My favourite video game Halloween events!

Halloween is one of my most favourite holidays. In fact, I think the only reason I don't love it quite as much as Christmas is because the UK still hasn't quite cottoned on to it, whereas we've always done Christmas pretty well. I've spent a bunch of Halloweens in America, where I can find whole houses decorated for the occasion, shops embracing cobwebs and plastic spiders and more parties and events than you can shake a spooky stick at. Over here, we're getting better, but we're not quite there yet. I want haunted houses, spooky mazes, themed parties and scary movie cinema marathons!

One thing that's made Halloween a little more awesome though, despite the lack of any 'real life' events, has been the way my favourite video games embrace it! Maybe I can't dress up and go to an awesome party, but my favourite characters can!

League of Legends - The Harrowing

From 2010, League of Legends has enjoyed its own version of Halloween called 'The Harrowing'. Each year is different but they all typically feature special spooky new character and ward skins. One year, the whole main map was transformed into a spooky wonderland of cobwebs and pumpkins, where the health potions were candy corn and where mana came from encrusted apples. This year, as well as some new skins and icons, their 3-man map Twisted Treeline is now part of 'Hexakill', with an awesome new 6-v-6 game mode, and they've also created this gorgeous animated short to advertise the event:

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Guild Wars 2 - The Return of the Mad King!

I'm really new to GW2 but I'm really really enjoying it, and I'm so glad I decided to pick the game up just before Halloween! My buddy Luke has been playing for a while and he always said how much fun their Halloween events were, and he wasn't wrong! On launching the game, you're given a letter which opens up a whole crazy area of spooky fun! There are extra quests, games and events all themed around the arrival of the Mad King (and Halloween!), and you can even mine for candy corn!

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Team Fortress 2 - Scream Fortress!

Okay, so I've saved the best till last! It's no secret that TF2 is my favourite game of all time, so of course I love their Halloween offering every year! Entitled 'Scream Fortress', each year Valve goes all out to make it a truly awesome little event. Going since 2010, we're now in our sixth year of Halloween madness. 2009 was a simple affair, we were given some masks to wear and achievements to achieve. My personal favourite was 2010, which saw the Horseless, Headless Horsemann make an appearance as a 'boss' enemy we had to defeat ( as well as each other!) In 2011, continuing the boss theme, we had Monocoulous, and then we met Merasmus, who cast spells on us while we played and generally caused havocs during the game. Each event takes place on an awesome reskinned map for the occasion, and is usually accompanied by an amazing little comic to flesh out the whole thing. Last year, following the comic's plot,  Redmond and Blutarch, the brothers behind the RED and BLU teams (TF2 has a really complicated story, now!) bickered as ghosts around us, and this year, Mersasmus is back, with a creepy carnival and some awesome tricks, treats and spells (including a TF2 bumper car mode! I mean really?? LOVE it!)

TF2 is such a fun, silly game. It's the game we keep coming back to because it's just so much fun. What's awesome about the TF2 Halloween events is that they're not entirely limited to once a year. The special hats and costumes you get can be used every month when the full moon rises, which makes it even more fun collecting the weirdest, best costumes you can!


So, that's my plan over this Halloween! What about you guys? What do your favourite games do for the season? <3