The best Halloween 2022 treat? I think it might be Xbox Game Pass

Halloween is right around the corner, and I don’t know about any of you, but it’s definitely one of my favourite holidays of the year. Mainly because, unlike Christmas (in which I rarely get to relax, let alone boot up a game), it’s the perfect excuse for me to kick back and chill out with my favourite genre of game, and that’s horror.

Admittedly, I’ve jumped on the Halloween bandwagon rather late this year. I’ve failed to decorate my flat with cardboard bats and fake cobwebs, and I’m still yet to go and acquire candy for any trick-or-treaters.

That said, I dove into Xbox Game Pass recently to line up some games for the Halloween weekend; it appears that while the children knocking on my front door may not get any treats, I certainly have already got one with the gems that are on Game Pass right now.

Without further ado, here’s a rundown of some of the great titles on Game Pass that are just perfect for this Halloween weekend.

Let’s start with the October additions to Game Pass. As well as the likes of Signalis, Frog Detective: The Entire Mystery, and Persona 5 Royal, we were treated to some of the best horror games of all time. This includes not just one, but four Amnesia titles. The newly-added Amnesia Collection features The Dark Descent, A Machine for Pigs, and Justine. Then on top of that, Amnesia: Rebirth has been added to Game Pass, too.

The Amnesia series comes from Frictional Games, and both The Dark Descent and A Machine for Pigs have a special place in my heart. These games are first-person survival horror titles that are, honestly, rather minimal when compared to games like Resident Evil Village. However, with the use of a sanity mechanic, and a reliance on your senses, Amnesia is both immersive and horrifying in equal measure.

Next up on Game Pass, having arrived this month, is SOMA. Funnily enough, SOMA was also developed by the minds behind Amnesia over at Frictional Games. Another brilliant survival-horror title, SOMA perhaps gets even more psychological than Amnesia; it’s a game that most won’t find half as scary as Amnesia was, but it’ll certainly find a way to fill you with dread. Frictional Games has since also added a Safe Mode to the game for those who are more fearful of constant threat!

A day one release on Game Pass is the incredibly visceral Scorn. Scorn is a game for players with guts of steel, as well as plenty of patience. It’s slow, and difficult, but developer Ebb Software has near-perfect environmental storytelling. If you’re up for a slow burn and don’t mind a challenge, Scorn is a feast for the eyes.

Moving onto some of the older additions to Game Pass, we’ve still got so much to choose from! For multiplayer scares, there’s 7 Days to Die. This is an open-world survival game, in which you and your friends are tasked with surviving hordes of zombies and must gather, craft, and build your way to safety. It’s a lot like Rust, except you have zombies rather than toxic players (sorry, Rust fans).

Then there’s also Dead by Daylight, which is an asymmetrical multiplayer title that puts four survivors up against one killer (some of which are familiar faces like Ghostface, and Michael Myers).

For a more sci-fi infused horror experience, it’s still worth checking out Dead Space. Sure, we have the remake right around the corner, but that makes this the perfect time to check out the original game and get to grips with the various Necromorphs.

Failing that, there’s also Alien Isolation, which is yet another one of the best horror games of all time. With a Xenomorph stalking you, more interested in scaring you senseless than killing you, Alien Isolation is what it says on the tin: deeply isolating. Try playing this one alone in the dark, I dare you.

Last, but not least, is The Evil Within, and its sequel, which I’m yet to play. So, visiting these two games is on my to-do list over the Halloween weekend.

There’s certainly more on Game Pass that’s perfect for Halloween which I’ve neglected to mention, including plenty of games that aren’t a part of the horror genre which didn’t quite fit the bill - Like Hollow Knight, for example. Either way, I feel spoiled for choice this weekend, and have a desperate desire to revisit Amnesia again. Although, there’s only so much time in one weekend.

What are your Halloween plans, and will you be checking out any of the aforementioned games? If so, I want to hear all about it.