Halloween Forever

About Halloween Forever

Halloween Forever is a 2D action platformer by Imaginary Monsters, published by Poppy Works. It came out on Steam in October 2016, and later on PlayStation 4 and, in 2021, on Nintendo Switch. It was made in GameMaker in the style of 8-bit console games.

Something mysterious is happening in the pumpkin patch this Halloween. You control Pumpkin Man, a humanoid pumpkin thing brought to life by occult forces, who sets out to discover why everything has grown so creepy. He attacks by spitting candy corn.

Each level has two sections, each ending in a boss, and most offer two paths: one straight to the boss, and a detour that can hold extra lives, a new playable character or a rune. There are four characters to find, each with two endings, and the alternate endings need all six runes. Losing all your lives sends you back to the start of the game, so a run is short but has to be played in one go. The character you start with is the weakest, which makes the first run the hardest.

The levels are pure Halloween imagery in bright pixels: tombstones and open graves, skeletons hanging from trees, a gallows by a wooden shack, cobwebbed crypts with dangling spiders and dark brick castles. Along the way you meet chainsaw maniacs, undead sorcerers, bats and plenty of skeletons, and the game works like a classic platformer: run, double jump, shoot and learn each stretch.

It is a game about Halloween rather than a frightening one, and its store ratings note crude humour, fantasy violence and mild blood. It suits players who want a seasonal game to share with younger players, or anyone who likes old-school platformers and wants something in the October mood.

How to play Halloween Forever

1. Start as Pumpkin Man in the pumpkin patch.
2. Run and double jump through each level, avoiding spikes and pits.
3. Spit candy corn in an arc to defeat skeletons, bats, spiders and other monsters.
4. Beat the boss at the end of each section to move on.
5. Take detour paths to find extra lives, new characters and runes for the alternate endings.

Tips

• Take the detours early; extra lives matter because losing them all restarts the whole game.
• Unlock another character as soon as you can; the one you start with is the weakest.
• Look before dropping down: spikes can sit just off the bottom of the screen.
• Use the double jump to clear wide pits and dodge enemies in the air.
• Play with a controller if you can; the game has full controller support.

Questions