Top Board Games for this Halloween

Have you been searching for the perfect game to play this Halloween? Check out our top takes on what games will bring that spooky spirit to your table.

Escape The Dark Castle

Freedom is at hand! But escaping your cell is only the first challenge as you and your fellow inmates will face the denizens of the Dark Castle…

Escape the Dark Castle is an atmospheric adventure game that sees you and up to three others attempt to make you way out of its dungeons after an unwelcome stay, but that was just the easy part! As you draw cards from the chapter deck you will meet (and usually fight) the inhabitants of the castle. This gothic tale of a desperate bid for freedom wraps you in its theme and feel with old school art as you face off against wraiths, madmen, and traps using your characters Might, Cunning, and Wisdom.

Traverse all 15 cards of the chapter deck and face off against one of three bosses standing between you and the outside world. 

Mansions of Madness

If you are looking for a thematic game for Halloween then you certainly need look no further than Mansions of Madness.

This app driven game will see you and your fellow investigators take a trip into one of a number of scenarios, all elegantly ran digitally so you can focus on playing the game. From scenarios that end in a brawl to puzzling your way through a museum, this game has a huge variety of challenges to offer, made more encapsulating by the sense of pressure generated by the app. The atmospheric music helps, however it is the lack of knowledge as to how many turns you have left and knowing that doom could approach at any time that truly turns this into a must own Arkham Experience! 

Unfathomable

From the sense of hidden threats in Mansions comes some very real ones in Unfathomable.

Set in the 1920s, you and your party will need to manage not only your resources but the enemies that are slowly building up around your ship. Run out of any resources and you will die, let the deep ones get too far and you will also die! However, threats are not limited to these two as there will be a traitor or two amongst your ranks who is plotting your demise!

Unfathomable is a fantastic game of hidden roles and always a favourite at my table. 

Mysterium

As a world famous medium, you and a number of your peers have been summoned to the house of Mr MacDowell to exorcise a ghost by solving its decades old murder.

You sense the ghost is weak and unable to speak, only providing strange visions of places that could never be: an airship soaring through the deep sea; the moon cut and dished out at a child’s teaparty. It is your duty to interpret the visions and solve their murder before the ghost fades from this world, its business forever unfinished.

A game of interpretation, Mysterium will test your critical thinking skills and how well you know each other as you try and understand what weapon, crime scene, or culprit to which your vision could possibly refer. 

Elder Sign

This museum is WRONG. Its extensive collection of occult artifacts and curios have twisted and torn both space and time, breaking the barriers between our innocent world and ancient evils beyond knowing, who have long watched us with hungry eyes.

Trapped inside, you and a number of other investigators must fight off horrors sent to warp your minds and break your bodies while trying to learn the eldritch sigils required to seal the portals and protect our world from the Ancient Ones.

A co-operative dice game, Elder Sign is a test of both your skill and your luck, as you embark on adventures by rolling dice and matching symbols to those on the adventure card in order to drive back horrors, find useful items and followers, or earn the titular Elder Signs. Use your character’s skills, and artifacts bought from the museum gift shop, to tip the odds in your favour as you skate the thin line between salvation and oblivion.

More Spooky Offerings

All of these great titles are available in store and online if you dare to try them! Looking for more suggestions? Check out our collection of Halloween Games.