featured here, it has a retro art style, with the 1990s setting to reflect that. It also makes spotting people that aren’t actually people more challenging, since everyone looks a bit odd.
Needless to say, a lot can happen in this game, both on and off the plane. Things will undoubtedly go wrong, and it’s up to you to make the company you work for proud. You are completely responsible for how awful this flight will go, so good luck. Night Plane releases on 26th October.
RESIDUUM
RESIDUUM is a survival horror game inspired by the infamous Mandela Catalogue series. You play as someone desperate for money. After agreeing to a job, you wake up alone in an abandoned research facility inhabited by a dangerous creature. Before long, you realise, you’re a lab rat.
Your only tool is a torch, which has a habit of flickering and turning off. Other tools don’t vary too much. You have a sensor which can alert you to the monster’s presence if it is nearby. Ultimately, though, all you can do is run and hide. Having an understanding of your surroundings is essential.
While you are trying to escape, you can explore the facility and uncover its history. What is the creature that is hunting you, and what happened to the people who worked here? Personally, I would just prioritise escaping, but either way, it’s there if you’re interested. RESIDUUM releases on 27th October.
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Which One Was Your Favourite?
Invokyr
Cyan Heart
My Beautiful Faraway, Please Don't Be Cruel To Me
Inky's Sleep
You can vote for more than one answer.
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