Spooky Picks: Gamerheads and Friends Share Their Top Halloween Games! | The Gamerheads Podcast

Welcome to a special Halloween episode of The Gamerheads Podcast! Roger makes a quick return to share his top three Halloween games, even while on medical leave. From classics like Super Castlevania IV to spooky indie hits, this episode is packed with frightful favorites! Roger is joined by Mike, Phil, Jill, Jacob, Trina, Adam, Stephanie, and even The Cryptmaster, each bringing unique picks to make your Halloween gaming as spooky as possible. Expect a mix of cozy, creepy, and downright chilling titles!

Highlights:

• Roger's Halloween Picks: Nostalgic picks like Super Castlevania IV and spooky Crow Country.
• Phil’s Essentials: From MLB the Show to eerie Dark Pictures Anthology.
• Mike’s Horror Favorites: Resident Evil 4 and Super Castlevania IV.
• Jill’s Indie Picks: Fear the Spotlight and Slay the Princess.
• Jacob’s Choices: Costume Quest 2 and Batman Arkham Knight.
• Trina’s Cozy Choices: Cozy Grove for light scares.
• Adam’s “Spooky Strategy”: Marvel's Midnight Suns and Inscryption.
• Stephanie’s Asymmetrical Picks: White Noise 2 and Oregon Trail.
• The Cryptmaster’s Retro Horrors: Classics like Evil Dead and Resident Evil.

Time Stamps:

• [00:01] Roger’s spooky picks
• [03:18] Phil’s Halloween favorites
• [05:28] Mike’s horror game list
• [08:21] Jill’s indie recommendations
• [08:58] Jacob’s Halloween essentials
• [10:31] Trina’s cozy scares
• [11:28] Adam’s horror strategy picks
• [14:11] Stephanie’s multiplayer picks
• [18:28] The Cryptmaster’s retro games
• [19:10] Roger wraps up

Grab your favorite Halloween treats, dim the lights, and enjoy!

Music: HoliznaCC0 - Haunted Houses

Chapters

• 0:01 Top 3 Halloween Games Discussion
• 11:41 Top Spooky Season Video Game Recommendations
• 18:28 Classic Horror Games Discussion

Transcript

Roger: 0:01

Hey everybody, roger here, it's been a while since I've said anything on the podcast. I'm still on medical leave, so first of all, I just want to thank Mike and Phil for taking over the podcast while I'm out. I'm still out, I'm out until at least the second week of November, but I wanted to do a quick short episode here. Uh, for Halloween, and I asked a couple of my friends and people from GamerHeads to talk about their top three games that get them into the Halloween or spooky spirit, but I'll give my top three. That gets me into the spooky mood. Game number one, I would say, would have to be Super Castlevania IV. If you've listened to this podcast before, you know that that game has a special place in my heart.

Roger: 1:04

When it was released, I was about 14 years old, I think, and my friend and I decided that we were going to defeat Dracula at midnight, and we got some Doritos, we got some Mountain Dew. We were planning to stay up till midnight to defeat Dracula. We beat him at like 10 o'clock at night. We ended up saving it right before we got to Dracula, though, and ended up going back in and playing it at midnight to beat him at midnight as well. So Super Castlevania IV is on my list.

Roger: 1:42

Another game that has a special place in my heart is Ghostbusters, the video game. I'm playing that game right now with my kids and we have it on the Wii. I also have it on other systems as well, but the Wii is where we're playing it right now and just because you can play multiplayer on the Wii and it's really fun. And I love the Ghostbusters and I think they do a really fantastic job of making it feel like you are a Ghostbuster in that game. So that is my second game, my third game, boy.

Roger: 2:19

This one's tough because there's a lot of games that are on my list, because there's a lot of games that are on my list, but I think I'm going to have to go with a game that I just finished reviewing and that is Crow Country. That game has very spooky vibes and it's obviously a throwback and a love letter to the PS1 era of games and the story is fantastic. It's like really a scary, scary game, uh, and that's why I voted it for a while, because I thought it was going to be a really scary game and it's not. It's. It's, uh, it's more of like a sci-fi thriller than scary, scary, but the story is so good. Um so, those are my top three games that get me into the Halloween spirit, and I'll let my fellow colleagues and friends talk about their top three games.

