It's the most wonderful time of the year — spooky time, of course. Whether your preferred mode of celebration involves providing strangely-dressed strangers with candy or huddling beneath a blanket as zombies and serial killers grace your screen, there are tons of more-than-acceptable ways to embrace what is clearly the best holiday. Ours is probably video games. You might've guessed that already. Hint: it's in the website title.

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But which video games are the best to break out after you've lit the Jack-o-Lanterns and warded away the ghoulishly-garbed trespassers with offerings of candy corn and travel-sized tubes of toothpaste? Well, we have suggestions. Eleven of them. We have eleven spooky and/or scary suggestions.

11 7 Days To Die

By Ryan Bamsey

7 Days to Die Rifle

7 Days to Die is the quintessential survival game for anyone feeling spooky. The early hours of the game are filled with tension as you scramble to set up a base, gather resources, and fight off zombies and undead birds who seem to attack you no matter where you are.

Every seven days, a gruesome horde of the undead will attack you and it’s a thrilling, fantastic challenge. Whether playing solo or with some friends, a couple of hours of 7 Days to Die is a perfect way to delve into something spooky.

10 The Evil Within

By Avery Feyrer

The Evil Within screenshot showing Sebastian and monster

Developed by Tango Gameworks and published by Bethesda, The Evil Within takes the horror genre to another level. Launched in 2014, the game follows Krimson City detective Sebastian Castellanos as he and his two partners investigate a mass murder at Beacon Mental Hospital. Things turn for the absolute worse when the trio finds themselves in a terrifying reality filled with monsters you’d think were only conceived in nightmares.

This survival horror adventure will send chills down your spine and induce a heavy case of a heebie-jeebies. You don’t truly know the feeling of desperation until you’re frantically searching for bullets to fend off the demonic fiends throughout Beacon Mental Hospital. Creatures like the hammer-wielding Keeper or multi-legged Laura who spawns from dead corpses will hunt detective Castellanos as he uncovers the gruesome backstory of Ruvik. If you’re looking for a genuinely scary game to play this Halloween, look no further than The Evil Within.

9 Pumpkin Jack

By Geoffrey Martin

Pumpkin Jack - Pumpkin Jack Running Past A Spooky Tower

Pumpkin Jack is a highly enjoyable 3D action platformer, the likes of which we haven't seen since the days of MediEvil or Maximo: Ghost to Glory. Pumpkin Jack is the perfect game for Halloween because it marries a wholesome and whimsical feel with plenty of spookiness. You play as the titular antihero, Pumpkin Jack, who is tasked by the devil to cause havoc across the lands while trying to stop a powerful magician.

You explore everything from an Autumn-tinged farm landscape to a spooky swamp to a creepy crypt and graveyard. The levels are brimming with personality and some of the best otherworldly lighting that casts an eerie yet cozy glow in the environments. On top of the fun action platforming gameplay, your ears are treated to some Nightmare Before Christmas style music that will keep a smile plastered to your face. Don't miss this gem of a game this Halloween season!

8 Half-Life 2

By James Troughton

[Via half-life.wikia.com]

Half-Life 2 and its episodes are some of the scariest games ever made. They aren't peddled as horror or even marketed as such, but between Ravenholm and the Citadel, there's a wealth of different genres at play. You have your cosmic, sci-fi horror, your body horror, and your zombie horror just to name the big three. The undead are a bit different than usual — they have an alien latched to their skull, controlling them. In fact, there's a semblance of consciousness there but it was deemed 'too frightening' that Valve dialed it back, reversing the soundbites. Undo that process and what you get is a harrowing scream of, "Oh god, help me! Help me!"

