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The 5 best scary iPad and iPhone games for Halloween (2013)

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The 5 best scary iPad and iPhone games for Halloween (2013)
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iOS
| Year Walk

It's October 31st.

It's the day on which the spirits of the dead rise from their graves to bash on your door and demand chocolate, leaving you with a simple terrifying choice: do you play a tacit part in the obesity epidemic or get eggs thrown at your windows?

Here at Pocket Gamer, we like to help. So, we're going to propose an alternative.

Grab your tablet or smartphone and some headphones; turn off all the lights in your house; and find the spookiest corner you can.

Then, play one of these five horror games. They're spooky, they're creepy, and they're much more palatable than those sugar-rushing children who think they deserve some reward for pulling a black bin liner over their head.


The Nightjar - iPad / iPhone

A science fiction horror adventure narrated by the only real-life actor / Dickensian character hybrid Benedict Cumberbatch.

You're trapped on a spaceship and the lights have gone out. You're going to have to listen carefully if you want to survive.

We gave The Nightjar a Silver Award when we reviewed it. We called it "a uniquely thrilling, audio-only, science fiction horror that proves that, sometimes, there's very good reason to be afraid of the dark."


Indigo Lake - iPad / iPhone

Ancient prophecies, an open world, a series of mysterious prophecies, and a first-person touchscreen control system that isn't rubbish.

Indigo Lake has them all. And it's deeply unsettling to boot, which is exactly what you want from a game, right?

At review, we gave Indigo Lake a Silver Award. We said that it "surprises by being a genuinely scary and atmospheric adventure-puzzler, as well as by incorporating effective first-person controls".


Into the Dead - iPad / iPhone

Endless-runners aren't scary, right? Wrong. Get to the back of the class.

Into the Dead is all about sprinting through hordes of zombies, cutting them into chunks with a chainsaw, and trying to survive that little bit longer than you did last time.

We gave it a Silver Award last December. We called it "tense and atmospheric, with a compelling mission system". We then added that "Into the Dead scares the endless-runner genre back into action".


The Walking Dead - iPad / iPhone

A point-and-click adventure that's full of monsters. But are the zombies the 'monster', or are you?

It's the undead. (And probably you a bit, mind.)

Anyway. In The Walking Dead, you have to make harrowing decisions, hide in shops, and try to survive the zombie apocalypse.

We gave The Walking Dead a Silver Award when we reviewed it. We reckoned that "despite being essentially an interactive movie, The Walking Dead: The Game's convincing cast of characters and meaningful decision making lifts it above Telltale's previous efforts."


Year Walk - iPhone / iPad

Another point-and-click adventure. This time, though, about spooky goings-on in a Swedish wood.

There's a man with a goat's head. There are lots of scary trees. And there's a constant atmosphere of unease. Year Walk is creepy rather than scary, but in all the right ways.

At review, we gave Year Walk a Gold Award, calling it "a beguiling adventure, and a truly memorable experience". Download it now.

Harry Slater
Harry Slater
Harry used to be really good at Snake on the Nokia 5110. Apparently though, digital snake wrangling isn't a proper job, so now he writes words about games instead.