Phil: 3:18

This is Phil from the World Famous Gamer Heads podcast, the president and CEO of the World Famous Gamer Heads podcast, and I'm just here real quick to talk to you about my three favorite Halloween-y style games. I'll make it super brief, because it's just me and I don't like talking to myself. It feels like I'm practicing cutting a pro wrestling promo. Number three on my list is going to be Limbo Old school well, kind of old school at this juncture Platformy, puzzle-based game, just with super fun atmospheric horror and just a tension about it that really kind of sets the standard for creepiness and spookiness in what looks to be a slickly animated game with some beautiful sound design. Number two on my list is going to be all of the Supermassive games, not just one of them. For those that have never listened to the show, they're a choose-your-own-adventure-style horror game where all of your decisions matter. You inadvertently determine who lives, who dies and are very much so filled with horror themes all throughout them, based on different creatures and or different times in history where there have been supernatural beings Again, very well acted, very well animated sound is amazing in them, and the ones that are the Dark Pictures Anthology are all online co-op as well, which is a very unique and fun experience, especially considering there are some things sometimes actually all the time you don't get to see what's going on on your partner's screen, so you're not too sure what they're seeing, and it makes for some exciting fun moments.

Phil: 4:47

Number three on my list because Halloween does take place at the end of October and so does the World Series. So number three on my list is MLB the Show. Every year around this time well, all year long, I'm playing MLB the Show, but this time of year especially it makes it more fun because it is all World Series based and I'm just in full-fledged baseball mode, much like opening day. The end of the season means about as much to me as opening day does. I love baseball, I love the show. It's my own personal crack. Thank you for taking this small handful of minutes and listening to me. Roger's going to shake his head at my last pick of this, but you know what I've got to stay true to me.

Mike: 5:28

So long guys's Mike here. So for my three games that I like to play around Halloween, I'm going to start with one that's a classic that everybody here, everybody, should have played, and if you haven't played it, you should be ashamed of yourself. Of course, I'm talking about Super Castlevania 4 on the Super Nintendo system, one of the greatest horror games ever made. I absolutely love it. First of all, one of the reasons I love it is because it's not as hard as the first Castlevania game. That's one game I've never beaten Castlevania 2, don't even get me started on that one. So Castlevania 4, awesome game, not too challenging. The music was amazing. The gameplay is amazing, using those Mode 7 graphics, I think it was called, where they would scan in and out and zoom in and out, being able to use your whip in all eight directions and then also being able to just kind of let it just, I guess, dangle and spin it around and all that other fun stuff. Castlevania 4, absolutely every time. Also liked it because you can probably beat the game in a couple hours so you can get through it in one sitting. So definitely recommend that one.

Mike: 6:32

My second one, the other game that I would play, another one that everybody should have played, and that's Resident Evil 4. The GameCube version was always my favorite, but this remake that came out a couple years ago, that one's awesome too, too, and I love playing it now because I've beaten the game. Now I got new game plus, and every game should have new game plus, because now I just go through and I just destroy everything. It's not even a challenge, but it's still an absolute blast to play. So resident evil 4 definitely play that around the halloween season. The last one that I like to play is one that I'm sure not many of us have even heard of.

Mike: 7:11

It's a game for the Nintendo DS, and this game is called Touch the Dead. No, it's not, don't worry, it's not like that. Touch the Dead it's basically an on-rails shooter, so it's kind of like a House of the Dead-style game, if you ever play that in the arcade. So instead of, you know, obviously, a gun, you're tapping the screen to shoot the different zombies and there's different guns. You've got your shotguns and your Uzis and your handgun, everything like that, but for the DS. You know there weren't a lot of horror games on the DS, but this one was awesome. So if you have an opportunity to pick it up. It's not super rare. I think you could probably find it for like $20, $25. Touch the Dead on the DS Take a look at that. Watch some videos on it. If you want to break out your old DS, or even your 3DS, try to find Touch the Dead. I highly recommend that. It's just like a classic zombie light gun shooter game, but you're using the stylus instead. So those are my three games. Happy Halloween everybody.