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Then, you have the Stalkers and the Combine. Stalkers are what happens if you rebel against this interdimensional, unstoppable regime. Hands and feet cut off, voice box removed, left as husks that slave away day in and day out, shipped in containers like cattle with plates obscuring their vision. It's cold, calculating, and cruel, and their screams still haunt me today. Nothing gets under Alyx's skin, but Stalkers? They terrified her, and it was infectious. Between those examples, G-Man, the general atmosphere, and the feeling of insurmountable dread, Half-Life 2 is one of the scariest games released, even if it's touted as an FPS first and foremost.

7 Bloodborne

Seth Parmer

Bloodborne quotes 2 eileen the crow

While it isn’t a “horror” title per se, Bloodborne’s atmosphere, repugnant monster design, and spine-chilling sounds heard throughout Yharnam aren’t exactly delightful by any means. Furthermore, whenever you mix all of that in with FromSoftware’s masterful world design, heart-pounding enemy encounters, and haunting soundtrack, you essentially get one of the best horror titles out there. The persistent feeling of dread that builds with each step you take into a new area is palpable but will oddly keep you wanting more and have you pushing further into the unknown.

Bloodborne’s flawless execution of making every moment feel tense helps sell its concept as a whole. The cries of pain and sorrow that echo throughout the streets of Yharnam will forever make me feel uneasy. And as you roam those streets, you will see the residents of the sprawling Victorian metropolis slowly descend into madness, fighting their hardest not to get turned into a blood-hungry beast, which almost always results in a brutal ending by your hand.

Much like FromSoftware’s other titles, the engaging, white-knuckled combat encounters are enough to keep you on the edge of your seat throughout the entire game. But, with Bloodborne, they surrounded that gameplay style with a terrifying world that I will always revisit. Especially on Halloween. Besides, nothing is scarier than losing tons of Blood Echoes to an enemy that “poses no threat,” right?

6 Alien: Isolation

By Amanda Hurych

An Alien from Alien: Isolation

I can enjoy a good horror game every day of the year, but when Halloween rolls around, I search for only the most bone-chilling experiences to inundate myself with. From books to movies to television shows to games, the only forms of media I'm looking for come October 31st are the ones that will make my throat hoarse from screaming. No game accomplishes this quite like Alien: Isolation.

The Xenomorph in Alien: Isolation is the most terrifying creature I have ever encountered in a video game to date. That thing is unrelenting. This isn't the Xenomorph from Colonial Marines that you could wipe out in a spray of bullets. This is the Xenomorph as Ridley Scott and H.R. Giger first imagined it: a perfect organism. It stalks the hallways of Sevastapol Station, constantly hounding your footsteps as you try to panic-crawl your way as quietly as possible to a place of relative safety. And even then, if the Xenomorph is in play, there is no such thing as "safety." I can't play Alien: Isolation without suffering from the worst case of sweaty palms. The mere sight of a save station would make my entire body slump in palpable relief.

If you are looking for a game to play on Halloween that will truly terrify you, that will load every second of your experience with suspense, then you need look no further than Alien: Isolation. The AI of the Xenomorph is unparalleled, making for a game that truly embodies the notion that "its structural perfection is matched only by its hostility." This game feels like it is out to get you...in the best way possible.

5 Subnautica

By Sean Murray

Subnautica screenshot showcasing a leviathan attacking

Subnautica isn't really a traditional horror game, but it is terrifying. That's mostly due to the fact you're stranded in an alien ocean and everything in it is trying to kill you. Well, not everything, but most things. And some things...some of 'em are way scarier than exploding pufferfish and ravenous alien sharks.

Hungry alien sharks are nothing. The worst is when your submarine breaks down and you have to start swimming in the open ocean. You can't see the bottom, but you can hear the cries of something enormous lurking in the depths — a leviathan so massive that nothing in your arsenal can dissuade it from swallowing you and your submersible whole.

Then, without warning, you get one horrifying look of alien mandibles and a screaming mouth full of razor-sharp teeth, and then... it's game over. If that's not horror, I dunno what is.

