Fall is in the air and Halloween is right around the corner. If you’re too old to put on a costume and farm for candy, don’t fret, there are still plenty of goodies to enjoy via video game Halloween events. I went door to door, avoiding all the tricks, to bring you all the treats the gaming world has to offer.
I always eat my favorite candy first so, in a similar fashion, I picked out my favorite Halloween event for each genre. I listed out everything else left in my treat bag in case you have different tastes. And if I happened to miss your favorite Halloween event be sure to put it down in the comments below so everyone has a chance to check it out.
Action, Adventure, and RPG
Top Pick – Ark: Survival Evolved Fear Evolved 4 10/22 – 11/6
At this point, Ark may not be a game that I play daily but it is the perfect title to dust off and fire up for its special events. With Fear Evolved 4, the Dodowyvern and Dodorex bosses lead the pack of scary dino encounters, with zombie, skeleton, and new ghost dino variants fleshing out the horrors to deal with. You’ll be treated to a bevy of new event chibis and ghost creature skins to collect if you have the skill to survive the blood moon.
Honorable Mentions
- Dauntless Dark Harvest TBD
- Fallout 76 Atomic Shop Items
- Grounded New Halloween Content
- Minecraft Dungeons Spooky Halloween Event 10/26 – 11/3
- Monster Hunter World: Iceborn Seliana Fun Fright Fest 10/15 – 11/5
- Sea of Thieves TBD
Battle Royale
Top Pick – Call of Duty Warzone The Haunting of Verdansk 10/20 -11/3
With Call of Duty’s long-running history with zombies it should be no surprise that Warzone’s first holiday event, The Haunting of Verdansk, has zombies at its core. In the Zombie Royale, the Gulag is shut down. When downed in battle you will take a more ghoulish path to revival as you become a zombie fighting alongside your living teammates. Weaponless, you’ll have to wait for a team member to revive you. Or take matters into your own hands by zombifying opponents to bring yourself back to life.
The Haunting also has a few other tricks up its sleeve. There will be treats scattered around the map in the form of Halloween lockboxes. The trick is getting to them without dying. There is also a tie in with two horror movies, Saw and Texas Chainsaw Massacre, lending a couple of iconic slasher skins for players to enjoy. That’s a pretty good showing for Warzone’s freshman seasonal event I’d say.
Honorable Mentions
- Apex Legends Fight of Fright 10/15 – 11/5
- Fortnite Fortnitemares 10/21 – 11/3
- Hyperscape Halloween 2020 10/20 – 11/3
- PUBG Mobile Halloweeks 10/23 – 11/9
Shooters
Top Pick – Borderlands 3 Bloody Harvest 10/8 – 11/5
Many of Borderlands 3’s characters don their Halloween costumes year-round, so Gearbox studios had to crank it up to 11 for the Bloody Harvest event. Realizing that doing the same thing over and over is kinda lame, the number of challenges needed to collect the festival rewards has been lowered, but the rest of the loot you gather in Heck will scale to your level and could even come with some special anointments.
Honorable Mentions
- Destiny 2 Festival of the Lost 10/6 – 11/2
- Doom Eternal Halloween 2020 9/24 – 10-30
- Killing Floor 2 Infernal Insurrection 9/29 – 11/10
Miscellaneous Games
Top Pick – Animal Crossing New Horizons Fall Update 9/30 – 10/31
Since its release back in March, Animal Crossing New Horizons has been gamer’s one-stop island hop to show off their decorating skills. With the Fall Update, consummate designers can go to town fitting their island with all sorts of fall and Halloween flair. Grab some candy, harvest those pumpkins, and get ready to feed Jack all kinds of treats when he visits your island on Halloween.
Honorable Mentions
- Harry Potter Wizards Unite Defend Against The Dark Arts 10/2 – 10/27
- Pokemon GO! Halloween Event 10/23 – 11/3
MMORPG
Top Pick – World of Warcraft Hallow’s End – 10/18 – 11/1
If World of Warcraft’s Hallow’s End isn’t the oldest Halloween event out there, it has to be pretty darn close. With so many years under its belt, Hallow’s End has plenty of activities to keep you busy in between raids, whether you are working through all that Shadowlands has to offer in retail or going old school in Wow Classic.
Honorable Mentions
- Black Desert Online Spooky Witchy Halloween! 10/17 – 11/7 (updated 10/24 to link to the 2020 event)
- Blade & Soul Blade & Ghoul 10/21 – 11/18
- Dungeons & Dragons Online The Night Revels 10/9 – 11/3
- Elder Scrolls Online The Witches Festival 10/22 – 11/3
- Everquest Nights of the Dead 10/10 – 11/6
- Final Fantasy XIV – All Saints Wake canceled, replaced by Make It Rain Event
- Guild Wars 2 Shadow of the Mad King 10/13 – ???
- Legends of Aria Season 6: Toil and Trouble
- Lord of the Rings Online Harvestmath Festival 10/27 – 11/23
- Neverwinter Masquerade of Liars 10/22 – 11/5
- Revelation Online Trick or Treat Event 10/15 – 11/5
- Star Citizen Halloween 2020 and Day of the Vara 10/8 – 10/31
- Warframe Nights of Naberus 10/15 – 11/9
Player vs. Player
Top Pick – Rocket League Haunted Hallows 10/20 – 11/2
Psyonix gave us an early Halloween treat in September by making Rocket League free to play. Now they are giving us another treat by crossing streams with Ghostbusters for this year’s Haunted Hallows. From now until November 2 you can complete challenges throughout all your matches – including the limited-time Haunted Heatseeker and Spike Rush modes – to earn Ghostbuster themed accessories for your ride. You’ll find more Ghostbuster and previous Haunted Hallows items in the cash shop if the free items aren’t enough to fill your treat bag.
Honorable Mentions
- Dead By Daylight The Eternal Blight 10/21 – 11/3
- Hearthstone Masquerade Ball 9/29 – ???
- Overwatch Halloween Terror 10/13 – 11/3
- Splatoon 2 Splatoween 10/30 – 11/1
- World of Tanks Mirny-13 10/25 – 11/8
- World of Warships Legends Rust’N’Rumble 10/19 – 11/9
