5 Crowdfunded Horror Releases Just In Time For Halloween

Alright, I’ll admit it, I’m a total sucker for Halloween horror. Most of the year I can keep my urge for spooky media relatively in check, but come October, the weather changes and I need scary in my life again. Fortunately, crowdfunding platforms have a shortage of indie horror titles to choose from. Unfortunately, that wicked awesome game you just backed won’t see the light of day until next year at least. Not to worry though, I dug up some older campaigns that are getting ready to come out and scare you silly.

This list is presented in no particular order. Some release dates are still listed ambiguously as “Fall 2016,” so the games might not actually release in time. Still, if you need your horror fix, these are the horror titles you should keep an eye out for this month.

Friday the 13th: The Game

[Ed: Gun Media and Illfonic recently announced that the game will feature a single player experience and the inclusion of AI bots as well as the inclusion of Tommy Jarvis as a playable character and Packanack Lodge as a playable map. The larger scale of the project has pushed the launch from Fall 2016 to an early 2017 release.]

Gun Media is setting out to make horror history with the impending release of  Friday the 13th. Funded last year for $823,704 on Kickstarter and $529,201 on Backerkit, Friday the 13th: The Game is certainly the most high-profile title on the list.

Friday the 13th is a third-person multiplayer horror title putting players in control of either unstoppable monster, Jason Voorhees, or one of seven victims camp counselors. The devs have painstakingly recreated Camp Crystal Lake down the smallest, movie inspired, detail in this love letter to slasher films of yesteryear.

This is one of those, “Fall 2016” releases so there’s no official date yet, but the team started charging cards for pre-orders so an official announcement should come any day now (I hope).

Through the Woods

Maybe you prefer your horror with more psychological buildup? Antagonist’s Through the Woods may be just the thing you need to keep you up at night.

Funded on Kickstarter, the game puts you in the role of Karen, a mother searching for her lost son in a Norwegian Forest. The story is told through reactive narration as Karen recounts her tale to the police. As players search the woods, Karen describes what she saw and will even backtrack to retell parts where the player may have missed something. Through the Wood’s setting is heavily influenced by Norse mythology and dark Norwegian folk tales. Don’t expect a soothing walk in the park.

Through the Woods has the moderately less ambiguous release date of “October 2016.”

Grave

Open-world survival games are all the rage these days, so adding a little horror to the mix just seems natural. Grave was funded for $37,622 back in April 2014. Since then the project has grown into a surrealist nightmare with upcoming Steam and HTC Vive releases on October 25, 2016.

Grave is equal parts exploration and survival. During the day phase you collect limited resources and try to work through the mystery of this bizarre world. At night, increasingly frightening creatures ruthlessly hunt you. If this still sounds fun, let me drop this little bombshell: in Grave you don’t have traditional weapons. Instead you have to rely exclusively on light sources to combat the monsters.

Camp Sunshine

Seriously, nothing good comes of going to summer camp. It’s all death and bloody dismemberment. At least that’s what Fossil Games would have us all believe. Their upcoming game, Camp Sunshine, drops players off at summer camp as protagonist Jez. In the middle of the night he awakens to find the campground deserted and covered in blood. Rather than rely on fancy graphics and tremendous polygon counts, Camp Sunshine utilizes story and atmosphere to deliver pixelated terror.

Jez must uncover the secret behind the sudden return of bear-costumed murderer, Isaac Illerman. Only then can he hope to put an end to the bloodshed. Camp Sunshine raised $1,195 on Indiegogo back in April of this year and is slated for an October 28th release.

Night Terrors

All these upcoming releases look great, but what if you need to get your hot little hands on something, right now? No worries, Night Terrors: The Beginning is already available on iOS. Billed as an augmented reality survival horror game, Night Terrors is like Paranormal Pokemon Go. After downloading the app, players turn off their lights and plug in their headphones. Night Terrors uses your phone’s camera and microphone feeds, analyzing and processing them in real time. The game then adds in some binaural audio and photo-realistic spooks along the way.

Important to note that Night Terrors: The Beginning is more of a demo and not the full experience. The completed app is expected to sell for $5 at release.

Bonus: Pathologic

To make up for the Friday the 13th delay I tracked down an extra spooky game you can pick up right now. Okay, this is a bit of a cheat since Ice-Pick Lodge’s remake of the Russian horror title won’t be available until next year. However, what better way to prepare than by playing the Pathologic Classic HD version on Steam? Considered the definitive edition of this cult-classic, psychological survival game, Pathologic Classic pits players against an unstoppable plague in a mysterious town. As one of three “outsiders,” players are sent in to help find a cure, or at least an explanation for the devastating plague killing everyone.

Pathologic’s remake promises to be just as gripping as the original, with a few new mechanics thrown in to spice things up. Remember, sometimes you can’t save everyone.