4 Dead Space

By Charles Burgar

Dead Space screenshot showing Isaac and a Necromorph

Dead Space takes the gripping gameplay loop of Resident Evil 4 and cranks the immersion up to 11. Your character, Isaac Clarke, is sent aboard a planet-cracking vessel to investigate a communication error. Like most horror games, things take a turn for the worse rather quickly.

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What makes Dead Space so brilliant is how reserved it is. Your HUD consists of a health bar on your spine and the ammo counter on your gun. Treks across the Ishimura are quiet, bringing emphasis to your character’s rapid breathing and the strange noises that periodically come from the air ducts. When combat does happen, it’s fast, intense, and shows the sheer ferocity of the foe you’re facing. Add to this the immaculate lighting and environmental storytelling that Dead Space possesses, and you have the perfect game to play when you want to be fully immersed and periodically terrified. Word of advice: aim for the limbs.

3 Lollipop Chainsaw

By Stacey Henley

Fighting a zombie in Lollipop Chainsaw

What’s your favourite scary movie…? That’s a line from Scream, which is an acceptable answer, but the actual correct answers are the likes of Jennifer’s Body, The Babysitter, and Tucker & Dale Vs. Evil. Horror is boring. ‘Ooh I’m dead’, ‘Ahh some blood’, ‘oh look, a flesh-eating monster ready to rip off my skin and feast upon it’. Ugh. Boring. Horror comedy is where it’s at, baby. Scary films are all black and red and jump scares all over. Boo. The bad boo, not the scary boo. Lollipop Chainsaw, gaming’s answer to Jennifer’s Body, is the best horror comedy game ever, and therefore the best Halloween game ever. What are you gonna play, Generic Dark Corridor Zombie Chase 3 or a game where a cheerleader rides a chainsaw like a motorcycle with her undead boyfriend’s head swinging from her hips? That’s what I thought.

2 Back 4 Blood

By Damien Lykins

A photo depicting gameplay in Back 4 Blood

Back 4 Blood may not be held in the same esteem as we would hold, say, Generic Dark Corridor Zombie Chase 3, but it most definitely will have you running through dark corridors as zombies chase you. You'll shoot them, sometimes, but you're going to run through dark corridors. Often. Being serious, Back 4 Blood hits the note it needed to hit — it's the Left 4 Dead we've been missing for the past decade or so. I'll admit that I was a bit skeptical at first. Call of Duty-like ADS mechanics and weapon attachments? Color-coded battle royale loot? A card system? It all seemed like too many whistles being added to what should be a simple formula.

But in application, these elements really work. The loot creates a sort of "fight or flight" choice in each new area, the cards provide a meaningful progression system between runs, and the more immersive shooting mechanics give the combat a more visceral tone. I knew I was back home when I survived my first white-knuckled escape scenario amidst the panicked screaming of several friends, and I'm likely to be doing just that when Halloween rolls around.

1 Dead Rising

By Jamie Latour

In terms of games that are teeming with Halloween spirit, I don’t think anything captures the feeling more than Dead Rising. First of all, it’s chock-full of zombies. Every nook and cranny of that mall is crammed to the gills with the undead. As someone who's a big fan of Dawn Of The Dead, Shaun Of The Dead, and other zombie movies with rhyming names, I love any game that lets me mow down roaming gangs of the walking dead. Plus, Dead Rising gives you all kinds of ways to dispose of zombies. You can cut through mobs with a chainsaw, bash them with a bicycle Yakuza-style, or you can grab a frozen fish from the supermarket and go on a slapping spree.

What really puts Dead Rising over the top as the ultimate Halloween game is the fact that you can make Frank West wear all sorts of costumes. He can adorn an orange prison jumpsuit, dress up like a pro wrestler, or even put on a full Mega Man outfit and go after zombies with a Mega Buster. This game is a valuable part of any Halloween celebration. The only thing missing is some way of retrieving candy from the zombies you slaughter.

NEXT: Best Horror Games Set In The Woods