Jill: 8:21

Hi everyone, this is Jill Grodt, the indie informer, getting you ready for the spooky season with some of the scariest indies possible. Actually, they're not that scary, so Roger can play them as well. And I just want to shout out a couple of games that have come out very recently that should get you into the Halloween spirit. That is Fear, the Spotlight Grunt, totally normal gardening sim Nothing weird about that at all and Slay the Princess, the pristine cut. You don't want to miss out and you want to get a little spooky. Go check those out.

Jacob: 8:58

Hey, it's Jacob McCourt, the host of Video Game Trivia, the Left Behind Game Club and Crossplay Conversations. Here are my top three games for Halloween. The number one with a bullet will be Costume Quest, but actually Costume Quest 2. Behind Game Club and Crossplay Conversations here are my top three games for Halloween. The number one with a bullet will be Costume Quest, but actually Costume Quest 2. I think Costume Quest 1 is maybe more significant in Double Fine's Legacy and maybe when we're talking about the series, but I really love the villain, the dentist, in the second game. I think there's a lot of humor there. That worked really well. The second is going to be, I guess, a bit of a surprise.

Jacob: 9:31

Batman Arkham Knight takes place on Halloween night, from what I remember, and this game is just immaculate vibes, much like the prequel that takes place around the holidays. This one is just scary and spooky and has the ambiance, so a great game to play on halloween. The third game is one that I would say is not a traditional halloween game but would have to be the quarry. We just played that last year and really enjoyed it. I mean it's. It's not as much scary as there are a couple of jump scares or shocking moments. But I think, given the stars that are in it, given the contents of the script and maybe where it ends, that this one is a perfect game to play on Halloween. Honorable mentions I guess would have to be Night in the Woods, but I'm sure somebody else has it on their list.

Trina: 10:31

Thanks, hi. It's Trina with the GamerHeads podcast. Around Halloween, I don't typically play a lot of horror games, because I am the biggest scaredy cat there is. However, when I am forced to play horror games, I typically will play Phasmophobia or Leave the Company, because I'm with my friends and they can make it a little bit more bearable. A game that I will play by myself, though, is Cozy Grove, as it is more of a cozy game rather than a horror game, but it does have the spooky elements to it, as you're a spirit scout that helps spirits move on and uncover their stories, and it's just really enjoyable, and I love playing that game throughout the year, but especially around Halloween time. That would be my three recommendations for the spooky season what's going on everybody.

Adam: 11:28

It's Adam from Respawn Aimfire and I'm here because our buddy, roger Reichart, put out the call. He needs somebody with good opinions. So I'm here because our buddy, roger Reichardt, put out the call. He needs somebody with good opinions, so I'm here to give them. I'm going to give you my top three spooky games for the spooky season. Number one starting it out, it's a game that not enough people played. Everyone needs to get into Marvel's Midnight Suns. It is a strategy superhero game from Firaxis, actually pretty spooky A lot of fighting demons, fighting scary characters. The Midnight Suns was a really cool comic run in the, I think, late 90s, early 2000s, so they brought it back. So it's a lot of ghost riders on your team and a lot of the supernatural characters team up to fight a demon threat. All that on top of it just being a really good strategy game from the people who made XCOM. So it's a good pedigree. None of the people played it and it is an excellent and a favorite of mine and I will talk about it anytime anyone gives me a chance to do it.

Adam: 12:23

Number two on my list Inscription I found about this little gem when it came out in December of whatever year it was Before. A lot of people really had a chance to play it and that game is not what you expect it to be A lot of creepy vibes, a lot of terrifying vibes, and you get into it and the drain keeps on spinning. It's a lot deeper and a lot weirder than you think. But just on top of that, the actual roguelike card deck builder gameplay is super good. On top of the really weird. Is it real life? Is it just in the video game? What are these monsters? What is actually happening to me? Vibe, and it's an excellent one. I mean, everyone knows Inscription is good, but if you haven't played it, why not? They just throw it on Game Pass. So if you got that, go check it out. And then, last but not least, it's sort of a catch-all instead of a specific game.

