Little Goody Two Shoes is first, and, appropriately enough, it's a game where you're a dang ol' scary witch! But, like... a young one, so not so much the warts and screeching. Also, it's the kind of game where "General Witch Mischief" means "begrudgingly doing other peoples chores so nobody suspects you consort with the Blackest of Magickes". However, it's ALSO the kind of game where... you aren't really encouraged to follow the rules of the laws of God or Man and instead just witch it up but good, and have to navigate nightmare realms every night because the forces of darkness are up to significantly less good than you yourself are.
It's Princess Maker with a CONSIDERABLY shakier needle on your moral compass.
And what's more in the Halloween spirit than m-m-m-m-MONSTERS? And what's the biggest monster of all? That's right; the management at Riot Forge. But what's physically larger than them, at least in terms of shoe-size? Bigfoots. AND SO, we have Song of Nunu: A League of Legends Story. It's a Zeld-em-up where you're the Kid and Abombinable Snowman from League of Legends. From the trailer and description, I get a kind of Bayonetta Origins vibe from it, except in the snow.
Remember Final Destination 3? Which I think was the one with the deadly roller coaster crash? Well, You better keep right on thinking about it because out next SPINE TINGLING CHILLER is nothing less than Roller Coaster Tycoon Adventures. Which... you know... is another Roller Coaster Tycoon game. Build a themepark and let the scariest thing of all, RAMPANT CAPITALISM determine how people enjoy themselves. OoooOOOOoooooh.
Next up is a TERROR FROM BEYOND THE STARS! Remember the early 2000s? And remember when Newgrounds was a font of early internet Meme humor and transgressive flash games? Well, one of the better of that latter set was Alien Hominid. And then they made a greatly expanded console release. And now they brought it back and made it look far more gussied up than the Nintendo Gamecube was ever capable of with Alien Hominid HD! Which I think they actually did, like, 15 years ago on the 360 and PS3, but they also just released a sequel! Alien Hominid Invasion which I infer to be aRoguelite that's more like Gunstar Heroes than Metal Slug, as the original was.
And speaking of the terror of aged internet culture, we have FX Unit Yuki, based on the Webcomic of the same name. The BIG SCARY SPIDER web-comic, I should say! It's got some real TG-16 game energy; like a Shockman or one of the earlier Wonderboys.
Boy, this Halloween update has me all on edge; I think I need something to calm me down a bit. Like some cartoons... but what if OH NO! They're Old Cartoons, like what a Babadook or a Skinamarink likes to watch! Ooooooh noooo, I'm just biting my nails thinking about it! Luckily, Enchanted Portals, which looks enough like Cuphead that I'm sure the entire intent behind it is "Kids like Cuphead, do one of them!" is here. And by all accounds, is just stunningly terrible, in ways that are impossible to correct mechanically so there's no point trying!
Phew, dodged a bullet there.
And speaking of things that look like familiar things but aren't, which is also scary when it happens when you're inside a Twilight Zone and not just, like, misremembering something, we have Star Ocean: The Second Story R, a gussied ALL TO HELL AND BACK remake of Star Ocean 2. It looks much more visually in the style of Octopath or Triangle Strategy. Take control of either a Star Trek Guy who accidentally gets stuck on a Fantasy Planet, or a Fantasy Girl who suddenly has a spaceman show up on her doorstep and has to deal with that malarkey. Most importantly they brought back the VA cast from the original game and hopefully that means they kept the same "One take, and also no one speaks English as their first language" acting style.
My Time at Sandrock is a Chores-em-up action RPG set in a world that has had a Weird Monster Apocalypse and everyone just has to deal with it; because taking time to gun down Orc Hordes don't mean the potatoes don't have to be brought in.
When you're here, you're Farmbly.
Next up is a game about confronting your spurned former loved ones! But luckily, you confront them with violence and rad skateboard tricks rather than emotions! Thirsty Suitors, from the description, is a kind of inverted take on Scott Pilgrim where you're the one taking on your exes in RPG combat, who have all been invited to your sisters wedding by your overbearing parents who really think you should settle down and not get into so many rad skateboard duels against public parks department.
That old chestnut.
Next is a video game about an evil doppelganger who is forcing you to move in strange ways; like the end of Annihilation! Ooohooohh! Wario Ware: Move It ain't the first Wario Ware game on the Switch but it IS the one that remembers that the dang console is *lousy* with motion sensors so why not use them. It's kind of like Ringfit, except it's Warioware, so the exercises are really short and involve, like, picking your nose or insulting a fish or whatever.
Next is a game that I will infer for the sake of the theme I'm sticking with on this thread is based on the Italian Giallo Horror tradition; One Night Burlesque, with the caveat that all I really know about that genre is "Weird colours" and "Beautiful women being murdered by ugly men". In this case, it's a text-based detects-em-up where you've got psychic powers trying to figure out what no-good scum-bum is murdin' up the gals at the local burlesque house.
Now, of course this is the Halloween update, so what better way to commemorate it than with what is arguably the most famous ghost story of all; A Christmas Carol. And what video game better exemplified Halloween than Castlevania? Nothin', that's what. AND SO, NATURALLY, there's a Metroidvania based on a Christmas Carol coming out scant days into November; Ebenezer and the Invisible World. Use your Christmas Cheer to bash monsters friggin' heads in and wield the supernatural powers of not just the ghosts of Christmas Past Present and Future, but the spirits of ALL THE LONDON DEAD to save the living world from the diabolical industrialists who have YET to hear the good word of not being a dick on Christmas, and also an Anti Christmas Spirit ghost who looks like a Dickensian Lord Zedd.
I don't recall the last time a video game pandered to me so hard...
And finally, we have a very seasonally appropriate NSO update! First, coming either six monthes early or late for Walpurgis Night, we have Devil World, the game that asked "What if Pac-Man, except the maze scrolled and the instructions weren't immediately obvious" and Castlevania Legends (which is arguably the worst Castlevania game on a console that has Castlevania Adventure on it!) as well as The Secret of Murusame Castle (a more action-based Legend of Zelda, that... umm... is pretty scary if you consider that ninja are known killers of men) and, if you paid extra for the NSO Expansion, Mario Party 3, which can end friendships and that's pretty scary too, if you think about it!
