We had to stop by Lowe’s today to pick up a few things, and the GameStop is next door, so of course we went there, too. Which is what leads me to today’s topic: Inspiration From Video Games.
Video-games have come a long way since I was a kid and I just wish I had more time as an adult to play them all! It truly is a great time to be alive for gamers, whether you play on a console, a PC, or your phone/tablet. And this holds true for horror fans who are also gamers. Horror games are a growing market, thanks in part to the popularity of Silent Hill and Resident Evil, both of which spawned movies based on them and increased exposure. America’s recent love of zombies thanks to The Walking Dead, has guaranteed a slew of zombie-themed video games as well.
You can do a Google search for “Horror Video Games” and get a slew of “Best of” lists if you are interested in checking out some of the options yourself. Most of the “best” games are probably going to be rated “M” for “Mature” however, just due to their nature. Fair warning.
As far as getting Halloween Party/ Costume/ Decor inspiration from video games however, you don’t necessarily have to stick to what falls into the “traditional” realm. With a bit of a perspective shift, all kinds of things can be terrifying. In fact, that’s pretty much the idea behind the twitch game “Five Nights at Freddy’s”, where the monsters you have to survive are the animatronic creatures from a children’s pizza parlor.
As an example, last year we threw a Fallout themed Halloween party. As a post-apocalyptic style game, it’s got plenty of radiation-mutated monsters, giant robots and of course, ghouls, which fit naturally into the Halloween theme. But the biggest tie-in, is that the big war that started it all, occurred just days before Halloween, so the game is littered with little vintage Halloween decorations and plastic pumpkin pails for you to discover as you wander the Wasteland. There are plenty of character types to choose a costume from, with infinite amounts of variations. And for those folks who like to keep it low-key, dressing as a settler, trader or farmer is always an option.
Bioshock is another great videogame to draw party inspiration from – especially if you’re looking for a watery-theme but are getting bored of pirates. The Big Daddies in their deranged dive suits and glowing-eyed Little Sisters are sure to spice up your pool-area.
The fantasy RPG series Dragon Age is positively littered with demons, magic-users, possessed corpses, old gods and monsters. The characters go on several haunted adventures in-game, and it wouldn’t be hard to integrate some of that into your own theme.
These are just some ideas, of course, based on my favorites. I imagine there are quite a few video-games that could be easily tweaked for spooky fun if you put your mind to it. And even if you decide not to go with a video-game theme, you can certainly leave a few up and running during your party for your guests to play, as added entertainment! For something quick and easily shared among multiple people, I highly recommend one of the themed pinball games from Pinball FX:
Hauntcadia 