That time of the year again where anything that isn’t spooky is not allowed! I’ve been playing some neat horror games this month and have compiled a list of five such games that may be of interest. As usual, thanks to the publishers who sent these games to me and let’s go.

Metal: Hellsinger

Metal: Hellsinger is easily one of the best (and most demonic) first-person shooters released this year. You play as a part human, part demon being called The Unknown and must fight your way through the domains of Hell with a wide assortment of different weapons and abilities. The catch? All of this must be done to the beat. It is a rhythm-based shooter where your damage relies on how well you can shoot, reload, and move to the music – which of course, being in Hell, is metal.

The result is some seriously fun stuff, similar to BPM: Bullets Per Minute from 2020. The gameplay is fast, yet incredibly satisfying, the enemy designs are varied and the studio has done a great job with the overall hellish aesthetic, and the music absolutely slaps, even as someone that doesn’t really listen to metal that much. It’s just an incredible passion project all the way through and I am struggling to find anything to complain about now that I’m almost done with the game. Easily worth a look for shooter fans and especially so for this spooky season.

Metal: Hellsinger retails for $30 USD and is available on Steam. It is also available on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.

CULTIC

CULTIC is an old school first-person shooter done in the style of say Quake or Dusk. The objective is simple – you must gear up and fight your way through a cult, traversing ten different maps full of enemies, weapons, and secrets to find. The maps themselves are way more involved than the norm for this genre too. They are massive, have tons of secrets to find, and generally just aren’t these closed off hallways and rooms like most of this genre tends to gravitate towards. Not to bash that games that do do that though, it’s just nice to get a change of pace for once.

And CULTIC absolutely delivers there. The gameplay is fun and, although not slow, feels more methodical than the quick weapon swapping norm, especially with how scarce ammo can be. It’s a fun experience and, just like the last game, feels like a passion project all the way through. A second part, CULTIC: Chapter Two is slated to come out at a future date, so there’s that to look forward to as well.

CULTIC retails for $10 USD and is available on Steam.

Everhood

So this one is a bit of a change of pace. Everhood is a surreal, psychedelic adventure comparable to Undertale. You control a wooden doll whose arm has been stolen on a journey to get back said arm. This journey will take you through this absolutely bizarre world full of fantasy, horror, and just outright weird. There’s creatures roaming about, tons of little hidden stuff to find, and the combat – if you can call it that – takes the form of a bullet hell rhythm game which is actually a lot of fun and quickly becomes more than just a minigame after like the first couple battles.

It’s like every new encounter introduces some new weird element to the game, whether that be twisting the screen around, throwing a literal mountain of notes at you all at once, or performing a duo with another. The story too – it’s just as bizarre but somehow just as interesting even if it is hard to tell what is going on at times. Everhood is an engaging game all around and a pleasant surprise among all the other horror stuff I played this month. It might not be a traditional horror game, but it felt so out there that I couldn’t pass up an opportunity to recommend it.

Everhood retails for $10 USD and is available on Steam and GOG as well as Switch.

The Quarry

The Quarry is a weird one for me. It kinda came out of nowhere a few months ago – surprising for a AAA release – and faded away just as quick. That said, waiting to play it until Spooktober was the perfect choice. It’s a full-blown narrative adventure game set in the horror movie classic – a summer camp in the middle of nowhere. Of course, that summer camp ends up being plagued by locals out for blood and something even more mysterious about.

It is a very cinematic game, akin to something like Heavy Rain or Detroit: Become Human, where the gameplay itself is limited to moving around, interacting with objects, and completing the occasional quick time event or making an important decision. That last part is what makes the game, as there are multiple endings here where you can end up saving some people or… the exact opposite. I’ve been lucky enough to avoid spoilers, so it has been quite the ride even if the dialogue can be a bit grating. A worthwhile recommendation though if you’re into more cinematic gaming experiences.

The Quarry retails for $60 USD and is available on Steam as well as PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S. You can get the Steam version cheaper through my Gamesplanet partner link. This also applies to the Deluxe Edition.

Tormented Souls

If you miss the old school design of the original Resident Evil game, then Tormented Souls is for you. It is a by the book classic horror adventure complete with the fixed camera angles, the limited ammo that hardly even helps you, the maze-like corridors, and the numerous puzzles scattered about. It is definitely an indie game at its core, with some rough around the edges gameplay, bizarre contrast between the detailed environments and the not so detailed character models, and some absolutely not good voice acting, but I kinda liked it.

It’s got a lot of charm to it, the puzzles are actually fun, and the level design is pretty good too – you just have to get over the rough design patches and the few dated mechanics. Extra caution about the save system. It emulates the horror games of old by forcing you to ration saves as a consumable item. I absolutely am not a fan of that mechanic, but at least the rest of the game is fun enough to warrant giving it a look.

Tormented Souls retails for $20 USD and is available on Steam and GOG as well as PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and Switch. You can get the Steam version cheaper through my Gamesplanet partner link.

And that’s all I got for this short little fun Halloween feature. I love horror as a genre, so this time of the year is particularly exciting for me and especially so since I get to talk about these games en masse.