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Beetlejuice is back in cinemas, the sun has gone into hibernation for another 9 months, and pumpkin spice is back on the menu baby! That means Halloween can’t be too far away so let’s get the costume party started with some lower key dark and goth games to ease us into the season of spooks.
Gloom
Have you ever secretly enjoyed being miserable? Are you very deliberately not the life of a party? Do you like to wallow and lament like a young victorian who has run out of cucumber sandwiches? Well, Gloom might just be your shade of grey. As classic as it is quirky at this point, Gloom has you guide a family tree of Robert Smith and Lydia Deetz lookalikes through as much despair as possible while trying to offer your opponent’s families a jolly good time. The game works off a cool system of transparent cards that stack atop each other like a loaded misery scooby sandwich made while being chased through endless doorways by a monster. This game guarantees macabre comedy.
Mysterium
What’s more goth than not talking to anyone else at the family dinner table? Pushing the definition of low key with this one but ooo those haunted vibes! Mysterium has one player act out the role of a ghost who is trying to communicate various aspects of a murder to other players. The ghost cannot speak and must instead impart their meaning via cards with screenshots of 90s Tim Burton movies on them. This is your go to if you want to theme a board game evening with maximum oogadyboogady. I played this way into the night once and texted my cool neighbour to bang on the wall at 12:00. That was the time I learned my friend has a heart condition. Sorry Tim.
Disney Villainous: The Worst Takes It All
Did you ever see that scene in Wreck It Ralph where all the villains from video games have a support group? This is that but with Disney villains, and instead of supporting each other they bicker, squabble, and scheme at each other. A fun little game for leaning into your dark side which puts you in the shoes of such classic characters as Shouty Poker Lady, Sassy Octopus Legs, and of course Maleficant…Magnificent….Magnesium…Angela Jolie demon.
Zombie Dice
Do you remember when zombies were cool without having to try? Now it’s all about reinventing the genre or giving them a gimmick to keep the genre fresh….ironically. Well Zombie Dice comes from an era where looking emaciated, eating brains, and shuffling along like you are queuing for train tickets was enough. For many a moon this was my chuck it in the pocket and clack some dice at the pub game. It also helps that the rules are simple enough to follow after a bucket of bloody Marys. Basically, it’s a push your luck dice roller as you gorge on brain after brain before yours gets exploded by a pesky human with a boomstick. It’s light, portable, and playable up to 8-10 pints.
Monster Fluxx
If you haven't played a Fluxx game before then it’s fair to say they are an acquired taste. I have to be honest it doesn’t get a lot of play at my table but sooner or later we crave it and Monster Fluxx just so happens to be my favourite variant because monsters are cool as heck and I’ll hear no more about it. If you don’t know, Fluxx games all play the same way; Cards come out, the rules of the game are defined and redefined as people play their cards, you nearly win 3 rounds in a row then you lose because your wife has a bat and Dracula in
front of her and that is the current win condition. You are confused because it was just your turn and you had all these things in front of you for the entire game and now she has them, and you are trying to work out if your gleefully smug wife will be walking home. That is fluxx. Would recommend. PS for a truly horrific experience try and teach it to your parents. I cannot describe to you the contortions that wracked my mothers face as I tried to explain the rules of the game every time they changed.
Campy Creatures
Did you grow up with those classic black and white Universal monster picks? If so, then how old are you?? I certainly didn’t but I will ride that second hand nostalgia all day and boy does this game evoke a glorious time I have no memory of. Campy Creatures is a quick card game where you play as rival mad scientists capturing mortals for reasons…. You’ll be playing lots of delightfully illustrated monster cards to bluff your way to the best victims, while making sure the vampire to your right and swamp monster to your left have the worst of times.
Funghi (AKA Morels)
So hear me out. No ghouls, no skulls, no moonlit glades, but this game is maximum autumn vibes - the natural habitat of the goth. In Fungi you meander through an autumn forest foraging for mushrooms to fry in butter and maybe a little cider on the side. It’s easy to pick up and smart to play and while not directly connected to Halloween it definitely invites those cosey pre-winter tingles. If you are looking for something a little more alt then add a house rule where players can wander too deep into the woods and end up in Gingersnaps 4 or something.
Fury of Dracula
Well duh. 1 player plays the OG goth daddy while everyone else plays the other characters in the book, whose names are only remembered by the most dedicated goths, as they try to stake Dracula. Straight off the bat (pun intended) this one is a fang-tastic (very intended) hidden movement game. One player gets the full on power fantasy of dominating across europe as old school Dracula while everyone else has to grapple with minions of evil, ethereal forces of darkness, and victorian train schedules to keep up. Definitely one of the more intense games on this list but perfect for a crescendo event to cap off the spoopy season.
Escape the Dark Castle
This game looks like what I was trying to draw in the margins of my school exercise books but lacking all artistic talent I eventually gave up and just drew that weird S shape again and again. You know the one. Escape the Dark Castle on the other hand absolutely nails it’s artwork and from there its atmosphere too. Work together to escape your imprisonment within the bowels of the dark castle by chucking dice and … praying mostly. Proper spookfest.
Village Attacks
OK, I am really pushing it now. This game is full blown halloween but I will squeeze it on here because it’s pure gothbait. You play as one of four dark entities - a vampire, banshee, lich, succubus or frickin dullahan (headless horsemen), as you attempt to defend your adams family mansion at the top of the hill. Peasants and Van Helsing wannabees bust through the windows as your set traps, power up, and unleash hell against the “good guys” in this absolute blast of a deck builder. This is classic gothic literature meets Zombiecide.
Skulls of Sedlec
If you were looking for a hidden gem you probably hadn’t heard of then you are most welcome my friend. I adore this game. This silly little pocket game has you playing as monks who (for some reason) are digging up skulls and putting them into aesthetic piles with an arbitrary scoring system. It’s cute, easy to teach and play, and fits perfectly on a small pub table. If playing on halloween I suggest the player with the best/worst/most impractical costume goes first.
There you have it my darling dodgers of sunlight. I hope you have found encouragement to live your best alt life somewhere in this list or at least to wear more black. Join us later this month where I will be reviewing pumpkins for carvability, interviewing Salem the animatronic cat from Sabrina the Teenage Witch, and unboxing a real coffin. Happy Halloween kids.