If horror games aren't your thing, play these 8 mystery games on Halloween instead

Spooktober has been going on in full swing, and in 2025, there's no shortage of fantastic horror games to play for Halloween that's right around the corner. However, it doesn't always have to mean screaming your lungs out in a dark hallway or dodging ghastly monsters lunging at you. It's quite alright if horror isn't your cup of tea — not everyone enjoys willingly making themselves stressed and afraid, and not everyone has to.

However, it's still the best time to play some serious mystery games with impeccable visual design that's dark and, at the very least, grim. These games might not have you gripping the life out of your controller or wanting to keep the lights on to feel less afraid, but they certainly will keep you engaged with their atmosphere, storytelling, and psychological unease.

The Wolf Among Us (2013)

Neon, noir, and fairy tales with fangs

The Wolf Among Us is the kind of game that sinks its teeth into you (low hanging pun, I know), without having to raise its voice. One of Telltale Games' best episodic titles, The Wolf Among Us puts you in the shoes (or is it paws?) of Bigby Wolf, who's a chain-smoking sheriff of a gritty, rain-soaked Fabletown.

The game is full of choices you make that have ripple effects throughout the plot, in a world where Snow White runs the government, Beauty and the Beast have been having trouble in paradise, and everyone hides something nasty beneath their surface-level storybook exterior.

The Wolf Among Us is almost the perfect Halloween game, because even without being a horror game, it delivers a creeping realization to its players that even fairy tales rot from the inside out when you bring them into the real world. It's noir and nightmare married, except that marriage is going through the wringer.

What Remains of Edith Finch (2017)

A family album of ghosts and grief

You've probably heard about What Remains of Edith Finch a hundred times over, but it's only because this game deserves all the praise it gets, and then some. Very few games can make the concept of death feel this hauntingly beautiful, and this one succeeds in leaving an indelible mark on you that won't go away any time soon. As you explore the devastating fate of a cursed family and their many bizarre demises, each story in this game will be deeply human — sometimes playful, and often tragic.

There's something profoundly unsettling about What Remains of Edith Finch. There's a sense that the house you're exploring itself is alive, and it remembers what happened inside it, much like Hill House. Every creaking hallway in the game is a whisper from the past, and the entire experience is a masterclass in environmental storytelling that genuinely fits Halloween perfectly. It's about ghosts, but not the spooky ones, but rather those we carry with us.

Dredge (2023)

Fishing was never supposed to feel this cursed

Another game that won't scare you but certainly put you on edge, Dredge, I think, can best be described as 'cozy horror'. It's a game that lulls you with calm seas and a fantastic fishing system where you catch fish, sell them, and use the money to steadily upgrade your boat. Until... you face Lovecraftian horrors beyond your comprehension. Along with fish, strange relics start emerging from the depths, the locals begin speaking in half-truths, and the sea itself seems to be breathing when you're not looking, like it's playing a twisted game of Red Light, Green Light.

Dredge is remarkably relaxing when you're engaging with just its fishing mechanic, and just as unnerving when it decides to ramp up the tension and the mystery of the foggy archipelago it's set in. There's no room to be screaming in terror here, but there will be countless times when you look around wildly every time you hear your boat creak.

Gone Home (2013)

One of the best romantic stories in gaming

Gone Home is a mystery game through and through, and its horror aesthetic, where its set in a creaky old manor on top of a hill during a thunderstorm, might just fool you into thinking you're about to play a scary game. The truth, however, is infinitely more interesting. Over the two hours you'll spend playing Gone Home, you'll unravel the mystery of where your family is, what condition they're in, and, above all, the story of your sibling Sam, all of which culminates in one of the most powerful narratives gaming as a medium can offer.

As a teenager who played it for the first time over a decade ago, Gone Home left me with an immensely moving life lesson that changed me for the better, and even today, it remains just as impactful.

The Sinking City Remastered (2025)

Mystery and madness, all beneath the surface

Lovecraftian lore can be horror-leaning whenever it needs to be, but the best thing about it is how it neatly fits into so many other genres. Eldritch realms in the action-oriented Doom: The Dark Ages? No problem. Mysterious happenings you can't quite put your finger on in a fishing game like Dredge? Fitting. And an entire living, breathing city resting on top of a centuries-old Lovecraftian deity in The Sinking City? Sold.