Adam: 13:12

But Remedyverse, alan Wake 1, alan Wake 2, alan Wake, american Nightmare Control All of those games are excellent games. First of all, really creative vision of kind of mixing live action with video game and telling this weird Twin Peaks-style story, alan Wake 2 coming out last year being a Game of the Year contender definitely check that one out for sure. But the whole universe has a story built up. It's all very, very good. It's absolutely my shit for sure. I've adored Remedy for a very long time, so if you haven't played all of those Outlander Week 2 is the most recent one I feel like that's the one that feels the most like big budget AAA. But you know a lot of people like Control. Control is also a ton of fun basically have superpowers in a scary FBI building. So, yeah, I would suggest those three things that I gave you because I have the best suggestions. Thank you, roger.

Stephanie: 14:11

Hey everyone, my name is Stephanie and I was asked to supply three of my top favorite spooky season games that I like to play around this time of year. I guess we can start off with my favorite 4v1 asymmetric game, and it is one that I have found that not very many people have heard of. It's called White Noise 2. And you have four players who play as investigators who are trying to find evidence and do tasks in order to perform a ritual or complete the task, in order to get rid of the other person as playing the monster or the ghost. In order to get rid of the other person as playing the monster or the ghost, the ghost is able to manipulate the surroundings and eventually can eliminate one of the other players. I can say from experience that if you are eliminated as one of the other four investigators, you can still help out the rest of your team by revealing some things or providing hints. While it's not sort of like a cheat system, but it does help in the sense that once you're eliminated, you can still participate in the activities and in helping things. So it's very much more forgiving than some of the other ones that I have played and it's definitely one of my favorites.

Stephanie: 15:36

Um, as far as a solo play game that I've tried really hard to think of, the one that I could think of that kind of really fits the theme and I have actually noticed I do play around this time of year is Oregon trail. I'm sure most of you are familiar with Oregon trail. Um, plays exactly the same way you're in a car. You're traveling from one end to the other. Plays exactly the same way. You're in a car, you're traveling from one end to the other. However, are in a zombie apocalypse. Instead of just going across the country in your wagon, this one you have to manage your fuel, your food. Some of your other party members can get sick by getting bit by zombies. You fend off zombies. It's very much. If you're familiar with Oregon Trail, you will enjoy Oregon Trail. I've played this game a lot with my friends watching me and I do the whole. Put my name in and their names in and we see who gets to get bitten by a zombie first, or make fun of them if they lose rations out the window, or we make decisions together and it's it's fun.

Stephanie: 16:40

Uh, the last one that I could think of was viscera cleanup detail. While it's not a very traditional like spooky time game. It's definitely on like the creepy side in the sense that you're cleaning up after any sort of crime or any sort of like apocalyptic kind of scenarios. It is very much filled with blood and gore, but it can be a lot of fun with your friends. You can play up to 32 people, but it obviously would probably cause a lot of people to lag with that many people. The max I think I've ever played was maybe six or seven players at once. It's a lot of fun. You're cleaning up this whole area with each other and you can also mess with each other, like if someone has just gotten something done and you're carrying a bucket full of dirty water, you can just randomly dump it in their area and then just run away just to kind of mess with them.

Stephanie: 17:39

It's more, I have found more fun to just kind of Be loose about it rather than, you know, focus totally on cleaning. While that is the end goal, it can be a lot of fun to just kind of mess with each other and in the end have this clean area. Or, if you're trying to find one specific area, you can help each other out sometimes. It's fun and definitely one that would fit for your spooky season after dealing with all the other spooky stuff with your other games. Um, but yeah, those are my top three white noise 2, organ trail and viscera cleanup detail. Those are definitely my top three games that I enjoy playing around this time time of year and I hope everyone has a very spooky season.

The Cryptmaster: 18:28

Bye-bye into the distant past and serve up three classic oldies that once gave me the willies. They are Evil Dead on the ZX Spectrum, the seventh guest and the original Resident Evil the original Resident Evil.

Roger: 19:10

Well, there you have it. That's our Halloween special this year. Thanks to everybody that participated and provided their games. Hopefully there was a game that you heard that maybe you haven't played before and now you want to go try it. Just want to wish everybody a happy Halloween and everyone stay safe and game on. Bye, thank you.