Sinister Halloween (Steam)

If you have to spend Halloween at home this year, you should check out Sinister Halloween. Thanks to Mike at All Hallows Geek, for having a contest where I won a key for the game!

 Available on Steam, this first person experience can be played on PC or VR. It's Halloween night and you can check out nine different locations. There's plenty of animated props and jump scares but there's also more supernatural things stalking you!

The game was released Halloween 2018 and is still in development. There are nine areas to explore. The first is a wonderfully decorated neighborhood with a couple small missions to get you used to the game's controls. Or you can just walk around and "trick or treat" while checking out the houses.

You can find entrances to the other areas throughout the neighborhood or you can jump right to them from the main menu. There's a cemetery, haunted house, corn maze, and other creepy places. The neighborhood is the only "safe" location. The worst you have to contend with there are jump scares. The game also lets you take on any spot in survival mode, which is a bit more combat heavy.

Whatever else I'm going to say about this game, I have to praise it for the environments. The level design is fantastic. The game just feels like Halloween and I love it for that. Like, I want to live in the game!

But, as I said, it's still being developed/updated. There are a few places where the game falls flat for me. There's a lot of repetitive dialog from NPCs and the dev has already said they will be getting better voice actors and more dialog. The combat is not as smooth as it should be. Sometimes you only have a torch to fend off the beasties and it takes a few seconds short of forever to swing it. Not good when you're being swarmed by wolfmen!

Speaking of the torch, it doesn't shed any light! There are some areas that are so dark you can't see anything. Believe me, I get using darkness for effect (I built a whole costume around it) but if I need to escape a house where a ghost is tossing furniture at me and I can't even see where the doors are between rooms, I will quit the level in frustration.

I've mentioned the jump scares a couple times and let me tell you, even though I know I am sitting in front of my PC looking at a flat screen, there have been a few times where I've scooted back in my seat! I don't think I'd want to play this in VR.

Despite my few gripes with it, I know I'll be returning to it a few times this month and I really do recommend it if you need a jolt of that Halloween feelin'. I did win my copy but it's well worth the $10 if you're reading a blog during the Countdown to Halloween!

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