An open-world detective game drenched in unease and mystery, The Sinking City puts you in a city that is literally and mentally drowning bit-by-bit. It's a moody, brooding experience from start to finish, full of conspiracies, cults, and creeping paranoia.

You'll be solving robberies and murders in the game, using detective abilities to deduct what happened, all while uncovering an interconnected tissue throughout the city of Oakmont that you're not quite sure you want to unveil fully.

House of Ashes (2021)

A temple should be a refuge, unless there's something trapped there with you

Supermassive Games' Dark Pictures Anthology is one of the most ambitious interconnected projects ever undertaken in the medium, and it will always deserve its flowers for trying different kinds of survival horror games while tying them all together (loosely). The series is halfway complete, with four out of its eight planned games out, and the next one due in 2026. Out of those four, it's 2021's House of Ashes that is easily the least scary, but its mystery quotient remains high enough to warrant a recommendation on this list.

Set during the Iraq War, House of Ashes revolves around a team of soldiers who stumble upon an ancient buried temple, and something buried along with it. The moral tension and mythological terror that follow never fully crosses the line into outright horror, but it does deliver tense gameplay, and, above all, creates a festering need for answers in the players.

House of Ashes keeps you guessing about the monsters you fight, as well as the history you're facing. The temple's claustrophobic tunnels and flickering torchlight make every decision feel heavy. It's suspenseful, atmospheric, and just grounded enough to make you question a lot of things you see, hear, and decide. This is horror-adjacent gaming in the best way, and if there's one non-horror game you should play this Halloween, make sure it's House of Ashes.

Return of the Obra Dinn (2018)

The sea never forgets...

Lucas Pope's Return of the Obra Dinn is proof that mystery can be more terrifying than any jump scare. You play as an insurance investigator, of all things, exploring a derelict 19th-century ship where everyone is dead... or missing. Then, there's the absolutely incredible and unique art style, which will never leave your mind. Armed with a magical pocket watch that rewinds death itself, you piece together who died, how, and at whose hand.

The black-and-white aesthetic gives the whole game an uncanny, otherworldly aura, like a haunting etching come to life. Every death you decode in this game genuinely feels like you are uncovering and lifting a curse. Return of the Obra Dinn may not be a horror game in the traditional sense, but it will still find a way to crawl under your skin with its tension, loneliness, and that eerie, nautical stillness.

Hell is Us (2025)

The horrors within will make you turn away

Inarguably one of the most refreshing games I've played in 2025, Hell is Us deserves a hundred times more praise than it has gotten. Set in the fictional war-torn country of Hadea, Hell is Us makes you play as Remi, a visitor to Hadea but with a deep link to its history and roots. Now, the hook of the game is that it simply does not hold your hand in throws you right into the deep end with no maps, objective lists, or checkpoint markers to guide you, but what you'll remember it much more strongly for is its immensely mysterious and riveting plot.

What makes Hell is Us perfect for Halloween is that, firstly, it deserves more attention and players this year, and secondly, the game blurs the line between internal and external monsters. There is horror in the game, but said horror is that of war, political fragmentation, and human suffering. The more you explore Hadea, the deeper the centuries-long mystery of its mythology goes, but more importantly, the more you realize that the creatures you fight might just be reflections of your own inner turmoil. Hell is Us is bleak, beautiful, and existentially unsettling.

Horror-adjacent mystery games are the best of both worlds

If you want to skip the cheap jumpscares this Halloween, let the mysteries pull you under instead.

Horror games may very well be ruling (every) October, but mystery games shouldn't be counted out, either. For those who aren't feeling up for screaming their lungs out, mystery games keep the spirit of Spooktober alive through curiosity instead of terror, and I'd daresay that it's far more engaging.

So if you want to skip the cheap jumpscares this Halloween, just go ahead and light a candle, plug in your headphones, and let the mysteries pull you under instead.