SPOOKWARE: Watch Party

About SPOOKWARE: Watch Party

SPOOKWARE: Watch Party was released free on Steam by BEESWAX GAMES in November 2021, presented by its makers as a collection just in time for Halloween. It brings together the original jam version of SPOOKWARE, SPOOKWARE @ The Video Store, which first appeared in Dread X Collection 3, and SPOOKWARE: Prologue.

There are forty microgames that each last seconds, with a lit fuse running along the bottom of the screen. One asks you to move the planchette on a Ouija board, another to finger-write in a steamed-up bathroom mirror, others to chop off legs, hurl hatchets or clash cards with Nosferatu. Between them, three skeleton friends, Lefti, Midi and Righti, sit on a plaid couch with popcorn in front of an old television.

It is horror as fun rather than fear: grainy, scrappy visuals, quick jokes and mild cartoon gore, made around the trappings of the season and of horror films.

It suits players who want a free, light Halloween game to play between scarier ones, and anyone who enjoyed SPOOKWARE in Dread X Collection 3.

How to play SPOOKWARE: Watch Party

1. Get it free on Steam and run it on Windows.
2. Pick one of the collected games to play.
3. Read each microgame's one-word instruction and act before the fuse burns out.
4. Clear the levels to move on with the skeleton friends.

Tips

• Read the word at the top first; each game is over in seconds.
• Do not worry about failing; the games come round again fast.

Questions