A Hat in Time is a quirky and colorful game inspired by 3D platformers of the 90s. Most of the game is bright and goofy…and then there’s one chapter that turns this otherwise cute game into pure nightmare fuel. Queen Vanessa’s Manor, which somehow manages to be one of the scariest gaming experiences of my…
Tag: spoopy
The Spoopiest Locales in Sam & Max Games
Video games are ripe for presenting worlds that exist beyond our imaginations, there’s no shortage of odd places in them. Add a sizable dose of humor to these strange spots, and that’s when spoopiness arises. After working through the remastered Sam & Max trilogy of a few years ago, there’s little doubt in my mind…
FNAF UCN’s Spoopiest Animatronics
One of the biggest horror franchises in gaming at the moment is Five Nights at Freddy’s. (I know, it’s a surprise you haven’t heard of it…super forced sarcasm…) While known for plenty of scary games that place the player in claustrophobic situations, where you’re forced to fend off multiple killer anomatronics, the games are no…
Lost in Random’s Royam is Pretty Spoopy, But His Rhymes are Quite…Cruddy
Lost in Random is a Tim Burton-esque adventure where the fates of everyone depends on the role of the dice. This darkly fascinating world is inhabited by all sorts of bizarre residents, but just because someone looks spooky, that doesn’t mean they are spooky. But then again…that also doesn’t necessarily mean they’re definitely not spooky,…
Yoshi’s Island: The Spoopy Side of a Cute Classic
I was pretty late to the party when I finally played Yoshi’s Island for the SNES roughly 7 years ago. All I really knew was that baby Mario’s crying was very annoying and that the game looked pretty dang cute. Little did I realize that the game was far more difficult than the colorful, crayon-esque…
Spooptober: Clanker
My Virtual Bastion cohorts and I have lots in common when it comes to gaming. A sweet spot we all share is a fondness for one of the best duos in 3D platforming: Banjo and Kazooie. Personally, the duo’s first outing, Banjo-Kazooie, was a formative game, one that helped me through a memorably awful stretch…
Spooptober: Creepy Villagers in Animal Crossing
As most of us know, Animal Crossing is a cute and relaxing life sim where you decorate your cute little house, befriend cute animal villagers, buy cute clothes, and do all manner of other cute things. Being such a cute and adorable game, nothing ever weird or scary ever happens at all. For example, there…
Spooptober: The Pumpkin House
Out in the corner of Fallout 76’s West Virginia map, right on a small stretch of Highway 66, is a most unusual sight. Well, could be that it’s not all that unusual for this time of year, but considering that it’s a year-round “attraction” in the game, it stands out a bit more than most….
Spooptober: Rayman’s Undead Grannies
In a franchise that features zombie chickens, it should be no surprise that the Rayman games are a good source for finding a delightful balance of spooky and quirky. One recurring location is the Land of the Livid Dead, though it is very different in its two main iterations. In Rayman 3, the Land of…
Spooptober: Ni no Kuni’s Spoopiest Familiars
Seeing as Ni no Kuni is a colorful and child-friendly RPG, it makes sense that even the spookier elements aren’t going to be particularly scary. In a fashion quite similar to Pokemon, throughout the game, every normal enemy can potentially be captured and used to aid you in battle. Seeing as I’ve always been a…