Halloween Slasher horror Short horror RPG Maker horror 2D horror

Catrina's Halloween Nightmare

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Three years after the massacre, Catrina tries one more Halloween party. Grin Pumpkin is back.

Platforms: PC
Stores: itch.io
Price: Paid
Rated: Rated 4.4 out of 5 by 12 players on itch.io
Length: about 30 minutes
Players: 1
Controls: Arrow keys to move, Enter to interact, Q for the menu, F4 for full screen
Made by: DreamBones
Released: 2022

What frightens Three years after a Halloween party massacre, Catrina is talked into a small Halloween reunion, and the grinning masked killer Grin Pumpkin comes back; blood on the floorboards, deaths and a skull-faced figure peering round a door, with a couple of mild jump scares and some fun poked at slasher cliches.
Content: blood, deaths, mild jumpscares, alcohol use, mild suggestive jokes.

A short top-down slasher game made in RPG Maker by DreamBones, and the sequel to Jake's Halloween Night. Catrina, who survived a Halloween party massacre, agrees to one small reunion on Halloween night, and the masked killer Grin Pumpkin returns.

About Catrina's Halloween Nightmare

Catrina's Halloween Nightmare is a short horror game by the solo developer DreamBones, made with RPG Maker and sold on itch.io for Windows. It is the sequel to Jake's Halloween Night, the same maker's free game about a Halloween party gone wrong, and like that one it is built on old slasher films.

It has been three years since the Halloween party massacre. Catrina wants nothing more to do with Halloween, but her best friend Hope talks her into a small reunion; she cannot avoid the night forever, and what are the odds of it happening twice? Then Grin Pumpkin, the killer with the grinning mask, is back.

You walk Catrina through a house decorated for the party, seen from above in soft pixel art: a kitchen with a carved pumpkin, a living room with cobwebs and pizza on the table, a skeleton by the stairs and blood where there should not be any. You talk to the other guests, check objects and follow what happens over the night. Drawn close-ups show the characters and the killer, and there are notes to find: collect all seven for a secret extended ending.

The maker says it is a horror game that also makes a bit of fun of slasher cliches and absurd situations, and that it has a couple of mild jump scares but nothing that leaps at the screen. It warns of fictional deaths, blood, alcohol use and mild suggestive jokes.

It takes about half an hour. It suits players who liked Jake's Halloween Night or who want a short Halloween slasher story to play in one sitting.

How to play Catrina's Halloween Nightmare

Buy and download the game from its itch.io page, extract the zip and run CatrinasHalloweenNightmare.exe.
Choose Start Night on the title screen.
Move Catrina with the arrow keys and press Enter to talk to people and check objects.
Search the rooms for the seven notes if you want the secret extended ending.
Get through the night as the killer closes in.

Screenshots

Catrina's Halloween Nightmare screenshot: a top-down pixel-art living room with cobwebs, pizza on the table, a skeleton by the wall and blood by the stairs

Catrina's Halloween Nightmare screenshot: Catrina meets a guest in a pumpkin costume in a checkered kitchen, with her portrait and the line Hi nice to meet you, I'm Catrina

Catrina's Halloween Nightmare: a drawn close-up of a grinning skull-faced masked figure peering round a door

Catrina's Halloween Nightmare title screen: a sketched cat and pumpkin with the menu Start Night, Continue Night, Quit Night

Tips

Play Jake's Halloween Night first; this story follows on from it.
Check every room for notes before you move the story on.
If you stream with OBS and lose the sound, capture the game as a window, as the maker suggests.
Press F4 to switch to full screen.