Bye Sweet Carole
One of the most stylish upcoming horror games this Halloween season is Bye Sweet Carole. The game uses charming two-dimensional animation inspired by classic animations of the 1980’s reminiscent of Don Bluth or Disney. While this is the first game developed by the Little Sewing Machine studio, the game’s creator, Chris Darril, is primarily known for his survival horror series Remothered. The publishing company, Maximum Entertainment is best known for Until Then and In Sound Mind. If that's not enough to convince you of the quality, the game has already been nominated for Best Visuals from the Gamescom awards.
The game itself takes place in early 1900’s England, where our player character tries to discover what happened to her best friend Carole Summers. The game is split in two, with our player character not only able to shift into rabbit form, but she is also able to visit an entire other fantasy world called Corolla. The game releases October 9th, 2025, so be sure to check it out and wishlist it on Steam if you’re interested!
Riddlewood Manor
Reader, perhaps you want something a little less traditionally scary but still unnerving and delightfully ghoulish (and full of jumpscares)?
Riddlewood Manor is just as stylish as Sweet Carole, but in a wildly different way! Contrasting with the classic animation we saw above, Riddlewood Manor revels in a lovely-to-look-at cartoony art style with thick lines and hand-drawn and explorable environments.
Inspired by the Rusty Lake series as well as cartoons like Scooby Doo, Riddlewood Manor is a series of ever more intense escape rooms in a house that is literally trying to kill you. This is the first non-VR game by developer Peanut Button, who is otherwise best known for his Retropolis VR series. The manor has tons of places to explore and characters to meet, so make sure to go wishlist it on Steam if the game has caught your interest. The full game releases on October 22, but the demo is available now.
H9
Something you'll learn about me real quick, dear reader, is how much I love visual novels and ARG's, so allow me some indulgence as I explain this next game. But be warned, this title is for adults only!
The Steam page claims that this visual novel is the first game developed by developer company Ga-saku and published by WorldMap, but don't be fooled! The visual novel is actually written by Nagai Tomoyoshi, a writer known for his writing and scenario work on the visual novels My Merry May, and Shin Hayarigami.
The player will be attempting to uncover the sinister mystery behind the cancellation of a lewd visual novel and why its company went under. The game is split into two gameplay parts: faux-documentary discovery and lewd rock-paper-scissors. There isn’t as much information on the Steam page, but I think this means that the gameplay will be split between reading the visual novel and playing minigames.
The game is releasing sometime in October 2025, so if you’re interested in more games like this one, check it out on steam and give it some love (like adding it to your wishlist)!
Silly Polly Beast
Silly Polly Beast is a mixture of top-down and side-scrolling survival horror as well as a shooter and skateboarding game. Shoot big bugs, even bigger women (skyscraper-sized, according to the trailer) and skate through the underworld on your skateboard! Honestly, that alone would be enough to get me interested if not for the super-stylish anime-inspired 3D graphics that also spark my interest. The player will be helping Polly fight through the underworld immediately after escaping her orphanage. The poor girl cannot catch a break.
The game is developed by Andrei Chernyshov (known primarily for Fury Turn, a hand-drawn turn-based puzzle game) and produced by Top Hat Studios (known for producing Crypt Custodian, The Citadel and Labyrinth of the Demon King). The demo is currently available, so give it a try and if you like it, grab the full release sometime in October 2025.
GORE
A found-footage full-of-lore horror experience and walking simulator that takes place in the beautiful mountains of the Pacific Northwest where you end up finding a lot of Lovecraftian meat. Or maybe, based on how it's spreading, it's more accurate to say that the meat finds you?
The steam page promises a story as well as intriguing lore. I must know how the well-designed and frightening meat shapes got into the mountains. This is the first and only game developed and published by CosmicArcade with an original soundtrack created by the developer. The game is slated to release on October 31, 2025 and I think this would be a great way to spend a spooky Friday on-your-own.
Hell Dice Gambler
Let's go gambling! Hell Dice Gambler is a roguelike deckbuilder but with dice (and pills)! This is a strategy game that comes from the same family of strategy-games as Buckshot Roulette or Inscryption with charming cell-shaded 3D environments, models and hellish casino theming. The player will have to use their brain to think their way out of these deadly dice matches, and hopefully, out of Hell itself! This is the first release developed and published by Bheismarque and BUNBUN and will be released on October 31, 2025. The demo is currently available, so give it a try and (say it with me) wishlist it if you like what you play!